I've been working on Barb for a while. I looked at her as a sort of every woman. She's incredibly strong; she's incredibly generous. She's seemingly insane because she is in the situation of a polygamous relationship, but she had definite reasons to do it.

Early life and education
Tripplehorn was born in Tulsa Oklahoma the daughter of Suzanne (née Ferguson) and Tom Tripplehorn who was once a guitarist with Gary Lewis & the Playboys. Tripplehorn's grandmother Jean Neely appeared in the film Reality Bites in which Tripplehorn also had a role. More recently Jeanne Tripplehorn starred opposite Bill Paxton in the HBO drama Big Love from 2006 to 2011.

Jeanne Marie Tripplehorn (born June 10 1963) is an American film and television actress. She became famous through her supporting role in the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct and went on to star in films such as The Firm (1993) and Waterworld (1995).