Jennifer Grant
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Jennifer Diane Grant (born February 26, 1966) is an American actress. The daughter of actors
Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
and
Dyan Cannon Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Ho ...
, she is best known for roles in the television series ''
Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...
'' and ''
Movie Stars A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor or actress who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and wh ...
''.


Early life

Grant was born in
Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...
, to actors
Dyan Cannon Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Ho ...
and
Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...
. Her parents divorced when she was only two years old. Jennifer had a close relationship with her father for the rest of his life. Partly because her father did not want her to become an actress, she tried other things for several years. As a teenager during high school at Brentwood School in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and on break from college, she worked as a babysitter, stock clerk at the Village store in Pacific Palisades, grocery store checkout cashier at the Rainbow Grocery in Malibu, and waitress at the Pioneer Boulangerie restaurant in Santa Monica. After graduating from
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
in 1987 with a degree in
American Studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory. Sch ...
, she worked for a law firm, and followed that with a job as a chef at
Wolfgang Puck Wolfgang Johannes Puck (born July 8, 1949) is an Austrian-American chef and restaurateur. Early life and career Puck was born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria. He learned cooking from his mother, who was a pastry chef. He took the surname ...
's Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills. When her father died in 1986, he left her half of his $60 million estate; the other half of the estate went to her stepmother Barbara Harris.


Career

In 1993, seven years after her father's death, Grant played her first acting role in the
Aaron Spelling Aaron Spelling (April 22, 1923 June 23, 2006) was an American film and television producer and occasional actor. His productions included the TV series ''Family'' (1976–1980), '' Charlie's Angels'' (1976–1981), ''The Love Boat'' (1977–1986 ...
television drama ''
Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to by its short title, ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling under his production company Spelling Television. The series ran fo ...
'', in the recurring role of Celeste Lundy. She appeared as a guest star in a variety of shows including ''
Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'', and later appeared in several movies. In 1999, she was the lead actress in the WB television sitcom ''
Movie Stars A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor or actress who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and wh ...
''. Grant's memoir, ''Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant'' (2011), is a portrait of her relationship with her father, who was 62 when she was born and who died 20 years later. The title refers to a favorite expression of his, said in reference to things he approved of or situations he was happy about.


Personal life

Grant has two children, a son, Cary (born 2008), and a daughter, Davian (born 2011). She was previously married to director
Randy Zisk Randall "Randy" Zisk is an American television director and producer. He graduated from the University of Southern California and is a native of Dallas, Texas, where he graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas. His brother, Craig Zisk, also wo ...
from 1993 to 1996. Grant has volunteered as an actress and mentor with the
Young Storytellers Foundation Young Storytellers, formerly widely known as the Young Storytellers Foundation, is an arts education non-profit operating primarily in Los Angeles. Young Storytellers currently serves elementary, middle, and high school students in Southern Califor ...
.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

*
Sampling of photos from the book ''Good Stuff''
Alfred A. Knopf/Random House, publisher. {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Jennifer 1966 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American television actresses American people of English descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent Actresses from Burbank, California Living people Stanford University alumni