Free Republic

<p>When a high school counselor doubted Penny Johnson Jerald's chances of getting into Juilliard, she decided to prove him wrong. The classical training she got at the prestigious arts college and the determination it took to get it may be why 24's Jerald has a long list of TV and film credits. Called magnificent and forceful by reviewers as a guest player on the Fox drama, Jerald's a regular this fall -- and married (still?) to the president at that. (The show fast-forwards a year to a new 24 hours, with fictional candidate David Palmer now in the White House.) Jerald tells us she enjoys comparisons to Lady Macbeth or Hillary Clinton, who "stood by her man [and now] is a senator. She got what she wanted." Offscreen, Jerald, in her 40s, runs a production company with her husband, teaches acting workshops and directs a Christian theater company she founded.</p>