Jennifer Tilly: Celebrity Poker Player

Celebrity poker player, Jennifer Tilly was born September 16, 1958, in Harbor City, California. The daughter of Harry, a stockbroker, and Pat, a schoolteacher, Jennifer's parents got divorced when she was 6. Pat Tilly remarried and took Jennifer, her 3 siblings, and her 3 stepsiblings to British Columbia, Canada.

Having to relocate constantly with her family, Jennifer Tilly had to adjust to each new school, and was a pretty quiet student. At 17, she started out yet again at a new school, this time at St. Stephen's College in Missouri, to study theater. In order to help pay for her tuition, she contributed articles to magazines and earned money by winning Honorable Mentions in writing competitions. She then decided to head to college in Los Angeles rather than New York.

Poker Celebrity Jennifer Tilly was making the television rounds, with a role as an extra on Days of Our Lives, to a recurring role on Hill Street Blues in 1984. That year she was cast as Shannon Winters on the short-lived sitcom, Shaping Up, and followed it up with guest appearances on Remington Steele, Cheers, and another recurring role on It's Gary Shandling's Show.

Jennifer was also busy appearing in bit parts, in films such as Moving Violations, Inside Out, Remote Control, He's My Girl, and Rented Lips, one year after the other. In 1988, in addition to Johnny Be Good (which featured a young Uma Thurman), Jennifer Tilly appeared in High Spirits.

After roles in Let It Ride and Far From Home, Jennifer was finally recognized for her role as auditioning singer Blanche "Monica" Moran in 1989's The Fabulous Baker Boys. Then more parts came her way, such as in The Doors, Scorchers and Made in America, but she finally got her big break when she was cast as Olive Neal, the wife of a mobster, in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, in 1994.

The Celebrity and poker player was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, in her convincing portrayal of an untalented aspiring actress. Her past theater experience could have helped make her portrayal of a theater actress (not as an untalented actress) easier, as she has appeared in the theater production of One Shoe Off and this role garnered her a Theater World Award in 1993.

She continues winning awards again, but as a celebrity that plays poker, Jennifer Tilly won the World Series of Poker in june 2005. Jennifer was seen playing poker on TV's Celebrity Poker, and most recenlty she competed and won a 2005 WSOP being held at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Jennifer was the winner of the Ladies-Only No Limit Texas Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker, becoming the first celebrity to win an open (as opposed to celebrity-only) WSOP tournament and earn a World Series bracelet. She beat out 600 other women to win the championship.

Related poker articles: Jennifer Tilly

- Jennifer Tilly at the Celebrity Poker Showdown 2006
- Jennifer Tilly best no-limit player at Doyle's Poker Room