Jane Lynch

Writer, actress, and comedian Jane Lynch is a slim six-feet-tall and usually wears her blonde hair cropped in a pixie cut. Born in Illinois, she went to a public university and got her M.F.A. in theater from Cornell. Her extensive theater background involved touring with the Second City comedy troupe and playing Carol Brady in The Real Live Brady Bunch. She also wrote and starred in the award-winning play Oh Sister, My Sister. Originally produced in 1998, the play kicked off the Lesbians in Theater program at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in 2004. Lynch's other stage credits include Tales of the Lost Formicans, Ennui, and Waiting for Iggy. She made her film debut in 1988 with a small role in the body-switching comedy Vice Versa. On television, she was in the Lifetime movie In the Best Interest of the Children and made numerous guest appearances on #92;sitcoms. After some meager roles in Straight Talk, The Fugitive, and Fatal Instinct, she had the good fortune to join Christopher Guest's gang of improvisational comic actors. Her breakthrough role was butch Christy Cummings, the personal dog handler to trophy wife Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) in the 2000 #92;mockumentary Best in Show. Over the next two years, she played a government agent in the #92;action movie Collateral Damage, a sarcastic nurse in the ABC medical #92;comedy MDs, and a 1940s-style receptionist in the TNT movie The Big Time. In 2003, she reunited with the cast from Best in Show for the #92;musical spoof A Mighty Wind. She performed her own music in the role of Laurie Bohner, the former porn star and member of the New Main Street Singers. In 2004, Lynch appeared in Sleepover, Little Black Boot, and The Californians. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

• Born:
  July 14, 1960 in Dolton, Illinois, United States
• Job Titles:
  Actress, Comedian, Writer

Education

• Cornell, Ithaca, NY, theater, MFA

Milestones

• 1988 Made her film debut with a small role in the body-switching comedy “Vice Versa”
• 1989 Wrote and starred in the award-winning play “Oh Sister, My Sister”; also kicked off the Lesbians in Theater program at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in 2004
• 1991 Played Carol Brady in “The Real Live Brady Bunch” at Chicago s Annoyance Theatre
• 1992 Appeared in the Lifetime movie “In the Best Interest of the Children”
• 1993 Cast in a small role opposite Harrison Ford in “The Fugitive”
• 2000 Breakthrough film role as Christy Cummings, the butch personal dog handler to trophy wife Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge) in Christopher Guest s “Best in Show”
• 2002 Cast as a 1940s-style receptionist in the TNT movie “The Big Time”
• 2002 Played a government agent in the action movie “Collateral Damage”
• 2002 Starred as a sarcastic nurse in the ABC medical comedy “MDs”
• 2003 Appeared in Guest s comedic take on folk music “A Mighty Wind” as porn actress turned singer, Laurie Bohner
• 2004 Appeared in the teen comedy “Sleepover”
• 2004 Had a recurring role as Dr. Linda Freeman on “Two and a Half Men” (CBS)
• 2005 Played a lesbian lawyer on the Showtime series “The L Word”
• 2006 Cast opposite Will Ferrell in the comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
• 2006 Played a coked-up producer of a reality TV show in the mockumentary Surviving Eden
• 2006 Reunited with Guest to play a TV host in For Your Consideration
• 2008 Co-starred with Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott in the comedy feature Role Models
• Guest-starred on several TV sitcoms such as, “Married... with Children” (Fox), “NewsRadio” (NBC) and “Frasier” (NBC)
• Toured with The Second City comedy troupe