Jillian Murray (born June 4, 1984) is an American actress and model of Irish and Scottish decent, perhaps best known for her roles in the television series Drake & Josh and in the her numerous film roles including the David Zucker spoof comedy An American Carol playing Heather. She might be best known for her video game Xbox 360 video game Mass Effect where her face and body was used to create Liara T'Soni.
Murray was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and grew up in the suburb of Wyomissing. She attended the private elementary school Sacred Heart and then two years at Wyomissing Jr High School. She moved to Tuscon, Arizona when she was 15 years old and attended Catalina Foothills high school in Arizona. After graduating high school she moved to Los Angeles, California.
Jillian started performing at the age of three. She attened jazz and tap dance classes. At the age of 10 she decided that dance was not something she wanted to do anymore and started taking gymnastics classes until the age of thirteen. At the age of thirteen Jillian started getting into the local theatre and appeared in Romeo & Juliet, Annie get your Gun, and Les Miserable.
Jillian has one younger sister
Murray made her film debut in an independent movie Deep toad playing Natashia. She later got cast in the dark comedy Fifty Pills playing the character Jayne, then Legacy also know as Pretty Little Devils playing opposite Haylie Duff and Tom Green. Soon after Microsoft picked Murray to be the main female character, Liara T'soni in the Xbox 360 video game Mass Effect because they thought her look was "perfect". Her first leading role was The Fun Park co starring with Randy Wayne. The film was about six teens on a mission to refute "the Fun Park" myth, make a deadly discovery...the man known as "Bobo" actually lives in bowels of the abandoned park. The kids are abducted and killed one-by-one after being subjected to a bizarre and grisly ritual. Megan (Jillian Murray) and her boyfriend Justin (Randy wayne) manage to escape...but only Megan survives. After waking up in a mental hospital, Megan tells a Psychologist her horrific story. The cops search for the five missing kids at the abandoned fun park, but find no bodies or evidence that Megan's story is true. When the psychologist stumbles upon a tiny clue, she begins to investigate further and discovers that Megan's chilling ordeal might have actually happened after all. Soon after filming The Fun Park, The Weinstein Company contacted Jillian to film scenes for the movie trailer Black Christmas The movie was so gory that in order to show the trailer on American television; all the scenes that would be used needed to be filmed again. Some of the actors from the actual film were unavailable so the production company thought they could get away with casting a new person even though Jillian is not actually in the film. In the trailer Jillian gets thrown off a snowy roof and gets pierced by a Christmas tree, she gets stuck having to chop her friend out of a frozen lake in the snow as well. Jillian was also one of the leads in the MTV scripted pilot "cheerleader camp" playing Georgie. She beat out over 10,000 actresses for the role. Unfortunately the television show pilot never got picked up by MTV because the network wanted to stick with its reality show programming. Murray went on to play the lead Gwen Adams in the romantic comedy American High School The film also stars Talan Torriero and Aubrey O'Day. The film is centered on two people who marry young and contend with the consequences of "bad" actions. Moreover, it is a story about a young, frightened girl, Gwen Adams (Jillian Murray) who tries to break away from her father, find peace with her husband, and find peace within. In a world that expects everything from her, being herself was the last thing on her mind. When pushed to the breaking point, she discovers her own self-worth. But is it too late? Later caught David Zucker's eye in an audition and booked the role of Heather in the spoof film An American Carol. The film also stars Jon Voight, Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Kevin Farley, and Paris Hilton. The Lead in The Graves playing Abby Graves, directed by comic book writer Brian Pulido. The film is set in Present day. Arizona. Megan and Abby Graves are inseparable sisters that couldn't be less alike. Megan just graduated ASU with a marketing degree. She's a self-assured, naturally attractive rock chick with a black belt that she likes to use. Abby just barely graduated high school. She's a cute, Hot Topic Goth who's caustic and afraid of her own shadow. They share one thing: a life-long obsession with comics and pop culture. Simply put, they are beautiful geeks. In a few days, Megan will start a new job at in New York. To send her off in style, the sisters go on a wild, pop culture bender that includes a trip to uncharted Arizona in search of a kitchy roadside attraction. Instead, Megan and Abby happen on Skull City Mine, a weather-beaten, abandoned mine town converted into a self-guided tour. But Skull City harbors terrible, vexing secrets. It appears to be haunted. Its caretakers are murderous. Victims' souls are ripped from their bodies right before their eyes, and that's only the beginning. When Megan suffers a near mortal wound, Abby must save her sister, but to do so, she must unlock the mystery of Skull City alone. Can Abby defeat the threats of Skull City and rescue Megan or are they doomed like all the other tourists before them? Although Jillian is the lead in The Graves she shares the screen with Tony Todd , Bill Moseley, and Lamb of God lead singer Randy Blythe. Jillian is one of the leads in Forget Me Not playing Lex Mitchell. The film also stars Cody Linley and Carly Schroeder and Christopher Atkins The film is about friends that start disappearing, and they soon discovers they have unwittingly awakened the vengeful spirit of a girl they wronged long ago. Fighting for their sanity, they must unlock a dark secret from their own past before it's too late
Has been linked to pop group 98 Degrees band member Jeff Timmons. In an article for US Weekly Magazine, The couple confirmed the long-standing rumor that Murray and Jeff Timmons had "a thing" going on in 2008.
Murray mentioned in an interview that she would rather stay home and play board games than go to red carpet events.
Went to the same high school as Taylor Swift; Wyomissing Jr/Sr High School and lived within one mile from her
Fluent in American Sign Language
From Berks County; the same county as Richard Gere
