HEART TO HEART

The Oscarnominated actress and poker champ opens up about love, life and what’s next

Jennifer Tilly tells Closer how playing her cards right gave her a whole new outlook on life.

She’s made a career of playing ditzy, girlishly voiced characters like the gangster moll in Bullets Over Broadway and the bride of a killer doll in the Chucky films. But offscreen, Jennifer Tilly is a card shark who’s outsmarted some of the best players in Las Vegas! “I was obsessed with becoming a grand master of poker, and had a pivot moment when I won my [2005 World Series of Poker] gold bracelet where I thought, ‘I love acting, but do I really want to act for the rest of my life?’ ” Jennifer, 61, reveals to Closer.

“So now I’m doing both! I think life is all about balance.” The Oscar-nominated actress finds harmony at home with her partner of 16 years, poker champ Phil Laak, 47. “He’s a great guy,” she says. As she stars in two upcoming indie films and reprises her most popular role on the upcoming Syfy series Chucky, we met up with Jennifer at the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection show in February to hear her amazing journey.

What was it like to land an Oscar nomination for Bullets Over Broadway?

Well, nobody thought I was going to get nominated. [Harvey Weinstein] was pushing Dianne Wiest in the supporting actress category, so I had to buy ads and do my own campaign! So it felt like this testament to my sheer perseverance.

How would you rate these co-stars: John Cusack, Jeff Bridges and Chucky?

I don’t want him to kill me, but Chucky is the most annoying. I think of him as a person, because his puppeteers are always working. In between takes, he’s walking around, sticking his finger in food at craft services or grabbing me. Jeff Bridges is amazing. I believe in the trickledown theory on set: If the guys at the top are a--holes, everybody kicks the person below them, but Jeff is terrific to everybody. I love John Cusack — he was great to work with, because he would give as good as he got.

You have a distinctive voice. Would you say it was more a help or a hindrance?

When I started, I was doing this breathy Marilyn Monroe, little girl thing, but it was sort of a trick voice. It was a weird crutch, like I couldn’t act without it. And when I did [1994’s] The Getaway, the director cleared the set and said, “I want you to talk in your normal voice.” And I said, “I literally cannot.” He’s like, “Of course you can — that voice you were talking in before you started acting.” And I said, “All the attributes I plug into the characters, this is the voice that comes out, I can’t force it.” But now I have more of a husky, wispy voice, a lot lower. It’s a good voice for cartoons. I play Bonnie on Family Guy, and a [2020] series based on Monsters, Inc.,

[Disney+’s] Monsters at Work, so I’m doing a lot of that voice now. Not everyone realizes that Meg Tilly is your younger sister, do they? She was on her way to becoming a prima ballerina, but she hurt her back and couldn’t