Janine Turner: the Actress Finds a New Stage

In 2010, an actress that had touched Americans in a hit television series 15 years earlier suddenly reappeared on an entirely different stage: the national political stage.

Over 110 episodes and five years in the 1990s, Janine Turner entered living rooms each week on the hit CBS television series, “Northern Exposure,” playing Maggie O’Connell, the beautiful brunette bush pilot and on-again-off-again love interest of the town doctor. In the intervening years, Turner moved to Texas, began ranching and busied herself raising her daughter "to be a good patriot."

But in late 2010, Americans switched on their televisions to see her again: This time as the real-life Turner, backing Sarah Palin and the Tea Party conservative movement that prevailed in sweeping the House of Representatives. While the transition from actress to activist may have seemed sudden it wasn’t. Turner actually began the year by starting a non-profit, Constituting America, aimed at educating U.S. students on the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. The foundation even launched on President’s Day.

Turner was, in fact, deeply interested in the founding of the country. She had earlier penned an op-ed on whether the principles that helped found the country were drifting out of sight. The foundation, co-founded by political activist and close friend Cathy Gillespie, went nationwide on April 20^th. Five days were devoted to reading the Constitution and the next 85 had a different guest scholar present a Federalist Paper each day. Turner herself wrote 90 essays on the topic of the relevancy of the Constitution in politics today during the event.

“Let’s do 90 in 90 and do a 180 – back to the history that yields our future,” said Turner. With her sights set on the country’s roots, Turner headed to Alaska last October to show her support for Alaskan senatorial candidate Joe Miller and had the opportunity to introduce former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Turner’s support for Palin has partially defined her political stance. Turner has described the controversial Palin as having the fundamentals of “truth, righteousness and fairness.”

“She’s the person you’d want by your side on a deserted island, even a Democrat would admit to this fact,” Turner said. “Sarah would give the first boat to us.”

At the same rally, she took a jab at the Democratic Party, saying that the Constitution said “promote the general welfare, notprovide the general welfare.”

Turner arrived at her activism after a long route – through Hollywood. The Texan native first found the spotlight as a Kim Dawson model in Dallas at the age of three. At 15, she moved to New York to be a model for the Wilhelmenia modeling agency. It was there that Turner saw the Broadway Musical “A Chorus Line”—her inspiration to act.

After sporadic years of print ads, made-for-TV movies, a short stint at Pepperdine University, and being down to her last eight dollars, she hit it big with the CBS television series “Northern Exposure.” Based upon the clash of a New York doctor and the residents of small-town Cicely, Alaska, the show represented the efforts made in a community to accept differences and co-exist. Turner’s character, Maggie, added the sexual tension of a hot-and-cold relationship with the doctor, played by Rob Morrow.

The show was a runaway hit and a critical success, winning 27 Emmy awards and two consecutive Peabody awards. But after five years and six seasons, the show’s run on CBS ended and so did the role of Maggie O’Connell. Turner traded her mukluks for cowboy boots and headed home, to Texas. Her life is now set on her Texas ranch, Mockingbird Hill, which she bought with her earnings from the success of “Northern Exposure.”

Yet, when asked if she had to choose the glamour of Hollywood or the political arena, Turner said they "go arm in arm" and that her standing as an actress allows her to not only to "bring to light the issues," but "impact Hollywood for good" and that it would "not be wise to eliminate one limb or another from the body of what she is doing."

At this point in her life, when Turner is not out on her ranch, hiking, hauling hay, or breeding her many longhorns, she is speaking out for the need to the country’s founding principles. She advocates for “representatives in Washington D.C. who understand our founding principles, who actually read the United States Constitution, and most importantly intend to respect the United States Constitution.”

2011, marks another new venture for Turner, too. She has launched a new pod cast “The Janine Turner Radio Show,” with her first guests having been Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and founder of Liberty Central, and Kerri Toloczko, fellow of the Institute for Liberty. The foundation continues as does the “We the People 9.17 Contest” which challenges students to an entertaining short film, public service announcement, song, informative essay, poem or artwork about the Constitution and its relevance today. She also hopes to expand her  "Patriot Club," in which the U.S. Constitution is the topic of discussion in church groups, book clubs, "anyone out there ages three to 103," to a nationwide status.

“I am thrilled to be doing my new radio show,” she says on her website. “I am having a great time interviewing so many fabulous guests. I love to write and I love our country.”