Jane Lynch biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Actress. Born on July 14, 1960, in Dolton, Illinois. Raised outside of Chicago, she discovered her love for acting in the third grade while playing a candle in a school production.

In high school, Lynch participated in the choir. She loved singing and performing in school plays, but much of the time she preferred to keep a low profile. "I would step out occasionally and show what I had, and people would go, 'Wow, that's something.' And then I would kind of recede back," she explained to Time magazine. Socially, "I traveled within all the groups," Lynch explained to The New York Times. That "started that pattern of don't stay long enough for anyone to get to know you, to see the chinks in your armor."

After graduating high school, Lynch studied acting at Illinois State University. She then continued to hone her craft at Cornell University's graduate program for acting. "I think learning how to act is pretty important," Lynch later told Curve. "I have some techniques and skills I learned when I was 21 that have been hammered into my consciousness, that are now second nature."

After some time in New York, Lynch moved back to Illinois and immersed herself in the Chicago theater scene. She worked with such famous groups as the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Second City Touring Company. One of her most famous theatrical roles was playing TV mom Carol Brady in the underground sensation The Real Live Brady Bunch. Lynch enjoyed the experience, describing it as "a joy, it was a real gift and a lot of fun. Very little work. But I really learned how to nail the sitcom format and grew to love that," she told Curve magazine.

Mainstream Success

One of Lynch's first film roles was in the 1988 comedy Vice Versa with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage. More small parts followed in such movies as Straight Talk and The Fugitive. On television, Lynch made guest appearances on a number of sitcoms, including 3rd Rock from the Sun and Married with Children.

She also did some voice-over and commercials. For one ad, Lynch worked with director Christopher Guest to create a cereal commercial. Months later, the two met up again by accident at a Beverly Hills restaurant, and he asked her to stop by his office. At the time, he was casting his spoof of the dog show world, Best in Show (2000). Lynch signed on to play Christy Cummings, a tough dog trainer who gets involved with a dog owner (played by Jennifer Coolidge). The actors in Guest's films work in an improvisational style. "They give us a really good thumbnail sketch, and then we just take it from there," Lynch explained to The Advocate. "We improvise all the dialogue; there's no written dialogue."

With the success of Best in Show, Lynch soon landed a leading role on television, playing a nurse in the 2002 medical drama MDs. The show only lasted for two months before being canceled. She also lent her voice to a recurring character on the animated comedy