Jillian Noel Hennessy

Jillian Noel Hennessy, born November 25 in 1968, is a Canadian actress from Canada. Her roles on American TV shows such as Law & Order were three-seasons long. Crossing Jordan lasted six seasons. Jordan Cavanaugh was her leading character. She was also in films like RoboCop 3 & Most Wanted as well as independent films Chutney Popcorn & The Acting Class. The film was directed and written by her. Hennessy was raised in Edmonton, Alberta. John Hennessy was her father. He was a meat seller and a sales/marketing executive. This position required a lot of travel and led to frequent family moves. Her mother, Maxine, a secretary, left the family in 1982, leaving her daughter partially raised by her paternal grandmother Eleanor who lives in Kitchener, Ontario. John Paul Hennessy Jr. is her younger brother. Jacqueline is her identical twin sister and is a journalist from Canada and host. Hennessy is a mixture of Irish, French French, Swedish and Italian roots on her father's side and mostly Ukrainian Roma on the mother's. She was educated at Stanley Park Senior Public School and then graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario and busked in the Toronto subway. She and her sister made their acting debuts as twin callgirls in 1988’s Dead Ringers. Gillian Anderson, who was the actress who was ultimately chosen for the part, claimed that she was shortlisted to portray Dana Scully in The X-Files. She played the character for three seasons before resigning the show in 1996.