Few actors have resumes as diverse and extensive as Chicago native Jane Lynch’s. Just look at her latest work:
She plays Julia Child’s sister in the film “Julie & Julia,” a tyrannical cheerleading coach on the new Fox TV series “Glee,” the snarky psychiatrist on “Two and a Half Men,” a wild party caterer on the cable series “Party Down” and a mom in the new film “Post Grad.”
There’s no great secret to how she’s amassed so many acting credits.
“I basically take everything that comes to me,” Lynch says during an interview to talk about “Post Grad,” set to open in theaters Friday. “I love it all. I guess I have been really lucky that I haven’t gotten any turkeys.”
A big draw is the actors or directors she’ll get to work with. The attraction of “Post Grad” was the chance to get to work with Alexis Bledel, Carol Burnett and Michael Keaton.
Lynch’s Carmella Malby is the mother of Ryden (Bledel), a new graduate who has had her life planned out for years. Those plans don’t go exactly they way she anticipated. Keaton plays Ryden’s supportive father and Burnett her cantankerous grandmother.
Lynch doesn’t question her current acting good fortune.
“I don’t know why it is happening, except if you are looking to fill a small part and you want it to be a little special — if I can say that without sounding like I am showing off — then I am kind of a good person to go to,” Lynch says.
She’s enjoyed bouncing through all of the projects, which have included improvising in Christopher Guest’s movies “For Your Consideration,” “A Mighty Wind” and “Best in Show.”
She also toured with The Second City comedy troupe and played Carol Brady in “The Real Live Brady Bunch” stage show, first in Chicago and then on the road. But the freedom she gets from improvisational comedy comes with some fear.
“There is a challenge and a liberation when it is all on you,” she said. “That can be scary and it is also really exciting.”
Lynch currently is excited to be part of a show like “Glee,” where she could have a job for years.
The Fox series about a ragtag high school show choir has its fall premiere on Sept. 9, but it has gotten major buzz since the pilot episode aired in May.
“I’m having the time of my life. I am acting in the role of a lifetime,” Lynch says. “And the words they have written to come out of my mouth are some of the best heinous things I’ve ever said in my life. I could not be happier.”
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… the words they have written to come out of my mouth are some of the best heinous things I’ve ever said in my life.”
Jane Lynch
on her role in the Fox series “Glee”
