Before she was wrangling cattle as Teeter on Yellowstone, Jennifer Landon was wrangling
your emotions on soap operas like As the World Turns.
Here's everywhere else you may have seen her before.
If Jennifer Landon's last name sounds familiar, there's a big reason why: Her dad is Michael
Landon, the actor and filmmaker behind hit shows such as Little House on the Prairie
and Highway to Heaven.
Sadly, Michael died in 1991 from pancreatic cancer.
Jennifer was only 7 when she lost her father, and her memories of him are warm and endearing.
"It's the first time I've really taken a great deal of time off and I'm enjoying it.
Doing a little more vacationing than usual with my kids, and spending more time with
the kids."
She talked about her father during a conversation with Smashing Interviews Magazine in 2017,
telling the outlet:
"He was incredibly fun and very funny.
He was all of those things that you've heard.
I had a lot of respect for him."
Jennifer also said that she enjoys watching her dad on TV if she happens to randomly catch
an episode of one of his shows.
In fact, she thinks having the opportunity to do so is pretty special, telling Smashing
Interviews:
"It makes me feel very good."
Since her dad was both the brains behind and star of Highway to Heaven, it's not surprising
that the show gave Jennifer Landon her first opportunity to perform on screen.
As she shared with Smashing Interviews Magazine, Jennifer was only 5 years old when she appeared
on the show.
She spoke about feeling a lot of anxiety the day she showed up on set, as it was clear
the other children were serious young actors compared to her at the time.
Jennifer explained:
"I think I was nervous.
I was a pretty smart kid and intuitive.
There were all these other kids there and acting clearly was their bread and butter.
They were child actors and I wasn't."
Jennifer also said that the decision to join the show wasn't up to her, but, rather, to
her father.
In retrospect, she realizes that some people at the time had a problem with her having
a role just because of her famous father's influence – but that influence is also what
set her on the path to where she is now.
Despite Jennifer Landon's early nervousness as a performer, she stuck with acting and
went on to land other roles, like the part of Gwen Norbeck Munson on As the World Turns.
In true Landon style, once she took on the role in 2005, she gave it everything she had,
earning three consecutive Emmys for her performance.
Despite her success, Landon admitted to Smashing Interviews Magazine that, as a child, she
wasn't initially interested in pursuing acting as a career.
The moment she became more drawn to the idea, she said, happened while she was attending
a friend's birthday party at which the kids dressed up as characters from Disney's The
Little Mermaid.
Jennifer recalled:
"I was Ursula, the mean lady.
I remember people laughing, really laughing.
I just felt this thing turn on."
Landon happily refers to her role on As the World Turns as her first "real" acting job.
Landon had an enormously successful run on the beloved soap opera, appearing in nearly
500 episodes.
In addition to her roles on soap operas, Landon starred as Lilith Bode in 4 episodes of the
crime thriller Banshee, set in Amish country, Pennsylvania.
Soap Opera Spy noted that the character was the "most complex" role the actress had yet
taken on.
Landon was thrilled for the opportunity to be part of the show's final season, an experience
which she said was "a blast."
After her work on "Banshee" concluded, Jennifer Landon was soon back in the saddle with a
new role, joining the cast of the TNT series Animal Kingdom in 2017.
Based on the Australian film of the same name, the show follows the exploits of a teen boy
who moves to Southern California to live with his grandmother.
To say the show is dramatic is an understatement — his grandmother is actually the head of
the family crime ring.
Landon was cast as Amy, the mother of the teen and his two siblings.
As Landon told Naluda Magazine, the show is an incredible piece of work, with some edgy
elements going hand-in-hand with its criminal-centric narrative.
After praising the show's values of "love" and "family," she added,
"It's a sick version of those values, which I think is more often the case than not."
Jennifer Landon was introduced to Yellowstone audiences in 2020 when she joined the cast
as Teeter, a unique woman who joins the Dutton family ranch's team as an extra set of hands.
"What's your name?"
"Teeter."
"What's that?"
"TEE-TER."
As viewers quickly find out, Teeter can hold her own in an environment typically dominated
by men, a fact Landon has said she appreciates in the character.
As she told Bridle & Bit in 2020, her character brings a lot to the table, putting work concerns
before her own personal life.
In her words,
"Teeter does not have that much personally, but she is honorable."
Landon didn't get her gig on "Yellowstone" immediately.
After auditioning for the role, she said, it was a full eight months before she finally
got the call that she had landed the job.
Once she was cast, Landon fully committed to figuring out Teeter.
The job has provided her with opportunities and experiences she might never have had otherwise
— specifically experiences working with horses.
As she told the horse-centric magazine Bridle & Bit,
"One of the most unique horse experiences that I've had was during [...] season three,
where we ran 200 wild horses over several acres in a field!
And that is something that I never thought I would get an opportunity to do let alone
getting an opportunity to do it on television."
In December 2021, fans of Yellowstone were led to the startling realization that it might
be high time to say goodbye to Teeter.
After the character was fired from her work at the Dutton ranch, viewers wondered if she'd
ever return to the show.
For her part, Landon has been pretty quiet about her character's future.
While only time will tell if she ever returns to Yellowstone, the actress has since picked
up a new job on FBI: Most Wanted.
Landon's role on FBI: Most Wanted was announced back in January 2021.
She joined the cast as equestrian instructor Sarah Allen, who works with the daughter of
special agent Jess LaCroix.
Clearly, her time at Yellowstone made Landon a natural for the part, and, in March 2021,
she shared a photo on Instagram from the show alongside a caption that made it clear she
enjoys the parallels between the two shows.
As she put it, "Let's get Western on tonight's episode of
@fbimostwantedcbs!"
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more List videos about your favorite actors are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.