Before Betting

Jennifer Tilly was born Jennifer E. Chan in Harbor City, Los Angeles, California. (born September 16, 1958) is an American actress. She is an Academy Award nominee, and a World Series of Poker Ladies' Event bracelet winner. She is the second of four children of Harry Chan, a Chinese American used car salesman, and Patricia Tilly, a schoolteacher and former stage actress. Following her parents' divorce when she was five, she was raised by her mother and stepfather, John Ward, on rural Texada Island, British Columbia, Canada. Her mother divorced again when Tilly was a teenager, and moved to Victoria, where Tilly attended Belmont High School. Her sister is actress Meg Tilly. Jennifer Tilly began her acting career in her teenage years through a theatre program at Stephens College in Missouri. Tilly married Sam Simon in 1984, but they divorced in 1991. She has been dating poker professional Phil Laak since 2005.

In a television interview, Tilly stated that at this point in her career she is more interested in pursuing poker than acting. As of 2008, her live tournament winnings exceed $450,000. Tilly also appears in the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions 2007 Edition video game (along with current boyfriend, Phil Laak) that was released in 2007 by Activision. As of December 2008, Tilly retired from the pursuit of poker as a career. In the December, 2008, edition of Bluff Magazine she says: "I love poker but greatness in poker is an elusive dream. There are too many variants. Trying to find validation in poker is like trying to find a virgin in a whorehouse. I’m not giving up poker entirely — gambling is an addiction after all. I’m just going to treat it more like a hobby and less like a career."

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a hopelessly bad actress in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway (1994). In 1994, she also had a small role in The Getaway with Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Tilly was ranked #23 in Celebrity Sleuth "25 Sexiest Women of 1995."

Tilly starred in Bound, which portrays a lesbian relationship her character has with Gina Gershon. She played Samantha Cole in the Jim Carrey hit Liar Liar. In 2000's Dancing at the Blue Iguana she played a stripper and part-time dominatrix. She portrayed gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the 2001 Peter Bogdanovich film The Cat's Meow.