Jane Kaczmarek

Jane Frances Kaczmarek (/kæzˈmærək/; born December 21, 1955)^[1][2][3] is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lois on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006), which earned her 3 Golden Globe nominations and 7 Primetime Emmy nominations. She also appeared as Linda in Equal Justice (1990–1991), Judge Trudy Kessler in Raising the Bar (2008–2009), Ann in Falling in Love (1984), Emily in The Heavenly Kid (1985), and Gayle in 6 Balloons (2018). She had recurring roles as Holly in Cybill and as Maureen Cutler in Frasier and is also known for a large number of recurring and guest-starring roles in various television shows. Kaczmarek was a replacement for the character of Bella in the Broadway production of Neil Simon's Lost In Yonkers.

Jane Kaczmarek
Kaczmarek in 2014
Born	Jane Frances Kaczmarek (1955-12-21) December 21, 1955 (age 69) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Education	University of Wisconsin, Madison (BA) Yale University (MFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Bradley Whitford ​ ​ (m. 1992; div. 2010)​
Children	3

Early life

Kaczmarek was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Evelyn (née Gregorska), a teacher, and Edward Kaczmarek, a US Department of Defense worker.^[4][5][6] She grew up in Greendale, a village outside Milwaukee, where she was raised a Roman Catholic.^[7][8] Kaczmarek is a graduate of Greendale High School.^[9]

Career

She appeared on many television shows in recurring and guest-starring roles, including St. Elsewhere, sitcoms like Frasier and Cybill, and many more. She was also a regular on the first eight episodes of the Showtime run of The Paper Chase, as Connie Lehman.

In 1999, Kaczmarek was cast to play Lois in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, which premiered on January 9, 2000.^[10] TV Guide dubbed her role in the series as a "true breakout; a female Homer Simpson", and critics hailed her for her comic talents.^[11] Later, Kaczmarek would credit the show for bringing out her comedic side, saying, "[Before Malcolm] I couldn't even get auditions for comedies. I played very unfunny people."^[12]

In September 2008, she appeared on stage in The House of Blue Leaves at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.^[13]

On July 22, 2011, it was confirmed that Kaczmarek would make a vocal appearance as Red Jessica in the television series Jake and the Never Land Pirates during its second season early 2012.^[14]

Kaczmarek was the narrator in the 2011 Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and PBS production of Wisconsin's Nazi Resistance: The Mildred Fish-Harnack Story, a documentary about the life of fellow Milwaukee native Mildred Fish-Harnack who in 1943 was the only American woman to ever be personally sentenced to death by order of Adolf Hitler for her role in the German Nazi Resistance Movement.^[15]

In November 2012, she made a guest appearance on ABC's The Middle as Frankie Heck's (Patricia Heaton) dental teacher. In 2013, Kaczmarek guest starred on NBC's long-running legal drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as Suffolk County D.A. Pamela "Pam" James.^[16]

Kaczmarek and former Malcolm in the Middle co-star Bryan Cranston reprised their roles as Lois and Hal respectively in an "alternate ending" featurette on the Breaking Bad DVD/Blu-ray box set that was released on November 26, 2013. In it, Hal wakes up from the nightmare that was the plot of Breaking Bad, in a nod to the final scene from Newhart.^[17]

Personal life

Kaczmarek married fellow Wisconsin native and actor Bradley Whitford on August 15, 1992. They resided in Los Angeles with their three children. They had frequently attended public events together and had co-founded the foundation "Clothes off our Back," and were last seen together at the September 2008 opening for her performance in the play "House of Blue Leaves" in Los Angeles ^{[18][19][20][21][22]} In June 2009, the couple filed for divorce after almost 17 years of marriage.^{[23][24][25][26]} The divorce was finalized in October 2010.^[27] According to a June 2009 magazine interview with More.com conducted prior to announcement of the divorce, she replied "That's a big no comment" when asked to sum up her love life. She added that she used to believe that she could "go it alone and as long as I had some fabulous boy on my arm, or man, and my career was sailing, that's all I needed" whereas she now had grown to appreciate the support of her girlfriends "to talk about kids, to talk about marriages, to talk about just life".^[28] In 2010, they sold their 1924 villa in San Marino, California.^[29]

Kaczmarek underwent a hip replacement in April 2004, due to chronic arthritis.^[30] She recovered quickly, and used an X-ray of her new hip for her Emmy campaign the following summer, advertising herself as "the only Emmy nominee with an artificial hip (except for Anthony LaPaglia)".^[31]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1983	Uncommon Valor	Mrs. Wilkes
1984	Falling in Love	Ann Raftis
1985	The Heavenly Kid	Emily Barnes
1985	Door to Door	Katherine Holloway
1988	D.O.A.	Gail Cornell
1988	Vice Versa	Robyn Seymour
1989	All's Fair	Linda
1996	The Chamber	Dr. Anne Biddows
1996	Wildly Available	Rita Goodman
1998	Pleasantville	David's mom
2015	The Boat Builder	Katherine
2016	Wolves at the Door	Mary
2017	CHiPs	Jane Lindel
2018	6 Balloons	Gayle

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	St. Elsewhere	Sandy Burns	3 episodes
1983	Remington Steele	Barbara Troy Dannon	Episode: "Altared Steele"
1983	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Penny	Episode: "Always Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth"
1983–1984	The Paper Chase	Connie Lehman	8 episodes
1984	Hill Street Blues	Officer Clara Pilksy	6 episodes
1984	Something About Amelia	Mrs. Hall	Television movie
1984	Crazy Like a Fox	Julie Floyd	Pilot episode
1985	Hometown	Mary Newell Abbott	10 episodes
1986	The Right of the People	Alicia	Television movie
1986	The Christmas Gift	Susan	Television movie
1987	I'll Take Manhattan	Nina Stern	Television movie
1987	The Three Kings	Dr. Paula Bolet	Television movie
1988	American Playhouse	Susan Glaspell	Episode: "Journey Into Genius"
1989	Spooner	Gail Archer	Television movie
1990–1991	Equal Justice	Linda Bauer	22 episodes
1993	Big Wave Dave's	Karen Fisher	6 episodes
1994	Monty	Nickerson	Episode: "Wild, Wild Willy and His O.K. Corral"
1994	Law & Order	Janet Rudman	Episode: "Censure"
1994	ABC Afterschool Specials	Mary Reed	Episode: "Boys Will Be Boys"
1994	L.A. Law	Karen Gershon-woo	Episode: "Whose San Andreas Fault Is It, Anyways?"
1994	Without Warning	Dr. Caroline Jaffe	Television movie
1995	Picket Fences	Janice Neiman	Episode: "Heroes and Villains"
1995–1999	Party of Five	Helene Thompson	3 episodes
1996	Touched by an Angel	Bonnie Bell	Episode: "Out of the Darkness"
1996	ABC Afterschool Specials	Nancy Gallagher	Episode: "Educating Mom"
1996	Apollo 11	Jan Armstrong	Television movie
1996–1997	Cybill	Holly	5 episodes
1996–1997	Frasier	Maureen Cutler	2 episodes
1997	The Practice	Pamela Boyd	2 episodes
1999	Felicity	Carol Anderson	5 episodes
2000–2006	Malcolm in the Middle	Lois	151 episodes American Comedy Award for Funniest Female Performer in a Television Series Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy (2000–01) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2001–03) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (2000–06) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series (2001, 2003) Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Actress – Comedy Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series
2001–2022	The Simpsons	Judge Constance Harm (voice)	9 episodes
2006–2007	Help Me Help You	Anne Hoffman	6 episodes
2008–2009	Raising the Bar	Judge Trudy Kessler	23 episodes
2010	Reviving Ophelia	Marie Jones	Television movie
2011	Wilfred	Beth	Episode: "Pride"
2011–2012	Whitney	Candi	3 episodes
2012–2013	The Middle	Sandy Armwood	2 episodes
2012–2015	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Red Jessica (voice)	12 episodes
2013	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	D.A. Pam James	Episode: "Beautiful Frame"
2014	Phineas and Ferb	Denise (voice)	Episode: "Lost in Danville/The Inator Method"
2014	Us & Them	Pam	7 episodes
2014–2017	Playing House	Gwen Crawford	7 episodes
2015	The McCarthys	Eileen	Episode: "Sister Act"
2015	Big Time in Hollywood, FL	Dr. Moore	2 episodes
2015	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Coach Jackie (voice)	Episode: "Ultrahyperball"
2016	The Big Bang Theory	Dr. Gallo	Episode: "The Sales Call Sublimation"
2016	Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life	Cindy Barrett	Episode: "How to Survive Your Parents' Visit"
2018	Animals.	Judge (voice)	Episode: "The Trial"
2018	This Is Us	Mrs. Philips	Episode: "Katie Girls"
2019	Trolls: The Beat Goes On!	Mom Cloud (voice)	Episode: "Don't Worry Be Peppy/Two's a Cloud"
2019	Carol's Second Act	Phyllis	Episode: "Sick and Retired"
2019	Mixed-ish	Eleanor	Episode: "True Colors"
2023	The Changeling	Callisto "Cal"	Episode: "The Wise Ones"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2000	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series	Malcolm in the Middle	Nominated
2000	TCA Awards	Individual Achievement in Comedy		Won
2001	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2001	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy		Nominated
2001	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2001	TCA Awards	Individual Achievement in Comedy		Won
2002	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2002	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy		Nominated
2002	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy		Nominated
2003	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2003	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy		Nominated
2003	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2004	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2004	Satellite Awards	Best Actress in a Television Series: Musical or Comedy		Won
2005	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2006	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2012	Ovation Awards	Lead Actress in a Play	Good People[32]	Nominated