Why Bianca Holloway From Chicago Fire Looks So Familiar
Within the sprawling, intertwined One Chicago franchise, countless minor characters have appeared. However, one detective who joined "Chicago Fire" in Season 4 made a major impact within just a few episodes.
Detective Bianca Holloway (Jenny Mollen) joined the show in the episode "What Happened to Courtney." Her arc spanned three episodes, during which she goes undercover in a dangerous investigation, leaving Lieutenant Kelly Severide (Taylor Kinney) in charge of her 9-year-old son, J.J. (Maxwell Jenkins). The two form an unlikely bond, and Severide must make a difficult decision when he learns that Holloway was shot while on her way to testify in court. He tries to distract J.J. while his mother is undergoing emergency surgery, but she doesn't make it. Everyone at the firehouse is devastated, and they send J.J. home with his aunt and the station's dog, Pouch.
"Chicago Fire" fans know that the show has featured dozens of tragic moments over the years, but Holloway's death came as a sudden surprise. It was especially emotional, as J.J. had revealed that his mother had a crush on Severide, leaving fans to imagine what could've been.
Actress and writer Jenny Mollen portrayed the ill-fated detective. Here's why she looks so familiar.
Jenny Mollen played a werewolf in Angel
Throughout the show's fifth season, Jenny Mollen made several guest-star appearances as Nina Ash in the supernatural series "Angel." The WB show aired for five seasons from 1999 to 2004 and served as a spin-off to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." With several crossovers and guest appearances from characters from the original series, "Angel" follows the titular character (portrayed by David Boreanaz), a rare vampire with a soul, as he heads to Los Angeles in an attempt to redeem himself for centuries of violence.
Nina is introduced early on in the final season as a college art student who is attacked by a werewolf while on her nightly jog. Angel saves her life, but not in time to prevent her from being bitten. As she struggles to understand her new supernatural abilities as a Lycanthropus exterus breed of werewolf, Angel consoles her and teaches her how to lead a somewhat normal life.
The two form a close bond and start a relationship, but by the series finale, they're back to being just friends.
Jenny Mollen has had various guest appearances on TV shows
Jenny Mollen has appeared as a guest star in many TV shows over the years. Following her recurring role as Nina Ash in "Angel," she starred in an episode of the mystery series "Medium," and then scored a recurring role as Amy in "Viva Laughlin," a genre-blending mystery musical series. The show was commended for being ambitious but was critically panned and canceled after its second episode. According to IMDB, Mollen's character was supposed to debut in Episode 3 of the series, but alas, her portion of the series never aired. She followed up that disappointment with a recurring role as Tess Nolan in the second season of "Crash," a drama that explored race, class, and social issues in Los Angeles.
In addition to her memorable appearance on "Chicago Fire," Mollen has also guest-starred on crime-centric shows like "Law & Order," "CSI," "Suits," and "Hawaii Five-0." She later starred in a Season 3 episode of the FX dark comedy "Wilfred" as "dog weirdo" Kim, a love interest to Elijah Wood's character, Ryan Newman. Mollen then appeared on two episodes of the acclaimed HBO series "Girls." There she played Courtney, a flirtatious friend of Hannah Horvath's (Lena Dunham) boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver).
Most recently, Mollen appeared as a guest on Season 15 of "The Bachelorette" with her husband, Jason Biggs.
Jenny Mollen married one of her My Best Friend's Girl co-stars
In 2008, Jenny Mollen appeared in the romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Girl" alongside "American Pie" star Jason Biggs, who she would later start dating, and then eventually marry.
The film follows ladies man Tank (Dane Cook), whose friends rely on his nightmarish personality to solve their relationship woes. Biggs stars as Dustin, who tries to start a relationship with his coworker Alexis (Kate Hudson) but gets rejected. He hires Tank to bring Alexis on a terrible date in an attempt to drive her back to him, but she isn't appalled by his bad behavior, and they form an unlikely relationship. Mollen's character Colleen is a new hire at Tank's job and serves as one of many examples of the grimy way he treats women.
In a 2020 Instagram post celebrating their anniversary, Mollen shared a combination wedding picture and "My Best Friend's Girl" cast reunion photo of her and Biggs, writing, "12 years ago today I decided to walk down the aisle with this guy I'd only known for a year and only been legally married to for 3 months."
Mollen has written many essays about their relationship and her experiences with motherhood for publications like Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Parents. Additionally, the power couple has worked together in the comedy film "Amateur Night," co-hosted the reality competition show "My Partner Knows Best," and starred in the sitcom adaptation of her memoir "I Like You Just the Way I Am."
Jenny Mollen frequently collaborates with Chelsea Handler
Jenny Mollen and Chelsea Handler first starred together in the raunchy National Lampoon comedy "Cattle Call," which holds an 11% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Since then, the two have collaborated multiple times.
Mollen guest-starred in a 2009 episode of Handler's popular late-night talk show, "Chelsea Lately," where she participated in a round table discussion. She returned to the show again in 2014 for another round table session, and later appeared and wrote on several episodes of the comedian's next late-night show, "Chelsea."
In 2016, Mollen joined her frequent collaborator in the Netflix docu-series "Chelsea Does." The series follows Handler, her friends, and fellow comics as she explores marriage, technology, racism, and drugs. In the fourth episode, titled "Chelsea Does Drugs," Mollen travels to Peru with Handler to try the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca. The experience is intense, culminating in Mollen getting sick and crying as Handler lies beside her.
Jenny Mollen's filmography spans several genres and it may come as a surprise to fans who only know her from "Chicago Fire."