Jill Larson - Life and Career

Life and Career

Larson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Ruth Evangeline (née Boyce), an interior decorator, and John Charles Larson, an aerospace engineer. She has three sisters. Larson attended the same high school as Dorothy Lyman, who played Opal on All My Children before her. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota (eventually, she finished her education at Hunter College), and began singing in nightclubs with a group called Just Us. It was not long before Just Us was discovered and headed to New York City, where they recorded several soundtracks, including the one for the film, Rachel, Rachel, starring Joanne Woodward.

She and her sister traveled throughout Europe in a bus, before she settled in Paris, France. She became a model, and was soon appearing in major American and European fashion spreads. While in Paris, she also landed her first film role (as a Swedish au pair) in Deadly Trap, starring Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella. Her next film role was as Jeanne Moreau's rival for her character's younger lover in the film, Chere Louise.

She made her Broadway debut in Death and the King's Horseman (1987). Other Broadway credits include Romantic Comedy by Bernard Slade and Dancing in the End Zone by Bill Davis. Her Off-Broadway credits include Mayo Simon's two-person play These Men (1980) and Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play (1982). Other regional credits include Private Lives, Full Gallop (a one-woman show portraying the famous editor of vogue, Diana Vreeland), Holiday, The Seagull, the title roles in Agnes of God and Gypsy. In addition to performing, Larson produced the cabaret revue Serious Bizness (1983). One of her proudest accomplishments was producing and appearing in Wicked & My So Called Life - a comedy revue written by Winnie Holzman and David Babcock, (Gilmore Girls, Brothers & Sisters), which ran successfully Off-Broadway for 8 months.

In 1986, Larson made her daytime television debut as TV columnist Judith Clayton on As the World Turns. In 1988, she briefly played bomb-loving psycho Ursulla Blackwell on One Life to Live before landing the role of Opal on All My Children.

She has appeared in television series such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and in an episode of Desperate Housewives on ABC (2011).

In June 2006, after approximately 17 years on contract at All My Children, Larson was taken off contract and reassigned to recurring status. But in early December 2009, ABC announced that, effective immediately, Larson would go back to contract status to ensure her stay with the show through its move to LA. She maintains bi-coastal residences in New York City and Los Angeles and lives with her daughter, Anni.