Jennifer Tilly is a Canadian American actress, voice actor, screenwriter, and professional poker player. She is the first celebrity to win a World Series Tournament. In addition, Tilly is recognized as a horror film ‘idol’ for her role in the Child’s Play (1988) Franchise.
Jennifer Tilly has a net worth of $25 million. Her earnings are from over a hundred roles in films. This article walks you through the background, net worth, husband, poker, and acting career.
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Early Life
Jennifer Tilly was born Jennifer Ellen Chan, and she was born on September 16, 1958, in Harbor City, Los Angeles. Tilly’s parents are Harry Chan and Patricia Chan – nee Tilly. Her father is a salesman for used car, while her mother is a school teacher and stage actress from Canada. Tilly’s father was of Chinese descent, while her mother had Irish ancestry. Tilly has three siblings, an older brother – Steve, and two younger sisters – Meg and Rebecca. Tilly’s immediate younger sister, Meg, is an actress and novelist. Her parents divorced when she was five, and her mother remarried to John Ward. They grew up in Texada Island, British Columbia, with their stepfather, who Meg and Becky claimed was a pedophile. Though Tilly never commented about this claim, Meg started taking dance lessons at the age of 12 to avoid her stepfather. Because of Ward’s weaknesses, Patricia remarried again when Tilly was 16, and they moved to Victoria. Tilly attended Belmont High School, where she tried her hand in minor acting roles before proceeding to Stephens College in Missouri and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater.
Acting Career
Tilly’s acting career or love for theatre was inspired by her mother, who struggled as an actress. However, her mother’s failure inspired her and her younger sister to become successful actresses. At the same time, her youngest sister became a famous post-impressionist painter due to their mother’s influence. Their mother made her children develop an interest in art that the three sisters were jokingly called ‘the three musketeers. Tilly’s acting career partly started in 1983 when she had a recurring guest role in Hill Street Blues as Gina Srignoli, a mobster’s widow. She debuted on the big screen in the 1984 film No Small Affair. She spent most of the mid – 80s playing minor guest roles until 1989, when she starred in the comedy Let It Ride alongside Richard Dreyfuss. Her next film – The Fabulous Baker Boys gave her great success where she portrayed a singing waitress. In 1994, she featured Bullets over Broadway as Olive Neal. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress but lost to Dianne West for the role. The same year, she played a minor role in The Getaway.
Her next film came in 1996 in Bound, and Tilly has learned to be selective of the movie she is to appear in following the success of Bullets over Broadway. In Bound, she portrayed a lesbian character in a relationship with Gina Gershon. By 1997, she featured alongside Jim Carrey in the comedy Liar Liar. The film enjoyed massive international success giving Tilly international recognition. During this period, she appeared as Tiffany Valentine, a serial killer in the Child’s Play horror movie series, a character introduced in the fourth installment of the series – Bride of Chucky. In 2000, she starred in Dancing at the Blue Iguana as a stripper and received accolades for her role. The following year, featured in The Cat’s Meow as a gossip columnist and featured as Crystal Allen in The Women. As a voice-over artist, she voiced Bonnie Swanson in Family Guy and other films like Home on the Range, Stuart Little, and the children’s series – Hey Arnold!
She reprised the role of Tiffany Valentine in the subsequent series Seed of Chucky (2004), Curse of Chucky (2013), Cult of Chucky (2017), which earned her some nominations and MTV Movie Award for Best Scared As Shit Performance. Her next project was in a Chinese film in 2009 after a short hiatus from acting to focus on poker games. She featured as Mrs. Landdeck in Empire of Silver before appearing as Mistress Suzanne in Don’t Dress for Dinner. She received an Audience Choice Award nomination for her role in Don’t Dress for Dinner. From 2019 – 2020, she has featured in 7 Days to Vegas and Poker Queens.
Poker Career
Jennifer Tilly decided to turn her hobby into a profession and went into a professional poker competition. In 2005, she won a World Series of Poker plus $158, 625 in the Texas ladies’ category, beating over 600 players. Her father was a gambler and poker player and had gifted her the video game World Series of Poker. By September 2005, she took the third position in the Ladies Invitational Tournament’s World Series at Bicycle Casino Los Angeles. In 2006, she was defeated by online poker champion Ida Siconofi at the Celebrity Poker Showdown; however, she took the third position. Officially, she retired from poker in December 2008. Till date, she has earned more than $992,000 in Poker games. Speaking to Bluff Magazine, she said she was going to treat poker as a hobby and not a career. In 2014, she was nominated for PokerListing’s Spirit of Poker Living Legend Award 2014.
Jennifer Tilly’s Personal Life
Tilly married Sam Simon in 1984. Sam Simon is the creator of the famous cartoon The Simpsons. They divorced in 1991 and remained great friends till he died in 2015 after a long battle with colorectal cancer. Simpson described him as a brilliant man and a great humanitarian. By 2004, she entered a relationship with professional poker player and commentator – Phil Laak, who she met at the 2004 World Poker Invitational. Phil Laak won the competition, and maybe it was their meeting that inspired Phil Laak’s win. They have been together since 2004. From her first marriage to Sam Simon and her current relationship, Tilly does not have a child.
Jennifer Tilly Net Worth
Jennifer Tilly has a net worth of $25 million. Her earnings are from over a hundred roles in films. This article walks you through the background, net worth, husband, poker, and acting career.
