Best in Show

After a decade's worth of supporting roles, Glee funnywoman Jane Lynch is finally breaking out

By Laura Fitzpatrick Monday, Apr. 26, 2010
    • Matthias Clamer/FOX

    Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester on Glee.

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    A native of small-town Illinois and an alumna of the Second City improv comedy troupe (where she shared the stage with The Office's Steve Carell, with whom she would later appear in 2005's The 40-Year-Old Virgin ), Lynch always wanted to act and recalls few moments of doubt that she'd make it. That took some doing, considering that by 1999 she was 38 and had spent seven years in L.A. on a "relentless" but only marginally fruitful quest for comedy, acting and singing gigs. But that spring, she ran into Christopher Guest in a local restaurant; the pair had worked together six months earlier on a Kellogg's Frosted Flakes commercial. He asked her to drop by his office, she recalls, and by the end of the day, Lynch was cast in Best in Show . The film — a loose, often improvised look at the odd world of competitive dog breeding — suited the appetite for collaboration that Lynch whetted at Second City: "I'm not playing small by being in an ensemble," she says. "It's my favorite way to work." Her co-stars enjoy her too. "There are only a few people out there who are universally beloved," says Paul Rudd, who worked with Lynch in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Role Models . "Everybody knows how funny she is. The biggest challenge is not laughing while you're doing a scene with her."

    Finding a Home with Glee

    Standing 6 ft. (1.8 m) tall in gym shoes, Lynch has often gotten screen time by taking on parts intended for men. "My first role in high school was the king in a one-act version of 'The Princess and the Pea,'" she recalls. "It started the pattern." (In The 40-Year-Old Virgin , she plays Carell's boss — a part originally written for a guy — with lecherous absurdity.) But Glee is the first chance audiences have had to watch Lynch inhabit a featured character over time.

    A regular role has its personal perks for Lynch. Notably, she gets to work in Los Angeles, where she lives. (She's settling down in other ways too: Lynch recently confirmed her engagement to psychologist Lara Embry.) On a professional level, she notes, the plus is that "I actually have an arc." Determined not to see New Directions upend the high school pecking order that places her cheerleaders on top — or the budget priorities that let her send her dry cleaning to Europe — Sylvester tries at every turn to thwart the group's success. But she also gets her own story lines. In one plot twist, for instance, scheming Sue was revealed to be the loving caretaker of a sister living with Down syndrome. In the forthcoming second half of the season (Fox put the show on ice in December, reportedly to clear the decks for American Idol ), she will sing, get bullied and collaborate on a music video with Olivia Newton-John (one of Lynch's go-to choices for real-life karaoke — "'Sam' is my favorite," she says, singing a few bars).

    With Glee picked up for a second season, Sue will do a whole lot more than that in the future. For now, Lynch is enjoying every minute — with a fervor that Sue would never tolerate. "I've been around the block. I know it doesn't happen all the time," says Lynch of Glee 's success. "It's kind of a blessed thing."

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