Janine Turner was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S., to Janice, a real estate agent, and Turner M. Gauntt, a pilot who attended West Point and flew for Braniff for 30 years. Her father is from East Texas and her mother is from South Texas.She has a brother, Tim, and was raised in Euless, Texas. At the age of fifteen, she left home to pursue a modeling career with the Wilhelmina Modeling Agency.