Deborah Jenssen
- Actress
Lithe and lovely brunette dancer Deborah Jenssen was born on November
15, 1955 in Rochester, New York. Deborah began taking dance classes at
age three. Jenssen has two brothers and one half sister. She was a
dance major at the Boston Conservatory of Dance, where she studied
point, jazz and modern dance, ballet, and flamingo. Deborah began her
professional career as a dancer on TV specials with Barry Manilow,
Olivia Newton-John, and Lynda Carter. Moreover, Jenssen was featured as
a dancer for the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards, the Miss
Teen USA and Miss USA pageants, and episodes of the television programs
"The Merv Griffin Show" and "Entertainment Tonight." Deborah achieved
her greatest enduring fame as one of the regular dancers on the
enormously popular music variety TV series "Solid Gold;" she started on
the show in 1980 on a two hour TV special, was a dancer on the spin-off
summer TV show "Solid Gold Hits," and remained on the program until
1984. Outside of "Solid Gold," Jenssen appeared as a dancer in the big
budget musical fantasy "Xanadu," the made-for-TV film "The Girl, the
Gold Watch & Dynamite," and an episode of the hit TV series "Airwolf,"
had a sizable co-starring role as Margaret in the movie "Staying
Alive," and was featured in the music videos for "Walk the Dinosaur" by
Was Not Was, "Queen of the Broken Hearts" by Loverboy, "Tonight I'm
Yours" by Rod Stewart, and "Whirley Girl" by Oxo. Deborah was a back-up
singer and dancer for Tina Turner's American tour in the 80s and even
performed with James Brown live in concert. Jenssen was a choreographer
for two fitness videos: "Knock-Out Workout" by Ray 'Boom-Boom' Mancini
and "Body Perfection" by Lou Ferrigno. After leaving "Solid Gold" in
1984, Deborah lived in Europe for four years. During that time she
recorded a couple of dance-disco singles in Milan and toured Italy with
her group the Deborah Jenssen Band. Now married and a mother, Deborah
Jenssen lives in Los Angeles, California.
