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November 9th, 2025

Improv Interviews Jennifer Estin -Film, TV , Theatre Actress

  1. Improv Interviews Jennifer Estin -Film, TV , Theatre Actress Margot Escott 50:56

I had the great pleasure of meeting Jennifer Estin when I signed at the terrific online classes for the Annoyance, Improv Fiend! https://improvfiend.com

We chatted about her childhood and how her mother created games that inspired her to pursue acting.
Jennifer Estlin has been involved in the Entertainment business as an actress and producer since 1986.
Following her graduation from Northwestern University’s School of Speech in 1987, she traveled to Edinburgh Scotland with the production of André Gregory’s Alice! directed by David Schwimmer. Afterward, she spent three months traveling all over Europe until deciding to settle for awhile in Paris, where she earned her living singing on the Parisian Metro for close to a year.
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Upon returning to Chicago, Jennifer spent several years working in many of Chicago’s theatres including The Annoyance, Northlight, and The Body Politic. She toured for two years with Second City’s National Touring company and was a company member on a Second City resident stage prior to moving to New York in 1994. There, she continued her career by working in regional theatres around the country, Off-Broadway theatre, film, and television. She returned to Chicago in 2002 to become President, Executive Producer and owner of the Annoyance Theatre, and continues to work on film, television and stage.
Jennifer has appeared as recurring characters Judge Cohen on Proven Innocent and Cathy Briscoe on NBC’s Law and Order, and also in shows such as Chicago PD, Empire, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Exit 57, and in several national and regional commercials. Her feature film credits include the soon to be released (Fall 2024) Everything Fun You Could Possibly Do in Aledo, Illinois (for which she received Best Actress award at the Star City Film Festlval), The Eyes, iMurders, Chicago Boricua, and Volcano, and the award winning short films A Million Miles Away,(Sundance) and The Cure (Slamdance).
​You can learn more about Jennifer at https://www.jenniferestlin.com

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After working as a clinical social worker for over 30 years, I discovered the joy of Improvisational Theatre Games. Before that I presented classes and workshops on "The Healing Power of Laughter and Play" throughout the US and abroad. Since the 1970's I was trained as a New Games Referee from the New Games Foundation. But when I had my first class in improv I realized how therapeutic it is and began using improv in my clinical practice and special groups such as Improv for Anxiety and Improv for people with Parkinson's disease. In addition, I created class for several National Association for Social Workers (NASW) conference such as Fl. NASW, NJ NASW, OK NASW and corporations. There is viable research showing that improv helps with cognitive functioning, memory, decrease of anxiety and socialization. I'm delighted to teach folks of all ages this wonderful way to chase the blues away!