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Jess Walton has been playing Jill Abbott since June 22, 1987, in The Young and the Restless. The character was introduced in 1973 and originally portrayed by Brenda Dickson. The role was then recast with Deborah Adair before it eventually went to Walton
Walton has been playing the character for 38 years since she first appeared on screen. She has won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1991 and for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1997.
Walton is known for her role as Kelly Harper on the CBS soap opera Capitol and Jill on The Young and the Restless. She is also known for her roles on shows and movies such as Medical Center, Kojak, Marcus Welby, M.D., Ironside, The Rockford Files, and The Strawberry Statement.
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Jess Walton played Jill for 38 years on The Young and the Restless
Jess Walton is a Canadian-American actress who has played Jill Abbott on The Young and the Restless since 1987. She succeeded Brenda Dickson to play Jill in 1987.
Walton's run as Jill began after her previous CBS soap, Capitol, where she played Kelly Harper, was canceled. Walton was born on February 18, 1946, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up in Toronto, Canada. She left home at 17 to join a local theater company and moved to Hollywood in 1969.
In 1970, she signed with Universal Studios, which led to appearances on shows like Medical Center, Gunsmoke, Ironside, and The Rockford Files. She also starred in movies such as The Strawberry Statement and The Peace Killers.
Walton faced some personal and professional challenges in the late 1970s, but her rehab helped her return to acting in 1980. She resumed her role on Capitol and then took over the role of Jill Foster Abbott.
Walton married author John James in 1980 and has two children. She still lives and works in Oregon while continuing to appear on The Young and the Restless.
More about Jill, the character Jess Walton played on The Young and the Restless
In 1987, Walton was playing Kelly Harper on Capitol. However, the soap was cancelled in 1987 by CBS. The cancellation of the soap led Walton to debut as Jill on The Young and the Restless.
Before Walton arrived, Jill had already accumulated five marriages. The new era added three more: Rex Sterling, John Abbott, and Colin Atkinson. Each union came with business deals, betrayals, or courtroom skirmishes. Walton played every twist with practical energy rather than melodrama.
Viewers saw Jill run Chancellor Industries, lose it, regain it, and repeat the cycle as often as the script required. Even her break-ups turned into plot engines; one separation launched a custody fight, another a fraud probe.
Soap rivalries last months, sometimes years. Jill and Katherine Chancellor clashed for decades. Walton and the late Jeanne Cooper mined the rivalry for every beat, from champagne-soaked insults to the attic scene where Jill nearly strangled her foe.
The pairing functioned almost like a daytime super-couple, only without romance. Their exchanges blended humor, spite, and grudging respect. Even sensational twists, such as the short-lived claim that Jill was Katherine’s daughter, worked because both actors played the shock straight.
Storylines rarely left Jill on the sidelines for long. In the 1990s, Jill steered her through the death of son Phillip, then the later revelation that he faked the tragedy while wrestling with his identity.
Jill’s embrace of Phillip’s stand-in Cane, plus her support for Billy Abbott through gambling setbacks and failed romances, highlighted a core trait: she protects family even while scheming everywhere else. Walton once compared Jill to Wile E. Coyote, constantly flattened by falling anvils yet always returning.
That metaphor still fits in 2025. Jill may visit Genoa City less often now, but the door remains open. Each appearance reminds viewers how a single casting choice back in 1987 shaped one of daytime’s longest-running portraits.
Fans can watch The Young and the Restless on CBS.
