Carolyn Hennesy
On television, Emmy Award winning actress Carolyn Hennesy has dazzled as the deliciously vicious Penelope Ellis on ABC’s critically acclaimed series REVENGE. She also joined the cast for the fifth season of the sleek vampires-meet-world saga, TRUE BLOOD, and fast become a fan favorite as Rosalyn, the ageless vamp with a Texas twang. Prior to REVENGE and TRUE BLOOD, Hennesy was best known for her memorable work as “Barb” on ABC’s COUGAR TOWN and for her Emmy nominated work as “Diane Miller” on ABC’s GENERAL HOSPITAL. She has also guest starred on a long list of prime time favorites including CHAMPIONS, NCIS, THE COOL KIDS, THE MINDY PROJECT, MOM, AND LIZA ON DEMAND. Kids across America know her as the hilariously haughty Mrs. Chesterfield on Disney Channel’s JESSIE. On the big screen, Hennesy’s credits include CLICK, LEGALLY BLONDE 2, TERMINATOR 3 as well as starring in the horror film, ST. AGATHA (directed by SAW’s Darren Bousman,) the recently released comedy SWING OF THINGS and the soon to be released RELENTLESS for Lifetime…but the biggest recent large screen news is her role in J.J. Abrams Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker as fighter pilot Demine Lithe. She’s starred in TBS’ online series Business Doing Pleasure, TAKE IT FROM THE TOP, Two Sentence Horror Stories for Time/Warner’s new streaming channel, The Bay for Amazon Prime in the role of Karen Blackwell…for which she received her Emmy and a 2016 Indie Series Award. Most recently, she’s starred as Gloria in Sean Kanen’s series STUDIO CITY, for which she received another Emmy nomination. Hennesy received her training at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her razor sharp comedic timing was honed as a member of The Groundling’s Sunday Company and in ACME Theatre’s main company. Hennesy has appeared in over a hundred stage productions worldwide, most recently and to great acclaim as Maria Callas in Terrence McNally’s Master Class at the Garry Marshall Theatre for which she received the LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for “Best Actress In A Play” for the entirety of Los Angeles, 2017-18. Among other accolades, the LA Drama Critics Circle has distinguished her with the Natalie Schafer Award and the LA Stage Alliance honored her with her first Ovation for THE FAN MAROO. For the three years, Hennesy hosted the red carpet reception for the Daytime Emmy Awards for NATAS, FB, and nearly all social media platforms. Hennesy’s creative endeavors also include a successful career as a writer; she created the wildly popular “Pandora” (Bloomsbury USA) children’s book series and penned the New York Times Bestseller “The Secret Life of Damian Spinelli” (Hyperion). When not on set, Hennesy is privileged to lend her time to a number of causes but she focuses on veteran affairs and particularly animal rescue, preservation, conservation and advocacy as an ambassador for American Human and her own Los Angeles Zoo. On January 2nd. 2017, Hennesy crossed something off of her bucket list: she rode on a float (Lucy Pet Foundation) in the Tournament of Roses Parade. Now she simply has to go into space (difficult) and fly over Disneyland as Tinkerbell to set off the fireworks (impossible). She lives in her native Los Angeles with four dogs and one cat, rescues all, and…in what spare time is left…she flies trapeze. Seriously.