As a struggling young actress, Jill Hennessy would busk for her dinner on the streets of Toronto.
Nearly 20 years later, and with a string of U.S. television series under her belt, the Edmonton-born beauty is getting a star on those same streets as one of this year's inductees to Canada's Walk of Fame. The honour comes as the former star of NBC crime dramas "Crossing Jordan" and "Law & Order" crosses genres to embark on a music career with a roots-infused album helmed by R.E.M. and U2 producer Patrick McCarthy.
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"Because it's so personal and I have no expectations, I just find it really exciting," Hennessy says of her turn to music following the cancellation of "Crossing Jordan" earlier this year.
"All I know is I really enjoy playing and it really means something to me. I'm hoping that will resonate with other people."
Strumming guitar and singing folk covers was what actually helped pay the bills when Hennessy first moved to Toronto from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., at age 18 in search of stardom, she says.
To think that she's now getting a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, alongside homegrown greats including goalie Johnny Bower and comedienne Catherine O'Hara, is stunning, says Hennessy, 38.
Given her humble beginnings, she jokes that her star on the sidewalk tribute - running through Toronto's entertainment district - might best be placed in "some alleyway" beside Queen Street's gritty Horseshoe Tavern.
"Part of me is a little insecure about accepting an honour like this because I wonder if I really deserve it," Hennessy says by phone from New York, where she's lived for the past 14 years.
"And yet it really feels so incredible because, yeah, there was a day when I was sitting on, probably the same sidewalk, playing guitar for money so I could go to the next block to the convenience store to have a can of corn and a cappuccino yogurt for dinner. Which, to be honest, was a really fun time in my life, I wouldn't change that for anything and if anything, I kind of miss it in some ways."
Busking on the streets of Toronto eventually led to small parts in Canadian productions and a breakout role in David Cronenberg's creepy feature "Dead Ringers," in which she appeared alongside twin sister Jacqueline Hennessy.
She landed a role in the Broadway-bound production of "The Buddy Holly Story" and went on to a succession of US TV roles as confident, no-nonsense women - first as lawyer Claire Kincaid on "Law & Order," then as Jackie Kennedy in the miniseries "Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot," and most recently as coroner Jordan Cavanaugh on "Crossing Jordan."
But with the cancellation of the coroner drama earlier this year, Hennessy says she's returning to her musical roots for her next project.
"Music was my thing, I didn't know if the acting would take off, to be honest," Hennessy says of those early days in Toronto.
"I was with an acting agent, who was great, but jobs were few and far between and I had met two guys singing on Yonge Street one afternoon ... and I started singing harmony with them."
That led to busking at the Bathurst subway station, and singing for change on Queen Street in front of the Horseshoe Tavern.
It was mostly covers back then - some Blue Rodeo, Bob Dylan and Hank Williams - but now Hennessy says she's written 14 tracks for a roots-inspired disc that she hopes to release next year.
The biggest challenge could very well be getting an audience to see the longtime actress as a musician, says Hennessy, noting that even in her acting career she's been pigeonholed into serious, straight roles.
"I got very typecast by that first role on 'Law and Order,"' she says.
"And even on 'Crossing Jordan,' that show was supposed to be a little lighter and more funny but they didn't even want to see me for that part because they'd only known me from 'Law and Order' and also I'd just played Jackie Kennedy in a miniseries for NBC. They said, 'Oh no, she's too sophisticated, we can't see her for this part, we need somebody a little grittier and angry and funny."'
The Second City alum only snagged the part when she sent in a scene from a movie she'd written and directed, a crude comedy about a dysfunctional acting class in which her character mimics having sex with a chair.
"What I would love to do now would be like a small hilarious parts in comedies. Anything that's bizarre, left of centre, a little twisted would be great," she says.
Other Walk of Fame honourees this year include actor Gordon Pinsent, newscaster Lloyd Robertson and rockers Nickelback.
