Jane Badler (born December 31, 1953) is an American-Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), ...

, the main antagonist in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

series '' V'' between 1983 and 1985. Following this, she had roles in the primetime soap opera ''

Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...

'' and the 1988 revival of '' Mission: Impossible'', the latter of which was filmed in Australia which has since become Badler's home. She has also become an established

nightclub singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, where she still resides, and has released three albums.

Early life and education

Badler was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

on December 31, 1953.Rout, Nancy E.; Buckley, Ellen; Rout, Barney M., editors (1992).
The Soap Opera Book : Who's Who in Daytime Drama
'. West Nyack, N.Y. : Todd Publications. p. 11. . "Born; December 31, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York Marital Status: married, one son, Samuel Height: 5’6" Eyes: blue Hair: auburn Education: Northwestern University, B.F.A. ..Jane’s family consists of two sisters and one brother, her father, a lawyer, and her mother, who now owns a health spa in Key West. After receiving her B.F.A. from Northwestern University, Jane embarked on a string of popular television roles. She was featured in the mini-series 'V,' as well as co-starring on 'The New Mission Impossible' and as Meredith Braxton on 'Falcon Crest.' Daytime fans saw Ms. Badler in two prominent roles, first as Melinda Kramer on 'One Life to Live,' following which she appeared as Natalie Bell on the final season of 'The Doctors.'" Her family is of Galician Jewish descent. She spent her teen years in

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among th ...

, moving to

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is the List of municipalities in New Hampshire, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Located on the banks of the Merrimack River, it had a population of 115,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Manches ...

, when she was in high school. When Badler was 18, her father and brother were killed in a plane crash. Badler won the title

Miss New Hampshire The Miss New Hampshire is the scholarship program that selects the representative for the state of New Hampshire in the Miss America competition. The Miss New Hampshire program was conducted by the '' Union Leader'' newspaper for more than 50 ...

and competed at the 1973

Miss America Pageant Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

. Subsequently, she enrolled at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, to study drama. She graduated in 1976, earning a BFA.

Career

Film and television career

Badler's first television role was Melinda Cramer Janssen on the American daytime

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'', which she played from 1977 to 1981 and again in 1983. During her run, she also appeared in a 1979 episode of the primetime series ''

Fantasy Island ''Fantasy Island'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Gene Levitt. It aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984. The series starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Hervé Villechaize as his assistant, Tattoo. ...

''. Badler also starred on the daytime soap opera '' The Doctors'' as Natalie Bell from 1981 to 1982. Badler then won her most prominent role, that of the villainous alien

in the

sci-fi miniseries '' V'' (1983). She reprised the role in the sequel miniseries '' V: The Final Battle'' (1984) and again on '' V: The Series'', which ran for one season from 1984 to 1985. Following ''V'', Badler co-starred with

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hi ...

in the made-for-TV supernatural thriller ''Covenant''. The following year she guest-starred as Meredith Braxton throughout the 1986–87 season of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

primetime soap opera ''

''. Her other guest appearances during the 1980s included '' Riptide'', ''

Hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

'' and ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''. In 1987, she played the role of Tania Winthrop in the short-lived action-adventure series '' The Highwayman''. She then traveled to

to play agent Shannon Reed in the 1980s revival of '' Mission: Impossible'', joining the series midway through its first season (replacing actress Terry Markwell, and her character of Casey Randall); then stayed with the series for its second season before it was cancelled in early 1990. After the series ended, Badler moved to Australia permanently and married businessman Stephen Hains. They have two sons, Sam and Harry. She later appeared in the role of Mrs Peacock on the Australian game show ''

Cluedo ''Cluedo'' (), known as ''Clue'' in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players (depending on editions) that was devised in 1943 by British board game designer Anthony E. Pratt. The game was first manufactured by Waddingt ...

'' from 1992 to 1993, and had a guest-starring role in '' Snowy River: The McGregor Saga'' in 1995. In March 2010, Badler was cast as the villainous Diana Marshall in the Australian soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

''. She had a four-month guest contract with the show. A remake of ''V'' premiered in late 2009, and although this version did not include the character of Diana, the series'

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

, Scott Peters, suggested that Badler and other stars from the original version may be offered guest roles as new characters. In August 2010, it was announced that Badler would be joining the series as a new character named Diana, the benevolent mother of the Visitors' evil leader Anna (

Morena Baccarin Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin (; born June 2, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Adria in season 10 of the TV series ''Stargate SG-1'', Inara Serra in the sci-fi television series ''Firefly (TV series), Firefly'' (20 ...

). Badler appeared in nine of the second season's ten episodes, commencing in January 2011. In the second-season finale, her character was killed by Anna, and ABC decided to not renew the series for a third season. In November 2020, Badler played Lauren Balmer in the horror film ''Surrogate''. The film was released internationally in September 2022.

Music and theatre career

Already an able singer when she competed in the Miss New Hampshire and Miss America Pageants, Badler forged a career in cabaret and on the stage in the 2005 Magnormos production of '' archy & mehitabel'', based on

Don Marquis Donald Robert Perry Marquis ( ; July 29, 1878 – December 29, 1937) was an American humorist, journalist, and author. He was variously a novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. He is remembered best for creating the characters A ...

's books of poetry. She also appeared in ''Sextet'', ''Big Hair in America'', and with acclaimed Australian director Robert Chuter (who also directed two of her cabaret shows in 2000) she appeared in ''The Singing Forest'', ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

'' and her one-woman show ''Shakin' the Blues Away'' in which she also sang. Other productions in which she appeared for Magnormos included a concert of the musical ''Rebecca'' and ''OzMade Musicals''. Badler released her debut album (backed by the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

-based band Sir) on June 1, 2008. Titled '' The Devil Has My Double'', it is an autobiographical album which has been described as "a compulsive mix of fame, sex and solitude, set to a sweeping soundtrack of cold soul and passionate synthetics". As part of promotion for the album, she gave an extensive interview about her work to the Boxcutters podcast. Badler released her second album, ''Tears Again,'' in 2011. She then teamed up with Australian musicians Matt Doll and Byron St John to co-write her third album, ''Opus'', which was released in September 2014.

Personal life

In 1990, Badler married Australian businessman Stephen Hains, son of David Hains. The couple met while she was filming ''Mission: Impossible'' in Australia. Badler remained in Australia and the couple reside in

. They have two children. On January 7, 2020, Badler announced that her 27-year-old son, actor Harry Hains, died of a

fentanyl Fentanyl is a highly potent synthetic piperidine opioid primarily used as an analgesic (pain medication). It is 30 to 50 times more Potency (pharmacology), potent than heroin and 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Its primary Medici ...

overdose following a battle with "mental illness, chronic sleeping disorders, and addiction".

Filmography

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links

* * * *
Jane Badler interview with Rockwired

Jane Badler interviewed on Boxcutters podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badler, Jane Living people 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Brooklyn Actresses from New Hampshire American beauty pageant winners American expatriates in Australia American women pop singers American film actresses American soap opera actresses American television actresses Manchester Central High School alumni Miss America 1970s delegates Singers from Brooklyn People from Great Neck, New York Northwestern University School of Communication alumni Nightclub performers 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers Jewish American actresses Jewish women singers 21st-century American Jews 1953 births