A stage actress and Actors Studio member whose theater roles have ranged from the ingenue "Gigi" to Mona, the madam, in the raucous "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" on Broadway and London's West End, Carlin Glynn has also made a handful of appearances in TV and films. She first played "Gigi" in her professional debut in Houston, then made the move to New York, where she appeared Off-Broadway in "The Waltz of the Toreadors" and in numerous other small theater productions, earning respect among her peers. Her breakthrough came with her Tony-winning turn as Miss Mona, the owner of the titular "Whorehouse", in the production co-written and co-directed by her husband Peter Masterson.
Glynn made the move to features as the widow of a murdered CIA agent in Sydney Pollack's "Three Days of the Condor" (1976) and went on to appear as one of Ellen Burstyn's friends in "Resurrection" (1980). She was delightful as the pressed mother of Molly Ringwald in "Sixteen Candles" (1984) and offered a strong turn as the hateful daughter-in-law of Geraldine Page in "The Trip to Bountiful" (1986), directed by Masterson. The husband and wife duo have also collaborated as director and actor on "Blood Red" (1988), "Night Games" (1989) and "Convicts" (1991). Additionally, Glynn and Masterson played the on screen parents of their real-life daughter Mary Stuart Masterson in Francis Ford Coppola's "Gardens of Stone" (1987).