Jillian Noel Hennessy

Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25 on the 25th of November, 1968) is a Canadian actor and a singer from Canada. Her most well-known work is her roles in the American television show Law & Order, on where she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons and Crossing Jordan, on which she played the lead character, Jordan Cavanaugh, for six seasons. She also appeared as an actor in films such as RoboCop 3 or Most Wanted as well as independent films like Chutney Popcorn, which she co-directed. Hennessy was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. John Hennessy her father was a salesman and marketing executive. This required frequent travel that led to numerous family relocations. The mother of her child, Maxine, a secretary, left the family in 1982, leaving her daughter partially taken care of by her paternal grandmother, Eleanor, in Kitchener, Ontario. John Paul Hennessy Jr. is her younger brother. Jacqueline is her identical twin sister and is a Canadian magazine writer and host. Hennessy is a mixture of Irish, French French, Swedish and Italian roots on her father's side, and predominantly Ukrainian Roma on the mother's. She attended Stanley Park Senior Public School and graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute, both located in Kitchener, Ontario, and was busking on the Toronto subway. Hennessy as well as her sister, and their first acting role was as twin call-girls in 1988's Dead Ringers. Gillian Anderson, who was the actress who was ultimately chosen for the role, said she was a finalist to play Dana Scully in The X-Files. The role was occupied for three seasons before she was fired in the year 1996.