Janine Turner

Janine Turner
Janine Turner, May 2014
Born	Janine Loraine Gauntt (1962-12-06) December 6, 1962 Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1980–present
Children	Juliette Turner
Website	janineturner.com

Janine Turner (born Janine Loraine Gauntt; December 6, 1962) is an American actress best known for her roles as Maggie O'Connell in the television series Northern Exposure (1990 – 1995) and as Dr. Dana Stowe on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine (2000 to 2006). She is also a columnist for The Washington Times.

Early life

Turner was born Janine Loraine Gauntt in Lincoln, Nebraska, the daughter of Janice Loraine (née Agee), a real estate agent, and Turner Maurice Gauntt, Jr., a pilot for Braniff Airways.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Her father is from East Texas, while her mother is from South Texas.^[6] She has a brother, Tim, and was raised in Euless, Texas.

Career

In 1978, the fifteen-year-old Turner left home to pursue a modeling career with the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency. She began her acting career in 1980, appearing in several episodes of Dallas. She continued to make guest appearances on television shows throughout the 1980s before landing the role of Laura Templeton on General Hospital.

By 1986, Turner had become frustrated with the quality of the roles she was getting; as she told The Chicago Tribune five years later, "I was always working, but I wanted to do more serious roles and knew that I had the talent. I had to get away from Hollywood." Disregarding her agent's advice, Turner moved to New York in order to hone her craft, studying there with Marcia Haufrecht of The Actors Studio.

I gained a new respect and appreciation for acting in New York. And I decided that I didn't want to lock myself into roles that portrayed women negatively. I turned a lot of (TV and film) opportunities down because of that. Everyone thought I was crazy. I was really going for broke. I only had eight dollars left and had become very depressed right before I got the part in "Northern Exposure."^[7]

Cast as Maggie O'Connell in 1990, Turner's work on Northern Exposure would earn her an Emmy nomination in 1993 and consecutive Golden Globe nominations from 1992 to 1994.^[8] Accolades aside, the role itself was a positive experience for Turner, following the "damsel in distress" roles that had all but driven her from Hollywood in the first place. "I've found my ideal character in Maggie", she told the Tribune. "She's smarter and stronger than all the men she meets." Turner's own move from Hollywood to New York was mirrored by Maggie's, from her affluent Grosse Pointe community to the remote fictional backwater of Cicely, Alaska. Turner said about Maggie that "She went against the grain and challenged herself by moving to Alaska."^[7]

Turner at the 1993 Emmy Awards, Governor's Ball

After her breakthrough in Northern Exposure, Turner appeared in the action film Cliffhanger opposite Sylvester Stallone. She next appeared as June Cleaver in a film adaptation of television's Leave it to Beaver.

In 2004, Turner wrote and directed Trip in a Summer Dress, a film about a strong-willed mother and her children. In 2006, she appeared in a low budget movie filmed in Dallas, The Night of the White Pants. In 2006, she was appointed a member of the President's Council on Service and Civic Participation.^[9] In 2007, she appeared in a promotional video for 'Christoga,' a "Christian form of Yoga", as well as for Jesocise, a Christian type of Jazzercise.^[10][11]

In 2008, Turner's book, Holding Her Head High: Inspiration from 12 Single Mothers Who Championed Their Children and Changed History, was released. The book focuses on single mothers through history, such as Rachel Lavein Fawcett, the abandoned single mother of Alexander Hamilton.

That same year, Turner began an eight-episode run on the NBC television series Friday Night Lights. She portrayed Katie McCoy, mother of a talented high school football quarterback.

On May 21, 2011, Turner began hosting a live two-hour talk show on conservative-oriented talk radio station KLIF (AM) in Dallas.

Turner and her daughter Juliette began an organization called Constituting America aimed at educating Americans about the U.S. Constitution.^[12]

Activism and advocacy

In the 2008 election, she campaigned for vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and expressed her concern for what she perceived as a decidedly liberal bias in the media as a guest on the Fox News Channel show Huckabee on October 25, 2008, and on the CNN show Larry King Live on October 28, 2008. Turner is a frequent contributor to Republican Party candidates and organizations, donating at least $7,000 over the past decade.^[13] She spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention. She has described herself as "socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I'm almost more libertarian," as well as a supporter of the Tea Party.^[14]

In 2016, controversy arose when critics wrote that Turner said of Star Wars "that Darth Vader’s costume was black because Star Wars movies were based on the Bible."^[15] On the Fox News interview in question, Turner had been asked to comment on a video clip from a talk show in which a participant said she considered Star Wars racist because Darth Vader was dressed in black until he turned away from the dark side and was shown to be white when his helmet was removed. Turner's response was, verbatim: "And regarding Darth Vader? Please! I mean, look: the Bible talks about darkness and light. This is about evil and good. Darkness and light. This doesn't have anything to do with anything else. This is, goes back to biblical times; it's been discussed in the bible, Jesus talks about it, it's about darkness and light, evil and good, it doesn't have anything to do -- you know, evil people traditionally in the movies always wear dark and good people are in white; the evil people come up on the black horses, the good people come up on the white horses. I mean, you know, this is darkness and evil. It doesn't have anything to do with anything else."^[16]

Personal life

Turner has never married. In 1997, she gave birth to a daughter, Juliette Loraine Gauntt. Turner declined to publicly identify the father, but other sources^[17][18] identify him as Jerry Jones Jr., who was romantically involved with Turner the year Juliette was born.^[19] She was once engaged to Alec Baldwin and also dated Troy Aikman, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Sylvester Stallone.^[20][21] She currently lives on a longhorn cattle ranch outside Dallas with her daughter, who is also an actress.^[22][23]

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards and nominations

Janine Turner at the Governor's Ball after the 1992 Emmy Awards

Emmy Award

• 1993: Nominated, "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" – Northern Exposure

Golden Globe Award

• 1992: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Drama" – Northern Exposure
• 1993: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Drama" – Northern Exposure
• 1994: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series – Drama" – Northern Exposure

Golden Raspberry Award

• 1994: Nominated, "Worst Supporting Actress" – Cliffhanger

Screen Actors Guild Awards

• 1995: Nominated, "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series" – Northern Exposure

Young Artist Award

• 1983: Won, "Best Young Actress in the Daytime Series" – General Hospital

Bibliography

• Holding Her Head High: Inspiration from 12 Single Mothers Who Championed Their Children and Changed History. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7852-2324-5

References

External links

• Janine Turner at the Internet Movie Database
• Janine-Turner at the TCM Movie Database
  
• Janine Turner at AllMovie
• Appearances on C-SPAN