Jennifer Esposito

Jennifer Esposito is an American actress, director, and author born on April 11, 1973, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Of Italian descent, she was raised in the Bulls Head neighborhood of Staten Island and graduated from Moore Catholic High School. She has worked extensively across film, television, and stage, including a Broadway appearance in 2008 and participation in The 24 Hour Plays in 2004.

Esposito made her first television appearance in Law & Order in 1996 before joining the cast of Spin City for two seasons. Her film career gained momentum with her role as Ruby in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam (1999), set against the backdrop of the Son of Sam murders in late 1970s New York City. Subsequent film credits included I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Dracula 2000, Don't Say a Word (2001), Welcome to Collinwood (2002), The Master of Disguise (2002), the comedy Taxi (2004), and the Academy Award-winning ensemble film Crash (2004), in which she played Ria, the partner and romantic interest of Don Cheadle's character. On May 21, 2004, she appeared on season three, episode seven of Dinner for Five alongside Jon Favreau, Stephen Dorff, Luis Guzmán, and Barry Pepper.

Television remained a consistent part of Esposito's career throughout the 2000s and 2010s. She was a regular cast member on both Related and Samantha Who?, and made appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Rescue Me, and Mercy. In 2010, she joined the CBS drama Blue Bloods as Detective Jackie Curatola, the partner of Detective Danny Reagan, played by Donnie Wahlberg. During the show's third season, Esposito was diagnosed with celiac disease and collapsed on set. After informing CBS that her condition would limit her availability, the producers wrote her character out of the series in 2012. In 2014, she appeared in the NBC series Taxi Brooklyn, and in 2015 she played Calista Raines in the ABC drama Mistresses and appeared in six episodes of the Showtime series The Affair as the sister of Dominic West's character. From 2016 to 2017, she portrayed Special Agent Alexandra Quinn in season fourteen of the CBS series NCIS. Between 2019 and 2020, she played CIA Deputy Director Susan Raynor in the Amazon series The Boys. She also appeared in The Looney Tunes Show and was set to join the Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens series on Comedy Central in a recurring role.

In 2023, Esposito wrote, directed, and starred in the film Fresh Kills, in which she played the mother of two daughters in a coming-of-age story set within the world of an organized crime family. Her earlier film credits also include Mob Town (2019).

Beyond acting, Esposito has pursued several ventures connected to her celiac disease diagnosis, which she publicly revealed in October 2011. In 2013, she opened Jennifer's Way Bakery in Manhattan's West Village, a celiac-safe food establishment. On April 22, 2014, Da Capo Lifelong Books published her first book, Jennifer's Way, a personal account of her experience with celiac disease before and after diagnosis. The book reached The New York Times Best Seller List on July 6, 2014. In 2015, she became the brand ambassador for Eclair Naturals, a gluten-free and vegan body and skin care line sold in Rite Aid stores across the United States. She launched a newsletter on Substack in 2025.

In her personal life, Esposito married actor Bradley Cooper on December 30, 2006. They filed for divorce in May 2007, which was finalized that November. In 2009, she became engaged to Australian tennis player Mark Philippoussis, and the couple separated in August 2010. In May 2014, she announced her engagement to British model Louis Dowler, and they married on November 16, 2014, in New York City. A divorce filing was reported in March 2016. In 2020, Esposito married Jesper Vesterstrøm.