Jennifer Tilly (born Jennifer E. Chan, September 16, 1958) is a Canadian-American actress and a World Series of Poker bracelet winner.

Early life

Tilly was born in Harbor City, Los Angeles, California. She is the second of four children of Harry Chan, a Chinese American used car salesman, and Patricia Tilly, a schoolteacher and former stage actress. 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. Her sister is actress Meg Tilly. Jennifer Tilly began her acting career in her teenage years through a theatre program at Stephens College in Missouri.

Acting

Tilly had small roles in TV shows and movies beginning in 1983. She had a recurring guest role on Hill Street Blues as Gina Srignoli, a mobster's widow who becomes romantically involved with detective Henry Goldblume. She appeared as Garry's girlfriend on It's Garry Shandling's Show, which aired on Showtime (1986-1990). She was also cast as a high end prostitute in the short lived comedy, Key West in 1993, alongside Fisher Stevens.

Tilly's breakthrough film role was as a singing waitress in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) in a part that was specially written for her by Steve Kloves. That same year, she played a small part in the cult classic horse racing movie, Let it Ride with Richard Dreyfuss and Teri Garr, that Tilly later said "should have done better."

Tilly appeared in Bound, which portrays a lesbian relationship her character has with Gina Gershon. She played Samantha Cole in the 1997 Jim Carrey hit Liar Liar. In 2000, Tilly appeared in the film Dancing at the Blue Iguana in which she played a stripper and part-time dominatrix.

Tilly gained some additional popularity in recent years for providing voice-over work as killer doll Tiffany for the Child's Play series of movies. In the most recent installment, Seed of Chucky, she plays a dual role, providing the voice for Tiffany and also playing an exaggerated version of herself.

Tilly is a semi-regular cast member on Family Guy, voicing the Griffin family's recently unpregnant neighbor, Bonnie Swanson. She has also done vocal work for the films Monsters, Inc., Stuart Little, and Home on the Range, as well as the children's series Hey Arnold, In Disney's The Haunted Mansion, she does the voice-over for Madame Leota. She has been active in the theatre, winning a Theater World Award for her performance in the off-Broadway play One Shoe Off.

Tilly had a starring role in the US television comedy Out of Practice starring Henry Winkler and Stockard Channing. The cancellation of that series was announced in May 2006.