Janine Loraine Gauntt was born on December 6, 1962, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Turner and Janice Gauntt, who hailed from Texas. She was the younger of two children and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, where she was trained in various performing arts, including ballet, tap, theater, and modeling, from the tender age of three.
As a teenager, Janine became a cheerleading beauty and was discovered by the Wilhelmina Agency, becoming the youngest model to be signed by the agency at the time. After some commercial work, she returned to school in Texas and landed minor roles on various episodes of the popular TV series Dallas.
Janine's big break came when she won the role of Laura Templeton on the daytime soap General Hospital at the age of 19. This role required her to dye her hair blonde, a departure from her natural brunette locks. She went on to play another regular part on Another World and made her film debut in the daytime parody Young Doctors in Love, alongside other soap stars.
In between her acting gigs, Janine attended Pepperdine University but left to pursue a film role in Tai-Pan. She continued to play cute and flighty roles, but her career took a dramatic turn when she landed the role of spunky air taxi pilot Maggie O'Connell on the prime-time series Northern Exposure. This role, which lasted six seasons, cemented her status as a household name.
Since then, Janine has appeared in a wide range of TV-movies and films, including Stolen Women, Captured Hearts, A Secret Affair, Cliffhanger, Leave It to Beaver, Dr. T & the Women, and Strong Medicine. She has also been featured in films such as Birdie & Bogey, The Night of the White Pants, Maggie's Passage, The Ivy League Farmer, Solace, Occupy, Texas, and Runnin' from My Roots.
In addition to her acting career, Janine has also ventured into directing, writing, and producing, and has even dabbled in singing. Her daughter, Juliette Gauntt, is a former child actress who appeared in her mother's film The Night of the White Pants.
