Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Known for playing starring and recurring roles in comedic television, her accolades include one Golden Globe, six Primetime Emmys and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2013, Lynch received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
After appearing in the sitcom Two and a Half Men (2004–2014) and the drama series The L Word (2005–2009), Lynch achieved her breakthrough role as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series Glee (2009–2015). She then played recurring roles in the period comedy series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017–2023), the drama series The Good Fight (2017–2022), and the mystery comedy series Only Murders in the Building (2021–2025). In addition to acting on television, she hosted the game show Hollywood Game Night (2013–2020) and, since 2020, serves as the host and executive producer of the game show The Weakest Link (American version).
Lynch gained recognition for her collaborations with Christopher Guest, appearing in the mockumentary films Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For Your Consideration (2006). She has had roles in numerous mainstream comedy films, such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Role Models (2008), Paul (2011), and The Three Stooges (2012). She has lent her voice to numerous animated films, including Space Chimps (2008), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Shrek Forever After (2010), Rio (2011), the Wreck-It Ralph film franchise (2012–2018), Escape from Planet Earth (2013), and UglyDolls (2019).
Lynch is also known for her stage work including her role in Nora Ephron's off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore in 2009. She made her Broadway debut as Miss Hannigan in the revival of Annie in 2013. She returned to Broadway as Mrs. Brice in another revival, Funny Girl, in 2022.
Jane Marie Lynch was born on July 14, 1960, in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and raised in Dolton, Illinois, the daughter of a banker father, Frank Joseph Lynch, and a homemaker-secretary mother, Eileen Lynch (née Carney). Her father was of Irish descent, his parents having come from Sonnagh, near Charlestown and Culduff, Killasser, near Swinford both in County Mayo respectively, and her mother was of Irish and Swedish ancestry. She was raised in a Catholic family and attended Thornridge High School. She graduated from Illinois State University in 1982 with a theater degree, and earned a master of fine arts degree from Cornell University in 1984.
Lynch spent 15 years in Chicago, acting in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company and, at the time of her audition, was one of only two women picked to join The Second City comedy troupe. She then continued to hone her comical and improvisational skills at Annoyance Theater, playing Carol Brady in the theater's The Real Live Brady Bunch. Andy Richter played Mike Brady in the New York shows. He and Lynch became very good friends.
Lynch got her start in films in 1988, playing a small role in the film Vice Versa. In 1993, she had a secondary role, as the doctor Kathy Wahlund, alongside Harrison Ford in The Fugitive. She also appeared, that same year, as a reporter in Fatal Instinct.
During the 1990s, she made numerous television commercials, including one for Frosted Flakes for an adult audience, directed by Christopher Guest. A few years later, Guest would remember Lynch as he chose actors for his 2000 dog show mockumentary Best in Show. Lynch played Christy Cummings, a butch lesbian personal dog handler to trophy wife Sheri Ann Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge). From there, she became a staple actress in Guest's casts, appearing in the director's A Mighty Wind (2003) as porn actress-turned-folk singer Laurie Bohner and in For Your Consideration (2006) as an entertainment reporter.
Audiences and critics took notice of Lynch for her turn in Judd Apatow's The 40-Year-Old Virgin. She told Fresh Air's Terry Gross that the role was originally intended for a man but also that, at the urging of Steve Carell's wife Nancy Walls, it was offered to Lynch instead. From there, she took supporting roles in a series of films including Role Models, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Space Chimps, The Rocker, The Hammer, Another Cinderella Story, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Wreck-It Ralph, and Spring Breakdown.
In Julie and Julia, she portrayed Dorothy McWilliams, Julia Child's sister. Entertainment Weekly dedicated an article on its website to the possibility of her performance receiving an Academy Award nomination. However, she was not nominated. She provided the voice of Bobbi St. Simone in The Venture Bros: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart in 2023.
Lynch has appeared in many television series, including The X-Files, L.A. Law, Judging Amy, The West Wing, 7th Heaven, Glee, Desperate Housewives, Friends, NewsRadio, Married With Children, 3rd Rock From The Sun, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, Arrested Development, Lovespring International, Two and a Half Men, Veronica Mars, Weeds, Boston Legal, L Word, Criminal Minds, Help Me Help You, Gilmore Girls, New Adventures of Old Christine, Psych, Monk, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The King of Queens and Frasier. She also starred with John Hannah and William Fichtner in 2002's MDs and has appeared in the crime drama Criminal Minds as Spencer Reid's schizophrenic mother.
In 2008 she narrated Out & Proud in Chicago, a documentary which tells about LGBT life in Chicago from the Civil War to 2008 through the stories of 20 everyday Chicagoans, from age 30 to age 80.
Beginning in 2009, Lynch appeared as a regular cast member of the Fox series Glee. The role echoed previous guest appearances in The X-Files and Veronica Mars, being her third time cast as a harsh high school teacher. She won glowing reviews for her role as the aggressive cheerleading coach, Sue Sylvester. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Lynch alone makes Glee worth watching." Before her work with Glee, she was a series regular on the Starz comedy Party Down. Though the series was renewed for a second season, Lynch did not return due to her work on Glee.
Even in Glee's early days, Lynch continued to pursue other projects. Lynch hosted Saturday Night Live on October 9, 2010; the news of her hosting was accidentally broken to her by her Glee boss, Ryan Murphy, by text message. Lynch had also guest-starred on the Nickelodeon comedy iCarly as Pam Puckett, Sam Puckett's mother, in the episode "iSam's Mom."
Lynch also voiced the titular supervillain Miss Power from the PBS Kids series WordGirl in the show's only movie The Rise of Miss Power in 2012.
Beginning on July 11, 2013, Lynch hosted the NBC game show Hollywood Game Night. The show had two teams made up of members of the public (civilians) and celebrities competing in various party games, with a chance for the civilians to take home up to $25,000.
Lynch was the co-host of the NBC special New Year's Eve with Carson Daly on December 31, 2013, alongside Carson Daly, host of The Voice.
In 2015, Lynch guest-starred in the television series Girl Meets World in the episode "Girl Meets Farkle's Choice".