Maren Jensen
- Actress
- Production Designer
Maren Jensen was born in Glendale, California, USA on September 23,
1956. She attended Herbert Hoover High School from 1971 to 1974, and
after graduating, received a scholarship to attend UCLA. The actress
majored in theatre arts during her three years at UCLA. She appeared in
several college productions, but admits, "I did absolutely nothing
professional, not even the California equivalent of
off-off-off-Broadway". She did, however, begin a successful modeling
career, which included Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazine covers. When
a mutual friend introduced her to agent Barbara Gale, she was surprised
by the agent's obvious enthusiasm. She was even more surprised when Ms.
Gale started sending her on calls that resulted in two network
commercials and a guest shot on
The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977).
But even more startling, she recalls, was being signed for a stellar
role in
Battlestar Galactica (1978).
Maren appeared in Wes Craven's 1981 horror film,
Deadly Blessing (1981), and in the
movie, Beyond the Reef (1979).
Maren appeared with ABC teammates, Richard Hatch, Joyce DeWitt, Robin Williams, Debby Boone, Billy Crystal, Robert Urich and captain Gabe Kaplan on Battle of the Network Stars V (1978),
alongside Sharon Stone. Ms. Jensen comes from a "totally
non-theatrical" family. Her father is a physician and her mother is a
membership secretary with the Los Angeles Zoo. She is a middle child,
with a brother Dana, who is five years older, and a sister, Kathleen,
who is seven years younger. Ms. Jensen is single -- and plans to keep
it that way, for at least a while -- as her career moves rapidly
forward. Her hobbies are "almost all musical", including singing and
playing piano. Her career was cut short by illness, after she got
Epstein-Barr Syndrome. Maren was a longtime companion of
singer-songwriter Don Henley and in 1982, Henley released his first
solo album, "Building the Perfect Beast". She appeared in the video for
Henley's song, "Not Enough Love In the World", in 1985. Henley and Maren
Jensen were engaged, but separated in 1986. Jensen helped Henley found
The Walden Woods Project in the early 1990s, an organization dedicated
to protecting the Walden Woods in Massachusetts from development.
Maren Jensen (now Maren Kugelberg) is married to Johan Kugelberg. They
have a daughter and live in New York City. Johan Kugelberg curates the
Boo-Hooray art gallery in Manhattan.
