Jennifer Eve Antoinette Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress, best known for her roles of Kelly Taylor in Beverly Hills, 90210, its spinoff series 90210, and of Valerie Kelly Tyler in What I Like About You.
Early life
Jennifer Eve Garth was born in Illinois to John and Carolyn Garth, who each already had three children from different marriages. She grew up on a 25-acre horse ranch in Arcola, Illinois with her six older half-siblings: Johnny, Chuck, Lisa, Cammie, Wendy and Lynn. Jennie also lived in Tuscola, Illinois during her younger years. When Garth was 11, she and her family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. She took dancing lessons and did a little modeling while living there, at the time wanting to go to college and later start her own dance studio. At age 15, she was discovered and encouraged to pursue an acting career by a talent scout, who had seen her win a talent competition.
She dropped out of Greenway High School during her junior year, and she and her mother moved to Los Angeles so she could become an actress. She later obtained her diploma in California. There, she started taking acting classes and went to auditions almost every day. After living in L.A. about four months, she landed the role of ‘Erica McCray’ on the NBC series A Brand New Life (1989).
Career
Garth is best known for her role as the beleaguered Kelly Taylor on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210. At various points in the series, Garth’s character was involved in a love triangle between Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) and Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestly), became a diet pill abuser, was trapped in a fire, became involved in a cult, used cocaine, was raped, shot, got amnesia and had a miscarriage. She and former costar Tiffani Thiessen are best friends, a stark contrast to the show, where Garth’s Kelly and Thiessen’s Valerie Malone were sworn enemies whose feuds were a large part of the plots in seasons five through eight.
Garth starred in the sitcom What I Like About You as Amanda Bynes’ sister Valerie Tyler. Along with Leslie Grossman and Amanda Bynes, she starred on the show for all four seasons. Garth’s story, “I Am Home,” was featured in Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. She played the lead female role in the 1993 television production of Danielle Steel’s Star.
In May 2008, TV Guide confirmed that Garth will reprise the role of Kelly Taylor in the new CW spin off of Beverly Hills, 90210. Kelly will be on recurring status as a guidance counselor at West Beverly High.[1] The writers hope she will be able to have some scenes with Shannen Doherty who is reprising her 90210 role of Brenda Walsh.[2] It has been reported that Garth and Doherty’s characters will both have a romantic interest in the character Ryan Matthews (Ryan Eggold),[3] reminiscent of their old rivalry for former bad boy character Dylan McKay.
Dancing with the Stars
Jennie appeared on Season 5 of Dancing with the Stars and was paired with Derek Hough. Garth had consistently high scores throughout the entire competition and was one of the few contestants to maintain 8s and above after week 2. She was shockingly eliminated on the ninth week of competition finishing at a respectable fourth out of 12, after scoring her first perfect score of the competition with her Cha-Cha-Cha [4] while Marie Osmond (who came in last place for three weeks up to that point) remained in the competition. The audience gave her a standing ovation (something very uncommon in the show). Judge Len Goodman stated that it “was not her time to go”. In her exiting montage video, Derek Hough stated how proud he was of her for going on an emotional journey and improving from three 7’s to three 10’s.