Jane Lynch on Glee, comedy and her new-found success
January 11, 2010 by Lance Carter
From guardian.co.uk:Jane Lynch was part of her High School’s Glee Club:
She found a home in her school’s Glee club – the choir – where she stayed for four years. But despite a longstanding dream to be an actor, Lynch walked away from her first role out of fear and was subsequently banished from acting in school plays. “I got so scared because I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life,” she says. “I got a reputation as a quitter, so I didn’t get cast in anything in high school; it was terrible.”
After spending 10 years at Steppenwolf Theater Company and touring with The Second City, she finally decided to move to LA.
She was 33 by the time she decided to try her hand in Hollywood, but started getting jobs immediately – theatre, sitcoms, commercials and voiceover work. There were occasional dry spells, she admits, but, she says, “I felt successful all the time – even though nobody knew who I was.”
On playing the Sue Sylvester:
“I’m accessing a part of myself without judgment; and that is the mean part of myself. Every once in a while I’ll be walking down the hall making an exit, and I’ll just grab one of the kids and put ‘em in a headlock and throw ‘em against the locker. She has no filter; whatever heinous thought comes into her mind comes right out of her mouth.”
On her new found success:
“Being the workaday actor that I have been – and will always be, if this goes away – can be thankless. There’s a part of us that wants recognition. And it’s easier when you get the affirmation and you’re making more money and people ask you what you think.”
On comedy:
“Making people laugh is a really fabulous thing because it means you’re getting deep inside somebody, into their psyche, and their ability to look at themselves. You have to get through a lot of ego to get there. You have to get through a lot of self-protection that says, ‘I’m cool’, to get down to the stuff that says, ‘I’m just a goof.’ “
On being an openly-gay actor:
“I think if I were an ingénue – if I were Kate Winslet – it probably would hurt my career, but because I’m Jane Lynch and I’m a character actor, the world isn’t projecting their romantic fantasies on me.”
2Acting on Tue, 12th Jan 2010 9:59 am
Sometimes when what you always wanted in life is presented to you, you get scared. It’s great that she still became successful even if she missed one chance.