Jillian Noel Hennessy

Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25 on the 25th of November, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. Her most well-known work is her roles on the American television series 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 in films such as RoboCop 3 and Most Wanted, and the independent film Chutney Popcorn and The Acting Class, the latter of which she co-wrote and directed. Hennessy was a native of Edmonton, Alberta. John Hennessy her father was a marketing executive and salesman. It required frequent travel which led to many family relocations. Her mother, Maxine, a secretary who left the family in 1982 leaving her daughter to be partially taken care of by her maternal grandmother, Eleanor who lives in Kitchener, Ontario. Her younger brother, John Paul "J.P." Hennessy, Jr., and an identical twin sister, Jacqueline She is an editor for magazines and a TV show host in Canada. Hennessy is of Irish, French, Swedish and Italian ancestry on her father's side and mostly Ukrainian Roma, as well as Austrian, ancestry on her mother's. She attended Stanley Park Senior Public School and graduated from Grand River Collegiate Institute, both located in Kitchener, Ontario, and utilized to be a busker in the Toronto subway. Hennessy's sister and she made their acting debuts as twin callgirls on 1988's Dead Ringers. The actress was nominated for the role of Dana Scully on The X-Files according to Gillian Anderson, the actress who was eventually offered the role.She was on Broadway in the musical Buddy The Buddy Holly Story in 1990. The Buddy Holly Story in 1990.In 1993, she appeared in the role of Dr. Marie Lazarus in RoboCop 3.In 1993, Dick Wolf signed Hennessy as assistant district attorney Claire Kincaid in the NBC crime drama Law & Order. She played the character for three seasons, and quit the show in 1996.