Jane Lynch

Jane Marie Lynch, born July 14, 1960, in Evergreen Park, Illinois, is an American actress, comedian, and singer who was raised in Dolton, Illinois. The daughter of Frank Joseph Lynch, a banker of Irish descent, and Eileen Lynch, a homemaker-secretary of Irish and Swedish ancestry, Lynch was raised Catholic and attended Thornridge High School. She earned a theater degree from Illinois State University in 1982 and a master of fine arts from Cornell University in 1984. Her accolades include one Golden Globe, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and in 2013 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Following her graduate training, Lynch spent fifteen years in Chicago, working with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and becoming one of only two women selected to join The Second City comedy troupe at the time of her audition. She further developed her improvisational skills at Annoyance Theater, where she played Carol Brady in The Real Live Brady Bunch. Her film career began in 1988 with a small part in Vice Versa, and in 1993 she appeared alongside Harrison Ford in The Fugitive as Dr. Kathy Wahlund, as well as playing a reporter in Fatal Instinct that same year.

A pivotal professional relationship developed after Lynch appeared in a Frosted Flakes television commercial directed by Christopher Guest during the 1990s. Guest cast her in his 2000 mockumentary Best in Show as Christy Cummings, a dog handler, and she subsequently appeared in his films A Mighty Wind in 2003 as folk singer Laurie Bohner and For Your Consideration in 2006 as an entertainment reporter. Her profile in mainstream comedy rose further through roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in 2006, Role Models in 2008, and Paul in 2011. Lynch has also contributed voice performances to numerous animated features, among them Space Chimps, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Shrek Forever After, Rio, the Wreck-It Ralph franchise, Escape from Planet Earth, and UglyDolls.

Lynch's television work spans decades and includes appearances on The X-Files, The West Wing, Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men from 2004 to 2014, and The L Word from 2005 to 2009. Her breakthrough came with the role of cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester in the Fox musical comedy series Glee, which ran from 2009 to 2015. She went on to appear in recurring roles in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from 2017 to 2023, The Good Fight from 2017 to 2022, and Only Murders in the Building from 2021 to 2025. Beginning in 2013, Lynch hosted the NBC game show Hollywood Game Night, a position she held through 2020, and since 2020 she has served as host and executive producer of the American version of The Weakest Link.

Lynch's stage work includes a 2009 appearance in Nora Ephron's off-Broadway production Love, Loss, and What I Wore. She made her Broadway debut in 2013, playing Miss Hannigan in the revival of Annie, and returned to Broadway in 2022 to star as Mrs. Brice in the revival of Funny Girl. Her Broadway appearances span the period from 2012 to 2022.