Carolyn Hennesy Biography

Carolyn Lee Hennesy (born June 10, 1962) is an Emmy-nominated American soap opera actress, New York Times Best-Selling author, and zoo advocate. She is known for her work promoting not only AZA zoos and aquariums, but accredited marine parks, like SeaWorld. In addition, she is known for her role as Diane Miller on the daytime television program General Hospital.

Hennesy received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her work on General Hospital and appeared on the Disney Channel show Jessie as the scheming Mrs. Rhoda Chesterfied.

Early life

Hennesy was born on June 10, 1962 in Encino, California, the daughter of Oscar-winning art director Dale Hennesy.

Career

Acting

She starred as Mrs. Valentine on the teen drama Dawson's Creek in the 2000-2001 season, and she had supporting roles in the films Global Effect (2002), Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde (2003), Click (2006), The Heat Chamber (2003) and Cougar Club (2007). She made three appearances on That '70s Show and has guest-starred on Reba as the mother of Reba's son-in-law, Van. She made a guest appearance on Drake & Josh as Mrs. Abernathy, the boss of the Ball & Vance Fish Corp. Additionally, she appeared as Judith Haven in an episode of What I Like About You and she voiced Blair Lansfield in the video game Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. Currently, she stars as Rosalyn Harris in the fifth season of HBO hit series True Blood. In 2016, she joined the cast of the Netflix production Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

Writing

Hennesy has written a series of children's books based on the character Pandora. The first one, called Pandora Gets Jealous, was released January 2008. The sequel, Pandora Gets Vain, was released August 2008. The third book in the series, Pandora Gets Lazy, released March 2009. Book four, Pandora Gets Heart, was released in January 2010. The fifth book, Pandora Gets Angry, was released in February 2011. Book six, Pandora Gets Greedy, was released in June 2012. Book seven, Pandora Gets Frightened, was released in 2013.

Hennesy wrote The Secret Life Of Damien Spinelli featuring the characters of General Hospital

Hennesy recently appeared in a GEICO television advertisement featuring the character known as "Cash".

In October 2011, Hennesy appeared on Jessie as Mrs. Chesterfield, and in November 2011 as Myrna in the "That Still Small Voice" episode of Once Upon a Time. She also guest starred in Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures.

Wildlife Conservation & Zoo Advocacy

Hennesy is a wildlife conservationist and zoo animal welfarist. She is an outspoken critic of PETA and anti-zoo proponents. The actress became a staunch advocate of the zoo and aquarium industry after visiting several prominent zoological facilities and researching their science and education programs. In 2015, she defended SeaWorld during the California Coastal Commission's hearings regarding the fate of the captive born and reared orca housed as SeaWorld parks.

Animal Magnetism

She is also the producer and host of Animal Magnetism, a radio program featuring zoo professionals. The program focuses on welfare and conservation issues and examines both the human-animal bond and the global increase in human-wildlife conflict resulting from human over-population growth and climate change.

American Humane Association

In 2016, Hennesy was named an American Humane Association celebrity ambassador and spoke before a congressional committee on the organization's new humane conservation initiative.

Personal life

Hennesy is a niece of actress Barbara Rush and cousin of Fox News reporter Claudia Cowan. She lives in Los Angeles. In 2007, Hennesy married Donald Agnelli. They divorced in 2013. She is a trapeze artist. She has two brothers. Scott Hennesy works at Disney World as an imagineer.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1992	I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore	Bowling Alley Waitress	Credited as Carolyn Henessey
1993	Lightning in a Bottle	Marsha Timmons
2001	Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation	Rose (voice: English version)
	The Elite	Elaine
2002	Engaging Peter	Vivian
	Surprise	Whitney	Short film
	Global Effect	Meredith Tripp
2003	Wave Babes	Maureen	Straight-to-video
	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines	Rich Woman
	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	Congresswoman with Haircut
2004	The Second Degree	Crissy
2005	Appleseed	Athena Aerios	Voice, Feature film, credited as Lee West
	The Heat Chamber	Lila
	Off the Hook	The Enchilada	Short film
2006	Outta Sync	Phaedra Lee
	Bambi II	Bambi's Mother (voice)	Straight-to-video
	Click	Kathy O'Doyle
	The Emerald Sun	Major Danes	Short film
2007	Feeding	Carolyn	Short film
	Sublime	Cheryl	Straight-to-video
	Cougar Club	Judge Margaret Emerson
	Believers	Lina Vance	Straight-to-video
	Til Death Does His Part	God	Short film
2008	Shattered!	Adrienne
	I Yes	Ms. Cummings	Short film
	Necessary Evil	Carole Fielding
	Boob Jobs & Jesus	Jody	Short film
2009	Half Truth	Soap Actress	Short film
	It's Not Me, It's You	Therapist	Short film
	Scream of the Bikini	Ronda (voice)
2010	Annie in the Aisle of Irma	Marsha	Short film
2011	I Love You Like Crazy	Dr. Sing	Short film

Television
Year	Series	Role	Notes
1993	Dark Justice	Jill	Episode: "Pygmalion"
1995	Deadly Invasion: The Killer Bee Nightmare	USDA Representative	Made-for-TV-Movie
	Grace Under Fire	Gloria	Episode:"Jimmy Goes Away
1995	Night Stand with Dick Dietrick	Layla	Episode: "The Fame Show"
1996	Night Stand with Dick Dietrick	Amanda	Episode: "Sexaholics"
1997	Wings	Flight Attendant	Episode: "Just Call Me Angel"
	Party of Five	Alice	Episode: "Leap of Faith"
	The Naked Truth	Flight Attendant	Episode: "We Almost Had Paris"
1997-1998	Jenny	Chase Gardner
1998	Encore! Encore!	Barbara	Episode: "The Diary"
1999	That '70s Show	Sharon Singer	2 episodes
	It's Like, You Know...	Cathy	Episode: "Pilot"
	Thanks	Henrietta Randolph	Episode: "Tobacco"
	The Big O	Vera Ronstadt	Contract role: Season 2 only
2000	Moesha	Dr. Miller	Episode: "He Doth Protest Too Much"
2000-2001	Dawson's Creek	Mrs. Valentine
2001	Strip Mall	Caroline Cantwell	Episode: "Barry Boinks Caroline"
	Reba	Mrs. Montgomery	Episode: "Tea and Antipathy"
2002	Any Day Now	Phyllis	Episode: "Boys Will Be Boys"
	The Young and the Restless	Penelope Quinlan	Episode: "Episode #1.7351"
	Judging Amy	Louise Rodericks	Episode: "Come Back Soon"
	Bram and Alice	Patricia	Episode: "Goody Two Shoes"
	Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex	Kago's Mother (voice: English version)	Episode: "Testation"
2003	Android Kidaider	Chigusa Sakamoto (voice: English version)	Unknown episodes
	Half & Half	Mrs. Scranton	Episode: "The Big Sexy Shame Episode"
	Recipe for Disaster	Mrs. Devries	Made-for-TV-Movie
	What I Like About You	Dr. Judith 'Judy' Haven	Episode: "When Holly Met Tina"
	Significant Others	Realtor	Episode: "The Right House, the Wrong Gender & a Turn"
	That '70s Show	Patty Ryals	Episode: "Winter"
2005	Barbershop	Mrs. Kane	Episode: "Debates and Dead People"
2006	Girlfriends	Melora Stewart	Episode: "The Music in Me"
	Commander in Chief	TV Interviewer	Episode: "Wind Beneath My Wing"
	Drake & Josh	Mrs. Abernathy	Episode: "I Love Sushi"
2007-present	General Hospital	Diane Miller	352 episodes+
2007	General Hospital: Night Shift	Diane Miller	Episode: "Falling Star"
2008	Little Miss CEO	Ms. Rivers	Made-for-TV-Movie
	Mother Goose Parade	Herself	61st Annual in San Diego County's City of El Cajon
2009	Penny Dreadfuls	Carolyn	Episode: "Feeding"
2009-2012	Cougar Town	Barb
2009	Penny Dreadfuls	Dorothy	Episode: "All Tomorrow's Parties"
2010	Everyone Counts	Sheila	2 episodes
	Better People	Ivy	Made-for-TV-Movie
2011	Everyone Counts	Sheila	2 episodes
	Shameless	Mrs. Neidereiter	Episode: "But at Last Came a Knock"
	Once Upon a Time	Myrna	Episode: "That Still Small Voice"
2011-2015	Jessie	Mrs. Rhoda Chesterfield
2012	Bucket and Skinner's Epic Adventures	R.J. Caldwell	Episode: "Epic Cuffs"
	True Blood	Rosalyn	Contract role: Season 5
2013	The Middle	Connie McDonald	Episode: "Winners and Losers"
2014	Devious Maids	Mrs. Parker	Episode: "You Can't Take It With You"
	Revenge	Mrs Ellis
2016	Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life	Toni	2 episodes

Video games
Year	Game	Role	Notes
2000	Jump Start 1st Grade	Ms. Nobel	Credited as Carolyn Hennessy
	Casper: Friends Around the World	Casper the Friendly Ghost
2001	Star Trek: Away Team	Aloram Vas (voice)	Credited as Carolyn Hennessy
2002	Star Trek: Bridge Commander	Captain Eina Zeiss/Captain Elizabeth Haley/Captain Torenn (voice)	Credited as Carolyn Hennesey
	.hack//Infection	Gardenia (voice: English version)
	.hack//Mutation	Gardenia (voice: English version)
	.hack//Outbreak	Gardenia (voice: English version)
2003	.hack//Quarantine	Gardenia (voice: English version)
	Star Ocean: Till the End of Time	Blair Lansfeld/Julee Garrand (voice: English version)	Uncredited
2005	Tales of Legendia	Additional Voices (voice: English version)	Uncredited
2007	Golden Axe: Beast Rider	(voice)
	Ghost Rider	Lilith (voice)
2009	'"World in Conflict: Soviet Assault	(voice)
2010	Metro 2033
2016	The Technomancer	Seeker, Angela

Awards

Year	Award	Result	Category	Series	ref
2000	Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle		Outstanding Comedic Actress	Career
2004	Ovation Award		Featured Actress in a Play	"The Fan Maroo"
2007	TV Guide's "Best of 2007" Awards		Best Supporting Actress	General Hospital
2009	Canadian Spirit Award			General Hospital
2010	Daytime Emmy		Outstanding Supporting Actress	General Hospital