Jillian Noel Hennessy

Jillian Noel Hennessy was born on November 25, 1968. She is a Canadian singer, actress and musician. Her most well-known work is her role on the American television show Law & Order, on which she played the prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons and Crossing Jordan, on which she played the lead character, Jordan Cavanaugh, for six seasons. She has also acted in movies such as RoboCop 3 and Most Wanted as well as the indie films Chutney Popcorn and The Acting Class which is the latter of which she also co-wrote and directed. Hennessy was raised in Edmonton. John Hennessy her father was a salesman and marketing executive. This required frequent travel that led to numerous family relocations. Maxine Her mother was a secretary. Her daughter was abandoned by Eleanor Her paternal grandmother who lived in Kitchener, Ontario. John Paul Hennessy Jr. is her younger brother. is Jacqueline Hennessy who is an identical twin, who is a journalist in a magazine and a TV host in Canada. Hennessy is of Irish and French, Swedish, Italian and Swedish heritage from her father. predominantly Ukrainian Roma and Austrian heritage from her mother. She went to Stanley Park Senior Public School and graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute, both located in Kitchener, Ontario, and utilized to be a busker on the Toronto subway. Hennessy and her sister were among the first actors to be cast as twin call girl in 1988's Dead Ringers. According to Gillian Anderson (the actress who got the role) she was a finalist for Dana Scully's part on The X-Files. In 1993, Hennessy was signed by Dick Wolf as Claire Kincaid as the assistant district attorney on the NBC crime drama Law & Order. She portrayed the role for three seasons, before being removed from the show as an actor in 1996.