| Jenny O'Hara | |
|---|---|
 Veteran actress Jenny O'Hara played the part of Janet Heffernan (Doug's mom) on "The King of Queens". | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Gender: | Female |
| Born: | February 24, 1942 |
| Birthplace | Sonora, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Family and Personal | |
| Character information | |
| Appeared on: | The King of Queens |
| Episodes appeared in: | 15 in Seasons 3-9 |
| Appears as: | Janet Heffernan, Doug's mother |
]]Jenny O'Hara (born February 24, 1942) plays the part of Janet Heffernan, Doug's mom, on the King of Queens.
Early life and personal[]
Jenny was born Patricia Joanne O'Hara[1] in Sonora, California, where her father, John B. O'Hara, was a salesman, and her mother, Edith (née Hopkins), was a journalist and drama teacher, who founded and still continues to run the storied 13th Street Repertory Company in New York City. Jenny, her singer/actress younger sister Jill O'Hara, and her singer/guitarist brother Jack O'Hara, grew up amid their mother's pursuit of a theatrical career. Edith O'Hara directed a children's theater in Warren, where the two daughters occasionally acted.
Acting career[]
Jenny spent a year at Carnegie Tech (now CMU) in Pittsburgh and a summer playing in stock theater, and then came to New York to study with famed acting coaches Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner. In the 1960s she appeared in the dramatic play Dylan opposite Sir Alec Guinness, and in the short-lived musical The Fig Leaves Are Falling with Dorothy Loudon.
In 1970, O'Hara succeeded her younger sister, Jill (who had been nominated for a Tony Award) in the musical Promises, Promises. By the mid-1970s, Edith O'Hara was running the 13th Street Theatre in Greenwich Village (a major venue for off-off-Broadway and children's theater), and her brother Jack was in London, playing guitar and bass and singing with the band Eggs Over Easy, pioneering the pub rock scene in England. She graduated to television, both in series and made-for-TV features, including starring roles in: Brink's: The Great Robbery, The Return of the World's Greatest Detective, Blind Ambition and Blinded by the Light with actress Kristy McNichol.
She later worked in movies such as Career Opportunities, A Mother's Prayer, Mystic River, Matchstick Men, Extract and Devil, was part of the ensemble cast for the first season of The Facts of Life and had guest roles on television series such as ABC-TV's Charlie's Angels, Barney Miller, and NYPD Blue; CBS's 'Kojak and My Sister Sam; NBC's Law & Order and ER, FOX-TV's Beverly Hills, 90210,, House M.D., Reba, Six Feet Under, and Big Love. She also had roles in the 2009 film, Extract, and the 2010 horror film, Devil.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Birth name as per California Births, 1905 - 1995. Family Tree Legends Records Collection (Online Database). Pearl Street Software, 2004-2005.
- ↑ M. Night's Devil Gets a Date
