About
TV actress best known for her role as Gina Jefferson on Sesame Street from 1986 until 2015. She has reprised the role in many related specials and straight-to-video productions. She also played Donna in the 1985 Broadway show Hurly Burly. In 2006 she was in several episodes of the FX show Rescue Me as Deb Stackhouse.
Before Fame
She was a child actress who landed the darker role of Joanne in the 1984 theater production of Landscape of the Body when she was only 12.
Trivia
When she was first offered the role in Sesame Street, she turned it down, thinking that her "tough" image would be in jeopardy and worried that she would be rejected and form a resentment against the beloved show. She appeared in an episode of FBI in 2023.
Family Life
She met her husband, writer/director Harry O'Reilly, while starring in the ABC After-School Special It's Only Rock and Roll. She is sometimes credited on Sesame Street after that as Alison Bartlett O'Reilly. Together they had three children.
Associated With
She made some guest appearances on the hit shows Law & Order and The Sopranos.
