Jane Badler Biography

Jane Badler (born December 31, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Diana, the chief antagonist in NBC's science fiction TV series, V, between 1983"85. Badler also appeared in ABC's "reimagined" version of V in 2011, again playing an alien named Diana, who this time is the mother of the series' chief antagonist, Anna. In recent years, Badler has also become an established nightclub singer in Australia, where she now lives, and has released two albums.

Early life and education

Badler spent her teen years in Great Neck, New York, moving to Manchester, New Hampshire, when she was in high school. Badler won the title Miss New Hampshire and competed at the 1973 Miss America Pageant. Subsequently, she enrolled at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, to study drama.

Film career

Badler's first television role was Melinda Cramer Janssen on the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live, 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. Badler also starred on the daytime soap opera The Doctors as Natalie Bell from 1981"82.

Badler then won her most prominent role, that of the villainous alien Diana in the 1983 NBC sci-fi miniseries V. She reprised the role in the 1984 sequel miniseries V: The Final Battle and again in V: The Series, which ran for one season from 1984 to 1985.

Following V, Badler co-starred with José Ferrer 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 primetime soap opera Falcon Crest. Her other guest appearances during the 1980s included Riptide, Hotel, and Murder, She Wrote. In 1987, she played the role of Tania Winthrop in the short-lived action-adventure series The Highwayman. She then traveled to Australia 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 on the Australian game show Cluedo 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. 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, 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 mother of the Visitors' evil leader Anna (Morena Baccarin). Badler appeared in nine of the second season's ten episodes, commencing in January 2011. In the second season finale, her character was apparently killed by Anna, and ABC decided to not renew the series for a third season (although the fan campaign "Project Alice" is reported to be campaigning to Warner Bros. to renew the show on a different network).

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's books of poetry, Sextet, Big Hair in America, and with director Robert Chuter (who also directed two of her cabaret shows in 2000) she appeared in The Singing Forest,' The Great Gatsby, 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-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 and is currently working on her next studio album.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977-1983	One Life to Live	Melinda Cramer Janssen #2	Unknown episodes
1979	Fantasy Island	Kim	Episode: "The Victim/The Mermaid"
1981-1982	The Doctors	Natalie Bell #2	Unknown episodes
1981	Terror Among Us	Pam	Television film
1983	The First Time	Karen Watson
1983	V	Diana	Television film
1983	Mr. Smith	Uncredited	Episode: "Mr. Smith Plays Cyrano"
1984	V (The Final Battle)	Diana	3 episodes
1984	Brothers	Phyllis	Episode: "Mindless Passion"
1984-1985	V: The Series	Diana	19 episodes
1985	Covenant	Dana Noble	Television film
1985	Hotel	Angie Archer	1 episode
1986	Blacke's Magic	Elisa Leigh	Episode: "Celebrations"
1986	Riptide	Janet Ingram	Episode: "Smiles We Left Behind"
1986	The Penalty Phase	Katie Pinter	Television film
1986-1987	Falcon Crest	Meredith Braxton	22 episodes
1987	Jake and the Fatman	Shelly	Episode: "Happy Days Are Here Again"
1987-1988	The Highwayman	Tania Winthrop	10 episodes
1988	Murder, She Wrote	Carolyn Hazlitt	Episode: "Curse of the Daanay"
1989	Easy Kill	Jade Anderson
1989	Fine Gold	Julia
1989	Autumn Rain	Lucia
1989-1990	Mission: Impossible	Shannon Reed	24 episodes
1990	Black Snow	Shelby Collins
1992	Cluedo	Mrs. Elizabeth Peacock	20 episodes
1992	Embassy	Jacqueline Kowalski	Episode: "Nice Guys Finish Last"
1994	Sky Trackers	Coral Lee Pierce	Episode: "Star Time"
1995	Under the Gun	Sandy Torrence
1995	Snowy River: The McGregor Saga	Yvonne Waugh	2 episodes
1997	Flipper	Unknown	Episode: "Help Me, Rhonda"
1999	Crash Zone	Elanor Renfrey	Episode: "No News Is Good News"
2011	Like Mother Like Son	Mrs. Fox	Television film
2002	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World	Dame Alice Kyteler	Episode: "A Witch's Calling"
2002	Blue Heelers	Kath Shepherd	Episode: "Sins of the Father"
2010	Neighbours	Diana Marshall	24 episodes
2010	Needle	Professor Banyon
2011	V	Diana	9 episodes
2011	Spicks and Specks	Herself	Episode: "#7.6"
2011	Offspring	Wendy	3 episodes

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details
The Devil Has My Double	Release date: June 17, 2008 Label: Unstable Ape Records Formats: CD, music download
Tears Again	Release date: March 11, 2011 Label: Inertia Records Formats: CD, music download

Singles

Title	Details
Four Corners to My Bed	Release Date: 2011 Formats: CD, music download
Men Who Lie	Release Date: 2011 Formats: CD, music download Music Clip: By 'Mal Voyageur'
Snow Carnival Queen	Release Date: 2011 Formats: CD, music download Music Clip: Animation and Production by 1house Management
I Want a lot of Boys to Cry at my Funeral	Release Date: 2011 Formats: CD, music download Music Clip: Grey Aviary Media