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Early life

Tripplehorn was born on June 10, 1963, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Suzanne Ferguson and Tom Tripplehorn, who was once a guitarist with Gary Lewis & the Playboys. Her parents divorced when she was two years old. She graduated from Edison High School in 1981 and spent one semester studying at the University of Tulsa.¹ She performed on the local television shows Creature Feature (1982–83) and Night Shift (1983).²³ She also worked part-time, then full-time on local rock radio station KMOD for several years before leaving for Juilliard.⁴ She then attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 19 (1986–1990), which also included Laura Linney.⁵

Career

Tripplehorn began her career on stage. She appeared Off-Broadway in John Patrick Shanley's The Big Funk in 1990, then co-starred with Val Kilmer in a 1993 production of John Ford's 1630s play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. She has also been on Broadway in Anton Chekov's Three Sisters opposite Amy Irving and Lili Taylor. In 1992, she made her film debut, in a supporting role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.⁶ The following year, she appeared as Abby McDeere opposite Tom Cruise in The Firm and in 1995 had another lead role alongside Kevin Costner in Waterworld. As lead actress, she starred in the 1997 box-office bomb 'Til There Was You.⁷⁸ The next few years she had supporting roles in small films, including Office Killer, Monument Ave., and Sliding Doors; and in 1999 appeared opposite Hugh Grant in the British romantic comedy Mickey Blue Eyes.⁹ She was cast opposite Madonna in the 2002 film Swept Away.¹⁰

In 2006, Tripplehorn was cast in a leading role as Barbara Henrickson in the HBO drama series Big Love, opposite Bill Paxton, regarded as the most successful role of her career.¹¹ In 2009, she played Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the HBO movie Grey Gardens. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for this performance.¹² In 2011, she appeared in Five, a movie on the Lifetime television network.¹³ In July 2012, Tripplehorn joined the cast of CBS procedural Criminal Minds in season eight, replacing Paget Brewster's character Emily Prentiss.¹⁴ She received a six-figure salary per episode of Criminal Minds.¹⁵ She left the series after two seasons and Jennifer Love Hewitt replaced her as a new agent.¹⁶

Tripplehorn has appeared in the independent films Little Pink House (2017), with Catherine Keener, and Gloria Bell (2018), starring Julianne Moore. In 2020, she returned to television in the Hulu miniseries Mrs. America opposite Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Rose Byrne, Tracey Ullman and Margo Martindale.¹⁷¹⁸ She was later cast in a recurring role in the HBO period drama series The Gilded Age starring Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon.¹⁹

Personal life

Tripplehorn married actor Leland Orser in 2000. They have a son.²⁰

Filmography

Film

Television

External links

• Media related to Jeanne Tripplehorn at Wikimedia Commons
• Jeanne Tripplehorn at IMDb

References

1. "Jeanne Tripplehorn – Biography". Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2017. https://movies.yahoo.com/person/jeanne-tripplehorn/biography.html ↩

2. "'Tulsa TV Memories, Creature Feature on KOKI, Channel 23'He is joined by Jeanne Summers (aka Jeanne Tripplehorn)..." Retrieved January 26, 2014. http://tulsatvmemories.com/creature.html ↩

3. "'Tulsa TV Memories, Night Shift on KTUL, Channel 8' Jeanne Tripplehorn hosted a late night local music program, "Night Shift", on Channel 8 in the early 80s". Retrieved January 26, 2014. http://tulsatvmemories.com/brucwing.html#nightshift ↩

4. Phelps, Brad (March 8, 1991). "The Prime of Miss Jeanne Tripplehorn". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 28, 2019. https://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/the-prime-of-miss-jeanne-tripplehorn/article_6f846513-a8a0-5e12-b4c4-9fe2638fe75a.html ↩

5. "Alumni News". The Juilliard School. September 2007. Archived from the original on November 11, 2011. Retrieved April 7, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20111111121334/http://juilliard.edu/alumni/news/news_decades/2007-2008/0709/index.php ↩

6. Jeanne Makes the Scene, a July 23, 1993 article from Entertainment Weekly https://ew.com/article/1993/07/23/jeanne-tripplehorn-firm/ ↩

7. "'Til There Was You". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/til_there_was_you/ ↩

8. "Til There Was You (1997)". Box Office Mojo. June 13, 1997. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=tiltherewasyou.htm ↩

9. "Mickey Blue Eyes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mickey_blue_eyes/ ↩

10. "Swept Away". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1116774-swept_away/ ↩

11. "Jeanne Tripplehorn Biography". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/jeanne_tripplehorn/biography.php ↩

12. "Jeanne Tripplehorn". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Emmys.com. Retrieved January 4, 2014. http://www.emmys.com/bios/jeanne-tripplehorn ↩

13. Andreeva, Nellie (April 13, 2011). "CABLE MOVIE NEWS: Jeanne Tripplehorn, Patricia Clarkson To Star In Lifetime's 'Project 5', Hallmark Casts Its Kate Middleton". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://deadline.com/2011/04/cable-movie-news-jeanne-tripplehorn-patricia-clarkson-to-star-in-lifetimes-project-5-hallmark-casts-its-kate-middleton-122516/ ↩

14. Adam Bryant (July 9, 2012). "Criminal Minds: Get to Know the BAU's New Team Member". TV Guide. Retrieved June 1, 2013. https://www.tvguide.com/News/Criminal-Minds-Erica-Messer-1049748.aspx ↩

15. Andreeva, Nellie (June 14, 2012). "CBS' 'Criminal Minds' Casts Jeanne Tripplehorn As Regular". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 4, 2014. https://deadline.com/2012/06/jeanne-tripplehorn-joins-cbs-criminal-minds-as-new-regular-285800/ ↩

16. Webb, Matt (July 1, 2014). "Jennifer Love Hewitt Joining 'Criminal Minds' in Season 10". TVLine. Retrieved August 25, 2014. http://tvline.com/2014/07/01/jennifer-love-hewitt-criminal-minds-season-10/ ↩

17. Iannucci, Rebecca (May 14, 2019). "Sarah Paulson, James Marsden and 9 Others Join Cate Blanchett in FX's Limited Series Mrs. America". https://tvline.com/2019/05/14/sarah-paulson-james-marsden-mrs-america-cast-fx-limited-series/ ↩

18. Bennett, Anita (May 14, 2019). "Uzo Aduba, James Marsden, Sarah Paulson, More Join Cate Blanchett In FX's 'Mrs. America'". https://deadline.com/2019/05/uzo-aduba-james-marsden-sarah-paulson-rose-byrne-cate-blanchett-fx-mrs-america-1202614271/ ↩

19. Andreeva, Nellie (February 4, 2020). "'The Gilded Age': Jeanne Tripplehorn Joins Cast Of HBO Drama Series". https://deadline.com/2020/02/the-gilded-age-jeanne-tripplehorn-cast-hbo-drama-series-major-recurring-1202851055/ ↩

20. Peter Hartlaub (April 24, 2010). "S. F. native Orser opens dark door as director". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved February 18, 2013. http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/S-F-native-Orser-opens-dark-door-as-director-3266701.php ↩

21. Hayes, Britt (July 24, 2013). "See the Cast of 'Reality Bites' Then and Now". ScreenCrush. https://screencrush.com/reality-bites-then-now/ ↩

22. Maglio, Tony (May 13, 2025). "FX Sets Premiere Dates for 'The Bear' Season 4, 'Alien: Earth' and Sterlin Harjo's 'The Lowdown'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 14, 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-bear-season-4-alien-earth-the-lowdown-release-dates-1236214736/ ↩