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Teresa “Teri” Austin (born April 17, 1957) is a Canadian animal care activist and former actress. She had her greatest acting success in the 1980s and 1990s, and is best known for her role as Jill Bennett in the CBS primetime soap opera Knots Landing, and as co-host of the Canadian reality series Thrill of a Lifetime.

Career

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada,[2] Austin began her acting career there in television, film, radio and theatre. She co-hosted the show Thrill of a Lifetime before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career there.[3][4]

Austin is best-known for her performance as Jill Bennett on CBS series Knots Landing.[5] She played the role from 1985 to 1989, and in 1990 won Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villain: Prime Time.[6] She also appeared in Quantum Leap, Seinfeld, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, L.A. Law, and returned to soap roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Models Inc.. In film, she appeared in The Vindicator (1986) and Raising Cain (1992).

In 2001, Austin left acting and began working as animal care activist in Los Angeles,[5] creating The Amanda Foundation.[7][8]

Personal

Austin and Knots Landing co-star Ted Shackelford were roommates at one point of time when the show was on television.[9]

Filmography

Teri Austin film and television credits
Year Title Role Notes
1985–1989 Knots Landing Jill Bennett Recurring role, 96 episodes
1985 The Fall Guy Annie Benton Episode: “The King of the Stuntmen”
Terminal Choice Lylah Crane Feature film
1986 The Vindicator Lauren Lehman Feature film
1988 Dangerous Love Dominique Feature film
1989 False Witness Sandralee Dawson Television film
Street Legal Alex Roper Episode: “See No Evil”
1990 Quantum Leap Dana Barrenger Episode: “Her Charm”
Counterstrike The Guide Episode: “Art for Art’s Sake” (credited as Tanya Austin)
Cop Rock Trish Vaughn Feature film
1990,
1992 		Matlock Liz Bateman (ep1)
Beth (ep2) 		Episodes: “The Talk Show“, “The Vacation”
1991 Seinfeld Ava Episodes: “The Stranded“, “The Revenge”
1992 Wings Shannon Moss Episode: “Just Say No”
Raising Cain Karen Feature film
1993 In The Heat Of The Night Alice Episode: “Deadly Affection”
Murder, She Wrote Louise Walton Episode: “A Death in Hong Kong”
L.A. Law Morgan Farrell Episode: “Rhyme and Punishment”
1994 Beverly Hills, 90210 Ingrid Episodes: “A Pig Is a Boy Is a Dog“, “Cuffs and Links”
Models Inc. Dinah Episodes: “Blind by Love“, “Till Death Do Us Part”
1995 Baywatch Nights Lt. Amanda Cash Episode: “Pressure Cooker”
1995 One West Waikiki Carrie Travis Episode: Unhappily Ever After
1996 The Dark Mist Diamond Feature film
1997 Diagnosis Murder Claire Reed Episode: “Delusions of Murder”
1998 Baywatch Mom Episode: “The Natural”
2000 An American Daughter Greta Feature film
2001 Gangland Mary Anne Adams Feature film

References

  1. ^ Profile, marykiserwrites.com. Accessed October 9, 2025.
  2. ^ “Teri Austin”. NNDB. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Hoogenboom, Lynn (February 13, 1987). “Teri Austin is doing what she always wanted to do”. Huntingdon Daily News. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  4. ^ “Live Wire Teri Austin Turns a Knots Plot into a Real-Life Romance – Vol. 27 No. 18”. PEOPLE.com. May 4, 1987. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Pennacchio, George (May 21, 2006). “Actress Teri Austin Now Known as Animal Activist 5/21/06”. Abclocal.go.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ^ “The Soap Opera Digest Awards: 1990”. Soap Opera Digest. soapoperadigest.com. April 11, 2003. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  7. ^ “The Amanda Foundation | About”. The Amanda Foundation. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  8. ^ Diamond, Wendy (November 15, 2012). “Teri Austin of The Amanda Foundation”. Animal Fair. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  9. ^ https://people.com/archive/live-wire-teri-austin-turns-a-knots-plot-into-a-real-life-romance-vol-27-no-18