Biografia
Emmy Award winner Jennifer Bassey became a contract player on ABC TV's All My Children in the summer of 1998, having portrayed the complex character "Marian Colby" since the early 1980s. Born in Chicago, Jennifer began her entertainment career as a singing Playboy Bunny at the original Playboy Club. She then left that role behind to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, where she entered with the lowest marks ever recorded at the academy. Three years later, she graduated with honors, just behind classmate and future Academy Award winner Sir Anthony Hopkins. Jennifer moved to New York City, where she performed in numerous Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including Neil Simon's California Suite; Not Now Darling, directed by George Abbott; In Praise of Love with Rex Harrison; and The Homecoming, the original Royal Shakespeare production.
Her recent off-Broadway work includes Molière's Tartuffe and Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic, both staged at the Tribeca Playhouse. Previous off-Broadway roles featured her as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew at the Roundabout Theatre; Lady Macbeth in Macbeth at the Stratford Theatre; and co-starring with Ken Kercheval in Love Letters.
In 1983, Bassey won the role of Marian Colby on All My Children, initially signing for five months. Due to the character's immense popularity, Marian has remained a fixture nearly 20 years later. Alongside her dramatic achievements, Jennifer has built a successful film career with roles in Waxwork (1988), Twogether (1992)—which also showcased Nick Cassavetes’ acting and directing—and Dunston Checks In (1996), where she famously shared a memorable scene receiving an orgasmic massage from an orangutan. She has also appeared on prime-time television, most recently guest-starring on Law & Order.
Other notable TV appearances include L.A. Law, Falcon Crest, Murphy Brown, Silk Stalkings, Matlock, and Coach. In addition to her Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress, she has earned two Soap Opera Digest Awards, the second shared with co-star David Canary for Favorite Couple. Jennifer shares her life with longtime partner Luther Davis, the acclaimed playwright and screenwriter behind the books for Kismet and Grand Hotel. He also wrote and produced Timbuktu, starring Eartha Kitt. In her free time, Jennifer enjoys outdoor activities and is an aspiring writer, currently developing a new nighttime series titled Nightfall, which is under consideration by HBO.
