Jennifer Tilly life and biography

Jennifer Tilly is an American actress and poker player. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is sister to Academy-Award-nominated actress Meg Tilly.

Tilly was born Jennifer E. Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles, California. She is the second of four children of Harry Chan, a used car salesman, and Patricia (née Tilly), a schoolteacher and former stage actress. Her father was Chinese American and her mother was of Irish, Native-American and Finnish ancestry. Following her parents' divorce when she was five, she was raised by her mother and stepfather, John Ward, on rural Texada Island, British Columbia, Canada. Her mother divorced again when Tilly was a teenager, and moved to Victoria, where Tilly attended Belmont High School. Jennifer Tilly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from Stephens College in Missouri.

An actress who always attracts audiences' attention, Jennifer Tilly is by turns funny, sexy, compassionate, compelling and often all at once.

Her breakthrough movie role tapped into all of those qualities failing singer Blanche "Monica" Moran in Steve Kloves' The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) opposite brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges. A few years later, Jennifer earned an Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of the aspiring but hopelessly untalented actress Olive Neal in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994). She has become well-known to filmgoers for both major studio and independent films. In Tom Shadyac's blockbuster Liar Liar (1997) she kept pace with Jim Carrey. Her steamy performance opposite Gina Gershon helped make Lana Wachowski's and Andy Wachowski's Bound (1996) a breakout indie success at the Sundance Film Festival and then in theatrical release. It also expanded Jennifer's already significant gay and lesbian following.

She successfully cultivated another fan base with the revitalization of the "Child's Play" horror comedy franchise. For Ronny Yu's Bride of Chucky (1998), the filmmakers turned to Jennifer to create the character who would spark the series in a new direction. She met the challenge and established a new horror icon in Tiffany. This Halloween, in Rogue Pictures' all-new Seed of Chucky (2004), written and directed by series creator Don Mancini, Jennifer again takes the popular series to the next level; she stars as Tiffany and as herself, the deadly doll's favorite actress, who soon becomes an unwitting hostess in more ways than one.

Jennifer's pitch-perfect voiceover work as Tiffany is not the only instance of her being able to incarnate a character from the vocal chords out. Families know her distinctive cadences from the recent Disney hits Home on the Range (2004) (in which Jennifer voiced a new-age bovine), directed by Will Finn and John Sanford; The Haunted Mansion (2003) (in which Jennifer acted from the neck up only), directed by Rob Minkoff; and the Pixar blockbuster Monsters, Inc. (2001) (voicing Mike's love interest Celia), directed by Pete Docter, David Silverman and Lee Unkrich.

She began her acting career as a teenager, putting herself through the theater program at Stephens College in Missouri by winning writing competitions. She then headed to Los Angeles. While she continued to act on the stage (earning a Dramalogue Award for her performance in "Vanities"), movies and television immediately came calling for the actress with the unique voice and visage.

Over the years Jennifer has made memorable appearances on some of television's best series, including "Hill Street Blues" (1981) (in a recurring dramatic role), "Cheers" (1982), "Moonlighting" (1985), "It's Garry Shandling's Show." (1986) and "Frasier" (1993). In addition, she has been a favored guest on a number of talk shows, from "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) to "The Arsenio Hall Show" (1989) to (currently) "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (1992). Those interview segments have encouraged viewers to expect the unexpected from her interplay with the host and the studio audience.

Her many films over a two-decade span include Neil Jordan's High Spirits (1988), Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991), Richard Benjamin's Made in America (1993), Roger Donaldson's The Getaway (1994), Joe Pytka's Let It Ride (1989), P.J. Castellaneta's Relax... It's Just Sex (1998), Michael Radford's Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000), Peter Bogdanovich's The Cat's Meow (2001) (in which she played Louella Parsons).

Jennifer has also continued to act on the stage. She won a Theater World Award for her performance in off-Broadway's "One Shoe Off" and starred on Broadway in the 2001 revival of "The Women" (which was later taped for, and broadcast on, PBS).

Filmography:

Empire of Silver (2009)
The Secret Lives of Dorks (2010)
30 Beats (2010)
Return to Babylon (2011)
Monsters University (2013)

Television:

CSI: "Take My Life, Please!" (2010)
Frasier: "Miss Right Now" (2004)
Drop Dead Diva (2011)

Awards and nominations:

Theater World Award, Most Promising Newcomer One Shoe Off
Dramalogue Award Vaniti
Gemini Award For Best Actress Heads
Fanta Festival Best Actress Bride Of Chucky
Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Award Best Actress Bound
Golden Gate Award GLAAD Media Award for media professionals who increase the understanding of the LGBT community
Florida Film Festival Award Artistic Achievement Award
DVD exclusive Award Best Actress (in a DVD Premiere Movie)
Eyegore Award Eyegore
San Diego Film Festival Award Achievement in Acting

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