Character Bios

Detective Jane Rizzoli

Detective Jane Rizzoli

- Angie Harmon

I'm just a girl from Boston who hunts monsters for a living. Yeah, I know I'm not supposed to call ’em that, but that's what some of them are. Monsters. If you saw what they’ve done, the lives they’ve ruined, you’d want to take them down, too.

I’ve wanted to be a cop since a police officer came to my school for career day. I saw how the other kids looked up to him, and I knew that was the job for me. I wanted the gun, the badge.

Most of all, I wanted the respect.

Felt like I didn’t get a lot of that when I was growing up. My mom's a housewife and my dad's a plumber–we’re blue collar all the way. I had an okay childhood, but I have to admit we were a noisy household. Lots of yelling.

After my training at Boston PD academy, I worked my way up from beat patrolman to detective (vice and narcotics) and finally ended up where I am now: the homicide unit. It’s a boy’s club. I get it.

Still, it gets old, having to prove myself again and again. I hate whiners, so you'll never hear me complain. Whining doesn't get you anywhere, not with the guys in my unit. Not with guys anywhere, for that matter.

My philosophy for success? Make every perp hunt personal. Get angry, never give up, and for god’s sake, wear flats to a scene. You’ll never catch anyone if you’re wearing high heels.