Famous for her sparkling onscreen personality, distinctive voice and beautiful appeal, actress Jennifer Tilly started gaining attention when she was nominated for an Academy Award for her comedy role as a dumb and incompetent actress in Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” (1994). As Jennifer Tilly matured, however, the desire to portray dumb women and bimbos faded. While they say the typical career for an actress ends at age 40, Tilly continued to land more dramatic roles and lots of voice work in animated movies, giving her career a much-needed late boost. Jennifer is also blessed to be the sister of famous moviestar Meg Tilly.

Born in Harbor City, California, Jennifer Tilly was young when she moved to Canada with her family. Tilly ran track for Belmont High School in Victoria, British Columbia before relocating to the US to study drama at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to seek an acting career. Tilly made her television debut in 1983 with a returning role in “Boone” and appeared the following year  in her first major feature, “No Small Affair” (1984) with Demi Moore. In 1984, Tilly had a recurring role in the television series “Hill Street Blues”.

Jennifer was next cast in a regular role on “Shaping Up” (1984), a situation comedy starring Leslie Nielson as the owner of a Los Angeles health spa. The show was cancelled after just one month. She then took a role as a trainee in a school for traffic cops in the feature “Moving Violations” (1985), followed by a guest appearance role on “Cheers”, where she portrayed a friend of Sam (Ted Danson) who is proposed to by Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) after the first date. 

Throughout the late 1980’s, Jennifer Tilly was in numerous low-budget comedies she would probably rather forget: “He’s My Girl” (1987), “Inside Out” (1987) and “Rented Lips” (1988) with Robert Downey Jr.. Tilly then appeared in Neil Jordan’s “High Spirits” (1988), a haunted mansion comedy, “Johnny Be Good” (1988), a high school comedy starring Anthony Michael Hall, Uma Thurman. She wrapped that year with “Let It Ride” (1989).

Roles began looking more promising for Tilly when she was cast in a supporting role in “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (1989) with Michelle Pfieffer,  about Frank and Jack Baker who are professional musicians and play small clubs -they play lounge singer music and have never had a day job. More feature work followed with “Scorchers” (1991), “Shadow of the Wolf” (1992), “Made in America” (1993) and “The Getaway” (1994) with Kim Basinger. 

In 1994, Jennifer Tilly had what may well have been one of her best roles, playing Olive Neal, the dumb starlet with a good heart, in “Bullets Over Broadway”, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination. The actress continued appearing in features, including “The Pompatus of Love” (1995), “Embrace of the Vampire” (1995), “Bird of Prey” (1995) and “House Arrest” (1996) with Jamie Lee Curtis and Jennifer Love Hewitt. 

She also worked on series television, winning a recurring role on “Key West” (1993), while also working on several cable movies, including “Heads” (1994), “Man with a Gun” (1995) and “Edie & Pen” (1996).

In 1996, Jennifer Tilly become widely noticed for her most high-profile movie, “Bound” (1996), a crime thriller from Andy and Larry Wachowski, where she portrayed the mistress of a mob man who falls in love with an ex-con (Gina Gershon) and schemes to steal $2 million with her new lover. “Bound” became a cult hit due to the hot lesbian affair between Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon. Her next movie was the action comedy “American Strays” (1996), and then “The Wrong Guy” (1997). But a career enhancing role came along with the Jim Carrey comedy hit, “Liar, Liar” (1997), about a fast track lawyer who can't lie for 24 hours due to his son's birthday wish after the lawyer turns his son down for the last time.

Tilly had another high-profile role when she starred in “Bride of Chucky” (1998) with Katherine Heigl, the fourth installment in the horror franchise about the notorious killer doll "Chucky". Tilly then tried her skills at animation and voice over work, lending her voice to the movie “Stuart Little” (1999), with Michael J. Fox and Geena Davis where the 'Little' family adopts a charming young mouse named Stuart, but the family cat wants rid of him. 

Tilly continued with her voiceover work by appearing on the cult favorite animated television show “The Family Guy” (1999- ) starring Peter Griffin, in a returning part she had through 2001. She then provided more voice work in the blockbuster animated features “Monsters, Inc.” (2001) and “The Haunted Mansion” (2003) with Eddie Murphy, a story about a workaholic husband who visits a haunted house with his family during a job interview and meets a ghost that teaches him a lesson about the importance of the family that he has neglected. 

She then got the chance to work with Peter Bogdanovich on “The Cat’s Meow” (2002) with Kirsten Dunst, a semi-true story of the Hollywood murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924. Jennifer Tilly then became the first celebrity to win the Ladies no-limit Texas Hold ‘Em event at the World Series of Poker in 2005. With poker skills learned from her boyfriend Phil “Unabomber” Laak, a professional card player, Tilly took home a $158,000 prize and the stature of being the first Oscar-nominated actress to wear the WSOP bracelet.

By 2005, Jennifer Tilly's roles were becoming more mature and intelligent in nature. She appeared in the romantic comedy "Love on the Side" (2004) about a small-town waitress who vies with a sassy city slicker for the attention of the town's most eligible bachelor. The following year she starred alongside Dean Cain in the family comedy "Bailey's Billion$" (2005) about a sweet and savvy talking golden retriever, Bailey, who is one doggone lucky pooch when his devoted owner leaves him her entire billion-dollar fortune. It was several years before Tilly would have another noticeable role in a feature film.

That role came in 2008 in the dramatic "Return to Babylon" (2008) in the role of Clara Bow, a story about when Hollywood was rocked by scandal during the silent-movie era. Tilly next worked with Burt Reynolds in the comedy "Deal" (2008), about an ex-gambler who teaches a hot-shot college kid some things about playing cards and finds himself pulled into the world series of poker, where his protégé is his toughest competition. 

She was then cast in a supporting role in Bryce Olson's comedy horror "The Caretaker" (2008), where she shows us that not all love stories have a happy ending. Tilly was then hired and cast in the lead role of the comedy "Inconceivable" (2008), a satirical drama about the test-tube baby industry. 

Jennifer wrapped her year with a leading role in the comedy "Renaissance Girl" (2009), where in the summer before college, an uptight intellectual 18-year-old girl is forced by her aunt to work at a Renaissance Faire. The chaotic and playful nature of the Faire challenges the girl's rigid ideas about life and love.