Paige Turco Bio
Jean Paige Turco (born May 17, 1965) is an American actress whose career spans daytime dramas, feature films and recurring and series roles on network and cable television. She first gained attention in daytime television and moved into feature film and primetime television, with long-running work that includes portrayals in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and a principal role on the post-apocalyptic drama series The 100.
Turco established a steady presence on television across multiple decades, beginning in the late 1980s, and has appeared in a mix of soap operas, genre series and mainstream films. Her screen work includes soap operas Guiding Light and All My Children, network dramas such as American Gothic and The Agency, and a main cast role as Dr. Abigail Griffin on The CW series The 100.
Early Life and Background
Jean Paige Turco was born on May 17, 1965, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joyce Jean (Jodoin) Turco and David Vincent Turco. After the death of her father when she was an infant, her mother moved the family to Springfield, Massachusetts, where Turco was raised.
Turco trained in ballet from an early age and performed as a soloist with local companies including the New England Dance Conservatory, the Amherst Ballet Theatre Company and the Western Massachusetts Ballet Company. She attended the Walnut Hill School in Natick, Massachusetts, graduating in 1983; an ankle injury ended her pursuit of a professional ballet career and she shifted her focus to dramatic performance.
Turco completed studies at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, graduating in 1987, and went on to major in drama at the University of Connecticut, laying the groundwork for a screen acting career that began the same year.
Path to Actress
Turco moved from stage and dance training into television acting in the late 1980s, beginning with work in daytime drama that provided regular acting experience and visibility. Her early screen work gave her the opportunity to develop a television presence and to transition into recurring and lead roles on primetime series.
Her training in performance and early professional discipline from dance contributed to her approach to character work and on-set professionalism, helping her secure parts across genres including soap operas, crime dramas and ensemble primetime series. These early roles established relationships with casting directors and producers that led to feature-film casting in the early 1990s.
Paige Turco Career
Early Career (1987–1994)
Turco made her television acting debut in 1987 as Dinah Marler on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, a role she played through 1989 and which marked her first sustained screen exposure. She moved to another high-profile daytime role when she appeared as Melanie Cortlandt on All My Children from 1989 until 1992, consolidating her reputation as a reliable performer in serial drama.
Transitioning into film, Turco was cast as April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) and reprised the role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993). Those feature appearances broadened her audience recognition beyond daytime viewers and opened the door for more varied television and film opportunities throughout the 1990s.
Breakthrough (1991–2014)
The early 1990s film roles represented a high-profile turning point, bringing Turco mainstream feature-film visibility through a recognizable franchise character. Her work as April O’Neil linked her to family-oriented and genre filmmaking at a time when franchise pictures reached wide theatrical audiences, and the parts remain among her best-known film credits.
Following the films, Turco continued to build a steady television career with lead and recurring roles. In 1994 she co-starred in the NBC primetime soap Winnetka Road and from 1995 she starred as Gail Emory in the CBS series American Gothic. She took recurring roles on series including NYPD Blue and Party of Five and later held a regular role as graphic artist Terri Lowell on the CBS drama The Agency from 2001 to 2003.
Across the 2000s Turco appeared in a mix of film and television projects, including supporting parts in the sports drama Invincible (2006) and the family film The Game Plan (2007), plus recurring and guest-starring roles on shows such as Rescue Me, Damages, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. These appearances broadened her range across drama, procedural and ensemble formats.
Breakthrough (2014–2019)
In 2014 Turco was cast as Doctor Abigail Griffin in the CW series The 100, joining the main cast and remaining a central character through the sixth season from 2014 to 2019. Her portrayal of the community matriarch and medical leader became a defining television role that introduced her to a new generation of viewers and solidified her status in serialized genre television.
Turco returned for a guest appearance in the series finale in 2020, concluding a significant long-form television arc. Her later screen credits include an appearance in a chapter of the 2020 horror anthology Books of Blood, which represents one of her most recent film roles on record.
Notable Works and Milestones
Throughout a multi-decade career Turco has been associated with several signature projects: daytime drama work on Guiding Light and All My Children, the feature-film franchise entries Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II and III, the CBS series American Gothic and The Agency, and a central role on The CW series The 100. Each of these projects represents a milestone in a career that has moved between soap opera, film and primetime television.
Paige Turco Family
Turco is the daughter of Joyce Jean (Jodoin) Turco and the late David Vincent Turco; her father died when she was an infant and her mother raised her in Springfield, Massachusetts. She is of Italian, French-Canadian and English ancestry as recorded in her biographical background.
Turco was married to actor Jason O’Mara from 2003 until their divorce in 2017. The couple have one son, David, born in February 2004; the child was named after Turco’s father.
Personal Life
Public records and personal statements note that Turco practices Roman Catholicism. Her public life has included a balance of career and family commitments, and she has worked steadily in television and film while raising her son.
Turco’s professional timeline lists active screen work beginning in 1987 with credits through 2020, reflecting more than three decades of performance across multiple forms of screen storytelling.