Jill Hennessy is a woman of considerable talents, not surprising considering the things she lived through growing up. Now the star of her own show, Crossing Jordan, her co-star Miguel Ferrer says she is much like a non-angry version of her character Jordan Cavanaugh.

Born on November 25, 1968, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Hennessy is the daughter of John, a meat salesman, and Maxine, a secretary. In 1982, Maxine, living up to her Gypsy Ukranian roots, left the family, which also included Hennessy's twin sister, Jacqueline, and a brother, John, Jr. They were partially raised by their grandmother, Eleanor, yet moved around frequently because of their father's job. Hennessy began a modeling career at age fifteen, and barely graduated high school, while her twin sister went on to earn her master's Ddegree.

The two sisters developed an act called Jack and Jill, and worked on a number of projects together. The two also played twin prostitutes in the movie Dead Ringers, also starring Jeremy Irons and Geneviève Bujold. Later, Hennessy wrote, co-directed, produced, and co-starred in an independent film that was a faux documentary, Acting Class, and Jacqueline had a co-starring role in the film, along with some cameos of some of Hennessy's friends in the business, Alec Baldwin, Jerry Orbach, and Benjamin Bratt.

After Dead Ringers, Hennessy had guest stints on several television series, such as The Hitchhiker and Friday the 13th, and a minor role on RoboCop 3, with Robert John Burke. She then landed a key role as Assistant D.A. Claire Kincaid on Law and Order, where she had met and originally worked with Orbach and Bratt. Hennessy left the show after the 1996 season, and appeared in a number of forgettable films, although she worked with notable actors, such as Greg Kinnear, Elisabeth Shue, and even Jon Bon Jovi. There were also two televised historical films that she co-starred in during this time, Nuremberg, along with Alec Baldwin again, and Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot, where she played Jackie Kennedy, and starred with Lauren Holly as Ethel Kennedy.

In 2001, Hennessy landed her own television series, Crossing Jordan, starring as Jordan Cavanaugh, a forensic pathologist. Her co-stars include Ferrer, Steve Valentine, and Jerry O'Connell. The latter's character, as well as Hennessy's, also crossed over into the television series Las Vegas on three occasions. When not busy with Crossing Jordan, Hennessy keeps busy filming movies, her most recent being Wild Hogs, starring as Tim Allen's wife. She has also appeared on Broadway in Buddy.

Hennessy has always been interested in music as well, having spent some time busking, playing guitar, and singing for money in the Toronto subway system. She is a fan of the The Indigo Girls, and this carries over into her role on Crossing Jordan, as the character has a poster of the group in her kitchen. It's not uncommon for Hennessy to show up at different musical gigs in bare feet as a guest guitarist. She also speaks four additional languages to English, Italian, French, Spanish, and German.

A year before Hennessy and her husband, Paolo Mastropietro, got married, he opened up a tavern that serves comfort food in New Jersey, and named it Hennessy Tavern. They were married for the first time in October of 2000, but a year later, they were married again, this time by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at New York City Hall. Hennessy and Mastropietro enjoy riding motorcycles together, and in 2003 had a child, Marco.

YUDDY