Two-time Emmy-Award winning actress Jess Walton joined the cast of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS in June, 1987, as the driven and ambitious Jill Foster Abbott. Jill’s world was torn apart by the discovery that her mother, Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper), is not actually her mother, Cane (Daniel Goddard) is not actually her son and by her true son Phillip III’s return from the dead.
For her portrayal of Jill Abbott, she was honored with Emmy Awards as Outstanding Lead Actress in 1997 and as Best Supporting Actress in 1991. She received Emmy Award nominations in the latter category in 1990 and 2000. Additional honors include a 1993 Soap Opera Digest Award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Daytime Drama Series.
Walton has guest-starred in many notable television series through the course of her career, including "The Rockford Files," "Cannon," "Marcus Welby, M.D.," "The Six Million Dollar Man," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Barnaby Jones," "Ironside," "Starsky & Hutch" and "Kojak."
No stranger to daytime, Walton starred as Kelly Harper in the daytime drama series "Capitol," for three years. Walton has also starred in the telefims "Montserrat," "You’ll Never See Me Again," "The Storm," "Diary of a Madman" and "The Return of the Mod Squad."
Walton studied at the Toronto Workshop Productions Repertory Theatre for three years and appeared in summer stock and repertory company productions including "Uncle Vanya" and "The Right Honorable Gentleman."
She also starred in "Raw Comedy" at the Odyssey Theatre with her son Cole James and starred in the critically acclaimed short film "Paper Bags" in 2004.
Walton was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and raised in Toronto, Canada.
Walton is married to the internationally renowned grief recovery authority John W. James, founder of the Grief Recovery Institute and co-author of the national bestsellers (which have been translated into eight languages) The Grief Recovery Handbook, When Children Grieve and is currently writing his third book.
She and her husband live in Los Angeles and have a son, Cole, and a daughter, Allison.
Comments