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Jill Larson JPI LARGE

Jill Larson

Role Opal, AMC

Show All My Children

The 411

BIRTHDATE: October 7

BIRTHPLACE: Minneapolis, MN

YEARS ON SHOW: 1989-present

MARITAL STATUS: formerly married to a Frenchman she met while traveling; the union lasted eight years.


BIRTHDATE: October 7
BIRTHPLACE: Minneapolis, MN
YEARS ON SHOW: 1989-present
MARITAL STATUS: formerly married to a Frenchman she met while traveling; the union lasted eight years.
CHILDREN: Larson is the proud mom of Anni-Ming Larson, whom she adopted in June 1996

Jill Larson started her acting career at the age of 11, when she began a long affiliation with the esteemed Minnesota Children’s Theater Company. After leaving the company, she moved to Paris, where she worked as an au pair, but was soon enmeshed in a thriving modeling career. She later settled in New York and enrolled at Hunter College, earning a degree in communication. Larson's impressive theater career includes several Broadway credits, most notably Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman. She made her daytime debut in 1986 on AS THE WORLD TURNS as the Barbara Walters-esque Judith Clayton, then joined ONE LIFE TO LIVE in 1988 as loony bomber Ursula Blackwell. The following year, she was cast on AMC as Opal, assuming the role made famous by Emmy-winner Dorothy Lyman. In 1996, she became a mother when she traveled to China to adopt daughter Anni-Ming, who is a favorite guest at the AMC studio.

 

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Random facts

  • Grew up with Dorothy Lyman, who originated the role of Opal.
  • Is ordained to officiate at weddings.
  • Is allergic to hair spray — a challenge given her character's penchant for high-flying 'dos!
  • She was nominated for a Student Academy Award at Hunter College for producing the documentary film Gibbs Garden about a painter living with AIDS. His work was later exhibited which was co-curated by Larson.
  • Has strawberry-blonde hair and blue-green eyes.

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