Perhaps, when Janine Turner’s name is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the Northern Exposure TV series where she played the role of Maggie O’Connell for six seasons. She nailed the role and had award nominations screaming her name. She is also Jessie Deighan in the feature film Suspense. Although she is all of these, she is so much more than her screen work.
Turner works behind the screen as a producer, writer and director. She is also an author with four published books to her credit; singer, host, speaker, founder and co-chair of Constituting America.
Biography of Janine Turner
She was born in the United States of Nebraska, Lincoln, on December 6, 1962. Upon her arrival, her parents, Janice Loraine (née Agee) and Turner Maurice Gauntt Jr. named her Janine Loraine Gauntt. Janine is a Hebrew name meaning a gift from God.
Janine Turner was raised alongside her older brother named Tim in Euless and Fort Worth, Texas. She became interested in modeling from an early age and started training from the age of 3. She also trained in ballet, tap and theater. In her early teens, she joined a cheerleading squad before eventually moving to New York to pursue a modeling career. Turner left home at the age of 15 and was signed by the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. At the time, she was the youngest to be signed.
She returned to Texas after some commercial work to complete her education. Along the line, she landed a few minor television roles, in several episodes of Dallas in 1980, launching her acting career. After a number of other guest roles on TV shows in the 80s, she became frustrated with the quality of the roles she was getting. Subsequently, she returned to New York to seek better expression of her talent as well as to hone her craft. Upon arrival, she signed up to study with Marcia Haufrecht of the Actors Studio in Manhattan.
Don’t they say that good things come to those who wait? His big break came shortly after his move. Janine Turner was cast North Exposure as Maggie O’Connell in 1990. Her performance on the show earned her an Emmy Award nomination in 1993 as well as three consecutive Golden Globe nominations (1992 to 1994). On top of that, she finally felt like she had really started acting, as the role was a far cry from the ones she had done earlier. Janine Turner in an interview with the Tribune revealed that she had finally found her ideal persona in the role.
The actress has never been married. Nonetheless, she was romantically involved with a number of men, including Alec Baldwin, to whom she was engaged. She has also dated Troy Aikman, Mark Grace, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Sylvester Stallone. Turner has a daughter named Juliette with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones Jr. in 1997.
Professional Accomplishments – Movies and TV Shows
Shortly after making her acting debut in 1980, Janine Turner had a number of other small roles on various television shows during the 1980s, including Mr. Merlin, Behind the Screen, The Love Boat, and General Hospital For whom it won the Young Artist Award in 1983 for best young actress in the Daytime series. Her one-episode roles continued with The Paper Hunt in 1983, Happy Days, and Boone Maggie, also the same year. 1984 saw her star in three television shows, including The Master, Santa Barbara, The New Mike Hammer with The A-Team andKnight cavalier coming in 1985.
Turner had a somewhat regular role on Another World where she was featured in two episodes as Patricia Kirkland from 1986 to 1987. Her final television role for the decade was in Quantum Leap as Michelle. Apart from her television appearances, she also had roles in films in the 80s.
His first big-screen appearance was in 1982 in the daytime parody Young Doctors in Love. Janine Turner has been featured alongside other soap stars in cameos. His other film credits include City Knights and Tai-Pan in 1986, Monkey Shines in 1988, and Steel Magnolias in 1989. At this point in his career, Turner had it up to his neck and just couldn’t go on. to portray the cute, fluffy personas she had seemingly had up until then.
To get what she wanted, she turned down many acting roles, ones that sounded like what she had always done. In turn, she moved to New York where she had the one role that redefined the narratives of her career. She landed the role of short-haired Alaskan air taxi pilot Maggie O’Connell on the CBS series. Northern exposure (1990-1995).
After her breakthrough, she had a pretty full plate of TV movies and movie roles. Turner appeared in the comedy thriller The Ambulance in 1990 and the action thriller Suspense opposite Sylvester Stallone in 1993. Then she was seen in the film adaptation of Leave the Beaver playing the perfect mom, June Cleaver; in Stolen Hearts: Captured Hearts, and The Curse of All Hell in 1997. She titled other television films such as Circle of Deception and Beauty, in 1998, A Secret Affair and Fatal Error in 1999.
Janine Turner was featured as one of Richard Gere’s wives, Dorothy Chambliss in Dr. T & the Wives (2000). Also in 2000, she joined the cast of Strong Medicine in a regular role as Dr. Dana Stowe. She appeared in other TV movies including Walker Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005) and 2007 Primordial Doubt before taking a break from the small screen with the Inconceivable episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2008 and the series NBC television show Friday Night Lights (2008-2009).
On the big screen, the versatile actress starred in No Regrets in 2004 and also wrote, produced and directed the award-winning short, Journey in a Summer Dress the same year. The year 2006 chronicled two films for her; Miracle Dogs Too and Dallas and the Night of the White Pants. In 2009, she was seen at Birdie & Bogey and Maggie’s Passage. Janine co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in Christoga, a Christian Yoga DVD in 2007. In 2015, she portrayed the wife of Anthony Hopkins’ character in the mystery thriller Comforter. His other film credits include The Ivy League Farmer(2015), Occupy, Texas (2016), and Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Greatest Serial Killer 2018. As of 2019, she starred in the Lifetime movie, Patsy & Loretta
Beyond the Screen
In addition to playing roles and bringing characters to life on screen, Janine Turner has also done wonders well beyond the screen. She is a producer, screenwriter, director, author, speaker, host and occasional singer.
Turner co-wrote and produced an album, Mockingbird Hill, in which she and her daughter sang. From May 2011 to 2013, she hosted a two-hour live talk show titled The Janine Turner Show on KLIF (AM) in Dallas and Houston, KTRC and later on iHeart Radio. The show was voted the best radio show in Dallas.
As an author, she has published four books including Holding Her Head Tall in 2008 which focuses on single mothers throughout history. Others are A Little Vulnerable, Wisdom for Every Day, and Artificial Intelligentsia Vs. Primordial Sense
Janine Turner is a Republican. She founded and is co-chair of Constituting America. The other president of the establishment created in 2010 is Cathy Gillespie.