Brynn Thayer is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing

Jenny Wolek Jenny Wolek is a fictional character from the American soap opera ''One Life to Live''. The distant cousin of original characters Larry Wolek, Larry, Anna Wolek, Anna, and Vince Wolek, Jenny debuted June 1975, appearing continually until May 1986. ...

on the television soap opera ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'' from 1978 to 1986, which earned her a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

nomination. Brynn Thayer in 2021 1

Career

Thayer is best known for her work on television. From 1978-86, she played

in the ABC daytime soap opera, ''

''. Thayer assumed the role in August 1978 amid a contract dispute between

Katherine Glass Katherine Glass (born January 11, 1947) is an American actress best remembered for her television work in the 1970s. Career Glass was raised as a Roman Catholic in New Haven, Connecticut."Kathy takes a day at a time" by Jon-Michael Reed, ''The ...

and

ABC Daytime ABC Daytime (sometimes shortened to ABC-D or ABCD) is a division responsible for the daytime programming block on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Network and syndicated programming. The block has historically encompassed soap operas, game ...

In 1986, Thayer left ''One Life to Live'' and began a career on primetime television. She starred in two short-lived dramas for CBS: ''

TV 101 ''TV 101'' is an American drama television series that aired on CBS from November 29, 1988 until March 25, 1989. The series stars Sam Robards, Brynn Thayer, Leon Russom and Andrew Cassese. Other notable cast members include Stacey Dash, Teri Polo ...

'' from 1988 to 1989, and ''

Island Son ''Island Son'' is an American medical drama television series that aired on CBS from September 16, 1989, to March 15, 1990, during the 1989–90 schedule. ''Island Son'' marked the return to regular weekly series television of Richard Chamberla ...

'' (1989-1990). In 1992, she joined the cast of the ABC legal series '' Matlock'' portraying Matlock's daughter, Leanne MacIntyre, and was a regular cast member; she was previously a guest star in the 1991 episode "The Suspect". From 1997-98, she had a regular role in the '' Pensacola: Wings of Gold''. In film, Thayer co-starred in ''

Hero and the Terror ''Hero and the Terror'' is a 1988 American action film starring martial arts star Chuck Norris, directed by William Tannen. Produced by Menahem Golan, written by Michael Blodgett, and was distributed by Cannon Films. The film stars Norris as Dann ...

'' (1988) and '' Murder in Mexico: The Bruce Beresford-Redman Story'' (2015). She guest starred in a number of television shows, including ''

Moonlighting Moonlighting may refer to: * Side job, a job taken in addition to one's primary employment Entertainment * ''Moonlighting'' (film), a 1982 drama film by Jerzy Skolimowski * ''Moonlighting'' (TV series), 1985–1989 American television series, s ...

''; ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''; '' 7th Heaven''; '' Diagnosis: Murder''; '' JAG''; ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or re ...

''; ''

Without a Trace ''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...

''; ''

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

''; '' Suits''; and ''

How to Get Away with Murder ''How to Get Away with Murder'' is an American legal thriller television series that premiered on ABC on September 25, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2020. The series was created by Peter Nowalk, and produced by Shonda Rhimes and ABC Studios. Th ...

''. She had a recurring role in ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' as Kylie Quinlan in 1994. In 2011, she guest starred on ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

'' as

Susan Banks Susan Banks is a fictional character on NBC's daytime drama '' Days of Our Lives''. She was played by Eileen Davidson from November 4, 1996, to April 8, 1998, and again in 2014 and 2017. Susan is the eccentric mother of Elvis "EJ" DiMera, and on ...

Personal life

Thayer was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, the daughter of Margery (née Schwartz) and William Paul Thayer, a former naval officer and business executive who was

Deputy Secretary of Defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the se ...

(1983–84) in the

Reagan Administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over D ...

. She studied acting at the

Beverly Hills Playhouse The Beverly Hills Playhouse is an acting school with theaters and training facilities in Beverly Hills, California, and also in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. It is one of the oldest acting schools and theatres in Los Angeles Cou ...

acting school. Thayer co-founded the charitable organization ZazAngels with actor

Michael Zaslow Michael Joel Zaslow (November 1, 1942 – December 6, 1998) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as villain Roger Thorpe on CBS's ''Guiding Light'', a role he played from 1971 to 1980 and again from 1989 to 1997. Life a ...

and his wife, Susan Hufford, to generate funds for researching

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

(ALS or

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

's disease). Zaslow died of ALS on December 6, 1998.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thayer, Brynn American film actresses American television actresses Living people Actresses from Dallas American soap opera actresses 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people)