Jane Lynch

Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer.

Jane Marie Lynch was born on July 14, 1960, in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and raised in Dolton, Illinois, the daughter of a banker father, Frank Joseph Lynch, and a homemaker-secretary mother, Eileen Lynch (née Carney).

Her father was of Irish descent, his parents having come from Sonnagh, near Charlestown and Culduff, Killasser, near Swinford both in County Mayo respectively, and her mother was of Irish and Swedish ancestry.

She was raised in a Catholic family and attended Thornridge High School.

She graduated from Illinois State University in 1982 with a theater degree, and earned a master of fine arts degree from Cornell University in 1984.

Lynch spent 15 years in Chicago, acting in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and, at the time of her audition, was one of only two women picked to join The Second City comedy troupe.

She then continued to hone her comical and improvisational skills at Annoyance Theater, playing Carol Brady in the theater's The Real Live Brady Bunch.

Andy Richter played Mike Brady in the New York shows.

He and Lynch became very good friends.

Lynch got her start in films in 1988, playing a small role in the film Vice Versa.

During the 1990s, she made numerous television commercials, including one for Frosted Flakes for an adult audience, directed by Christopher Guest.

In 1993, she had a secondary role as a doctor alongside Harrison Ford in The Fugitive.

She also appeared, that same year, as a reporter in Fatal Instinct.

Lynch also gained recognition for her roles in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films: Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006).

A few years later, Guest would remember Lynch as he chose actors for his 2000 dog show mockumentary Best in Show.

Lynch played Christy Cummings, a butch lesbian personal dog handler to trophy wife Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge).

She also starred with John Hannah and William Fichtner in 2002's MDs and has appeared in the crime drama Criminal Minds as Spencer Reid's schizophrenic mother.

From there, she became a staple actress in Guest's casts, appearing in the director's A Mighty Wind (2003) as porn actress-turned-folk singer Laurie Bohner and in For Your Consideration (2006) as an entertainment reporter.

Audiences and critics took notice of Lynch for her turn in Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

She told Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the role was originally intended for a man but also that, at the urging of Steve Carell's wife Nancy Walls, was offered to Lynch instead.

From there, she took supporting roles in a series of films including Role Models, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Space Chimps, The Rocker, The Hammer, Another Cinderella Story, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Wreck-It Ralph and Spring Breakdown.

Lynch had a recurring role in the sitcom Two and a Half Men (2004–2014), for which she received a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as recurring roles in the drama series The L Word (2005–2009), the police drama series Criminal Minds (2006–2020), the drama series The Good Fight (2017–2022), and the period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023), for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award.

Lynch has had roles in numerous mainstream comedy films, such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Role Models (2008), Paul (2011), and The Three Stooges (2012).

She has lent her voice to numerous animated films, including Space Chimps (2008), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Shrek Forever After (2010), Rio (2011), the Wreck-It Ralph film franchise (2012-2018), Escape from Planet Earth (2013), and UglyDolls (2019).

In Adventures of Power, a comedy about air-drumming released in 2008, Lynch reunited with Michael McKean, her former co-star from For Your Consideration, in the role of Aunt Joanie and starring alongside Ari Gold, Adrian Grenier, Chiu Chi Ling and Shoshannah Stern.

In a role similar to that of her contributions as Sue Sylvester on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee, Lynch's role as the encouraging Aunt Joanie to Power, a young musician who plays the air drums because he never had access to musical instruments, promotes the initiative to support music education.

In Julie and Julia, she portrayed Dorothy McWilliams, Julia Child's sister.

Entertainment Weekly dedicated an article on its website to the possibility of her performance receiving an Academy Award nomination.

However, she was not nominated.

She provided the voice of Bobbi St. Simone in The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart 2023.

Lynch has appeared in many television series, including The X-Files, L.A. Law, Judging Amy, The West Wing, 7th Heaven, Glee, Desperate Housewives, Friends, NewsRadio, Married With Children, 3rd Rock From The Sun, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Arrested Development, Lovespring International, Two and a Half Men, Veronica Mars, Weeds, Boston Legal, L Word, Criminal Minds, Help Me Help You, Gilmore Girls, New Adventures of Old Christine, Psych, Monk, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The King of Queens and Frasier.

In 2008 she narrated Out & Proud in Chicago, a documentary which tells about LGBT life in Chicago from the Civil War to 2008 through the stories of 20 everyday Chicagoans, from age 30 to age 80.

She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award.

She is also known for her stage work including her role in Nora Ephron's off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore in 2009.

Beginning in 2009, Lynch appeared as a regular cast member of the Fox series Glee. The role echoed previous guest appearances in The X-Files and Veronica Mars, being her third time cast as a harsh high school teacher.

She won glowing reviews for her role as the aggressive cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester.

From 2013 to 2020, Lynch hosted the game show Hollywood Game Night, which earned her two Primetime Emmy Awards.

She made her Broadway debut as Miss Hannigan in the revival of Annie in 2013.

She returned to Broadway as Mrs. Brice in another revival, Funny Girl, in 2022.

In 2013, Lynch received the 2,505th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the television category, located at 6640 Hollywood Blvd. Among her numerous accolades, Lynch has received five Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe Award.