Jennifer Tilly's Real Name: Jennifer Tilly

Quick answer: Jennifer Tilly's professional and public name is Jennifer Tilly. Library of Congress records file her as "Tilly, Jennifer, 1958-," with the official variant "Chan, Jennifer E., 1958-." Catalog notes disagree on the exact birth date, giving September 15 or September 16, 1958, in Harbor City, California. She is an Oscar-nominated actress and a professional poker player who won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 2005 (The Guardian; TODAY / AP).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress heading uses Jennifer Tilly. An official variant, Chan, Jennifer E., records another form of the name, and one catalog note calls Jennifer E Chan a birth name. Because those notes do not independently expand the middle initial, this page uses Jennifer Tilly in the title and records the Chan variant in the name notes. The same records place her birth in Harbor City, California, in 1958, but they do not agree whether the date is September 15 or September 16.

Career highlights

The Guardian and an Associated Press report carried by TODAY both note that Tilly was an Academy Award nominee for her role in the 1994 film Bullets Over Broadway, in which, the Guardian says, she played Olive Neal. Those 2005 news accounts describe her more broadly as an actor known for playing gangsters' molls, and they treat the Oscar nomination as the credit that identified her to a general audience.

In June 2005 she won the Ladies no-limit Texas Hold 'Em event at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The Associated Press, via TODAY, said she was the first celebrity to win a WSOP event and the first woman in that year's series to win a bracelet, the prize that goes to an event winner. She beat 600 players in a two-day tournament and earned $158,625. Nolan Dalla, the tournament's media director, told reporters that she showed "an incredible amount of talent," took an early chip lead, and "never looked back."

Name notes for searchers

Jennifer Tilly is the name used in film credits, news reports, and the Library of Congress heading. Catalog records also file her under Chan, Jennifer E. Searchers looking for either form are usually aiming at the same person. This page is about the actress and poker player, not other people named Tilly.