Jillian Noel Hennessy

Jillian Noel Hennessy (19 November 1975) is a Canadian actor and singer. She is most famous for her character on Law & Order as Claire Kincaid, a US prosecutor in the television show Law & Order for three seasons. Crossing Jordan was six seasons. Jordan Cavanaugh, the main character in Crossing Jordan, lasted six seasons. She was also in films such as RoboCop 3 & Most Wanted and in independent film Chutney Popcorn & The Acting Class. The movie was written and directed by her. Hennessy was born in Edmonton, Alberta. Her father, John Hennessy, was an animal salesman and a sales/marketing executive. It was a job that required considerable travel and led to frequent relocations for the family. Maxine her secretary mother was the last to leave the family in 1982. Eleanor, Eleanor's paternal grandmother, took care of her daughter, who lived in Kitchener. John Paul Hennessy Jr., her younger brother, is Jacqueline Hennessy the identical twin, who is a magazine journalist as well as a host on TV in Canada. Hennessy has Irish and French, Swedish, Italian, and Swedish roots from her father, and mostly Ukrainian Roma and Austrian heritage from her mother. She was a graduate of Grand River Collegiate Institute and Stanley Park Senior Public School. Hennessy was the sister of her brother, who made their acting debut in 1988 as twin call-girls in Dead Ringers. She was not selected for the role of Dana Scully on The X-Files according to Gillian Anderson, the actress who was eventually offered the role.She made an appearance on Broadway in the musical Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story in 1990.In 1993, she appeared as 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 role for three seasons before resigning the show in 1996.