Janine Turner An American actress who’s name is on the tip of everyone’s tongue but cant quite be placed as to which television shows or movies she has appeared in. But this actress has quite a resume when it comes to performances on both the small and big screen. Janine Turner was born on December 6th 1962 in Lincoln, Nebraska to Janice and Turner Gauntt. Her father was a cadet and attended the prestigious West Point in New York. His chosen career path was to become a pilot and he went on to fly for 30 years for Braniff, an American airline that ceased operation in 1982 and operated between South America, Asia and Europe. Both her parents were from Texas, her mother from the south and her father from the east. Janine’s first encounter with modeling was at the age of three when she was spotted by an agency and made her debut as a model at a fashion show. From there she was signed for magazine shoots, commercials and fashion shows. Turner’s education saw her achieving straight ‘A’s, taking part in cheerleading and studying dance. It was dance that first lured her to New York in a summer that would see her studying dance and attending shows on Broadway, of which her favourite was ‘A Chorus Line’. While in New York she was spotted by the Wilhelmina Cooper Modeling Agency in Manhattan, famous for representing Janice Dickinson, Anjelica Huston and Adrianne Curry. At this time Janine was just fifteen years old and attended Professional Children's School. Janine graduated from high school a year early and moved to Hollywood at the age of seventeen.
By 1980 Janine had broken into acting with an appearance in a number of episodes of ‘Dallas’ in the season after J.R. Ewing was shot, the character played by Larry Hagman, with his screen mother being played by Barbara Bel Geddes and Victoria Principal as the wife of his brother, played by Patrick Duffy. In 1983 Janine was romantically connected to Alec Baldwin when the two were engaged for a short time but never actually made the trip to the alter. At this time she was appearing in the Emmy Award winning day time series ‘General Hospital’ with Elizabeth Taylor and Genie Francis. Several more television roles came her way in the 1980’s after ‘Dallas’ and she was screen tested several times for ‘Endless Love’ which eventually went to Brooke Shields. But her big break wasn’t far away when she landed the role of Maggie O’Connell in ‘Northern Exposure’ in 1990. This saw her starring with Teri Polo and John Corbett, who would later appear as Sarah Jessica Parker’s boyfriend in ‘Sex and the City’ and become the live in boyfriend of Bo Derek. She received three Golden Globe Best Actress nominations and one Emmy Nomination for best actress for her work on Northern Exposure.
1989 saw Turner in a role surrounded by several of Hollywood’s best female actresses, and a couple of its males, Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, Julia Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton and Olympia Dukakis in ‘Steel Magnolias’. In the 1990’s Janine caught the eye of rock star David Bowie and appeared on the video that accompanied his recording ‘Ricochet’. Janine made her move to the big screen when she starred alongside one of Hollywood’s greats, Sylvester Stallone and John Lithgow in the movie ‘Cliffhanger’. Having succeeded in television and on the big screen, Janine then turned her hand to writing and directing, when in 2004 the movie ‘Trip in a Summer Dress’ had her credited in those roles on its release. One of Janine’s latest ventures was her appearance in a 2006 low budget movie which was filmed in Dallas, ‘The Night of the White Pants’. Janine now lives on her ranch, Mockingbird Hill just outside Dallas, Texas, with her daughter Juliette who was born to her in 1997. ABB | 
