Kim Delaney

Kim Delaney
Kim Delaney, 2006

Kim Delaney (born November 29, 1958) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her iconic role as Jenny Gardner on the ABC daytime drama All My Children. After leaving that program, she went on to star in several other television series, as well as acting in films. She currently stars on the Lifetime television drama Army Wives.

Biography

Early life

Delaney, an Irish American, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan and Jack Delaney. Her mother was a homemaker and her father a union official and former head of the United Auto Workers. She grew up in Roxborough and has four brothers: Ed, John, Keith, and Patrick. While she was attending John W. Hallahan Catholic High School for Girls, she worked as a model for the Elite agency. After her graduation, she went to New York and found employment there as a model. At the same time, she studied acting with renowned trainer William Esper.

Career

Delaney first became well-known for her stint as innocent teenager Jenny Gardner Nelson on the soap opera All My Children, a character she portrayed from 1981 to 1984. Her leading man was "Greg Nelson," played by Laurence Lau. After her marriage to "Greg," Kim decided to leave the series; consequently, Jenny later died in an explosion of a jet ski. Delaney began acting in feature films after leaving All My Children. In 1984, she appeared with Emilio Estevez in "That Was Then, This is Now." In 1986, she played a young nun in the military action movie "The Delta Force," starring Chuck Norris. In 1987, she was cast as Amanda Jones in "Some Kind of Wonderful" opposite Peter Gallagher, but before filming, new director Howard Deutch replaced her with his future wife Lea Thompson (Gallagher's role was also recast, with Craig Sheffer). In 1988, she starred in "The Drifter.". In 1994, Delaney acted in the film The Force, with Yasmine Bleeth and Jason Gedrick.

Delaney has since had regular roles in the series Tour of Duty, NYPD Blue, Philly (in which she was the lead), and CSI: Miami. Her stint on the last program ended abruptly in the middle of the first season after just 10 episodes for reasons never completely revealed to the public, but it has been said that her character was reportedly written out due to the lack of chemistry between Delaney and Caruso. In 2004, she starred in the NBC miniseries 10.5 and its 2006 sequel, 10.5: Apocalypse. In 2005, she began a recurring role on The O.C. In 2006, she starred with Steven Weber in an episode of Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King entitled, "You Know They Got a Hell of a Band," about Rock and Roll Heaven.

Her CSI: Miami co-star, David Caruso, had also previously starred on NYPD Blue but left the show before Delaney joined it. She appeared twice on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in early 2007, guest-starring on the episodes "Philadelphia" and "Florida." She played the character Captain Julia Millfield, who was the captain of a police precinct in New Jersey.

She plays the character Claudia Joy Holden on Lifetime TV's Army Wives. She was nominated three times for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress on NYPD Blue, and won once.

Personal life

Delaney has been married twice, to actor Charles Grant from 1984 to 1988, and to actor Joseph Cortese from 1989 to 1994. She gave birth to son Jack Philip Cortese in 1990.

See also

• Greg Nelson and Jenny Gardner

External links

• Kim Delaney at IMDb