Jayne Houdyshell

Jayne Houdyshell, born September 25, 1953, in Topeka, Kansas, is an American actress recognized as a prolific character performer across theatre, film, and television. The youngest of four daughters born to Galen "Buzz" Houdyshell and Louella Taylor, she graduated from Topeka High School in 1971 before attending Emporia State University. She subsequently earned a degree with honors from the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan in 1974. Her accolades include a Tony Award, two Obie Awards, and a Drama Desk Award.

After relocating to Manhattan in 1980, Houdyshell spent roughly two decades as an itinerant performer, accumulating appearances in more than 200 productions at regional theatres across the United States. Her regional credits span institutions including the Steppenwolf Theater, Yale Repertory Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, McCarter Theater, Wilma Theater, and Actors Theater of Louisville, among many others. During this period she also began building a film résumé, appearing in Changing Lanes (2002) with Ben Affleck, Maid in Manhattan (2002) with Jennifer Lopez, and Garden State (2004) with Zach Braff and Natalie Portman.

Houdyshell made her Broadway debut in the musical A Wonderful Life in 2005. Prior to that, her Off-Broadway performance in Well at the Public Theater in 2004 earned her a Theatre World Award and an Obie Award for Outstanding Performance. When Well transferred to Broadway in 2006, written by Lisa Kron and featuring Houdyshell as Ann Kron, she received her first Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. That same year she also received a 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award for Supporting Actress in a Play for The Pain and the Itch at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and a 2005 Barrymore Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play for The Clean House at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. Additional Broadway credits from this era include Wicked, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Importance of Being Earnest. She played "Hattie" in the 2011 Broadway revival of Follies, earning a second Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 2012, and the following year portrayed the Nurse in the Broadway revival of Romeo and Juliet.

Her film work continued alongside her stage career. She appeared in Trust the Man (2006) with Julianne Moore, Everybody's Fine (2009) with Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore, and Sam Rockwell, The Bounty Hunter (2010) with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, and Morning Glory (2010) opposite Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, and Rachel McAdams, in which she played the Stage Manager.

The defining credit of Houdyshell's Broadway career came with The Humans, in which she originated the role of Deirdre Blake. The production ran Off-Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre Company from September to December 2015 before opening on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre on February 18, 2016. For that performance she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, the 2016 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, and an Obie Award for Performance. She was additionally nominated for the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

In 2017, Houdyshell played Ann Marie in Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2 on Broadway, earning her fourth Tony nomination. That same year she appeared in Alexander Payne's science fiction comedy Downsizing opposite Matt Damon. In 2018 she starred as The Widow in the third season of the ABC thriller Quantico. Her 2019 film work included the role of the housekeeper Hannah in Greta Gerwig's Little Women, alongside Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep. Also in April 2019, she returned to Broadway in Sam Gold's production of King Lear, portraying the Earl of Gloucester opposite Glenda Jackson in the title role.

In 2021, Houdyshell reprised the role of Deirdre Blake in the A24 film adaptation of The Humans, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2021, and was released theatrically and on Showtime on November 24, 2021. The cast included Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, and June Squibb. That same year she began playing Bunny Folger on the Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building opposite Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, a role she reprised in the show's second and fifth seasons. Her work on the series brought two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

In 2022, Houdyshell played Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn in the Broadway revival of Meredith Willson's The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, receiving her fifth Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. That year she also appeared in the psychological drama Causeway, directed by Lila Neugebauer and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry, which premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and was released on Apple TV+ on November 4, 2022. She subsequently returned to Broadway in the revival of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, a production featuring Steve Carell, Allison Pill, William Jackson Harper, and Alfred Molina. Her Broadway career, which spans 2003 to 2024, also includes appearances in The Music Master and King Lear. Throughout her career Houdyshell has maintained an active television presence, with recurring roles on Third Watch, Law & Order, Blue Bloods, and The Good Fight, as well as appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.