Christine Baranski Biography
Summary
"Christine Jane Baranski" (born May 2, 1952) is an American stage and screen actress.
Personal life
Baranski was born in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Virginia (née Mazerowski) and Lucien Baranski, who edited a Polish-language newspaper. She is of Polish descent and her grandparents were actors in the Polish theater. Baranski attended Villa Maria Academy, after which she studied at Juilliard. She has been married to actor Matthew Cowles since 1983. They have two daughters.
Career
Stage
Baranski made her Off-Broadway debut in "Coming Attractions" at Playwrights Horizons in 1980, and has appeared in several off-Broadway productions at the Manhattan Theatre Club, starting with "Sally and Marsha" in 1982.
Baranski made her Broadway debut in "Hide & Seek" in 1980. For her next Broadway performance, in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing", she won the 1984 Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Play. Other Broadway credits include: "Hurlyburly", "The House of Blue Leaves", "Rumors", Regrets Only, "Nick & Nora", and the Encores! concert staging of "Follies".
At the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Baranski starred as Mrs. Lovett in "Sweeney Todd" in 2002 and as Mame in "Mame" in 2006.
In her first Broadway production since 1991, she was featured as the maid 'Berthe' in the 2008 revival of "Boeing Boeing". The show garnered two Tony Awards, one for Best Revival of a Play and the other for Best Actor (Mark Rylance). The original cast was Bradley Whitford (Bernard), Kathryn Hahn (Gloria), Christine Baranski (Berthe), Gina Gershon (Gabriella), and Mary McCormack (Gretchen). The show closed on January 4, 2009.
She also appeared in a one night only concert benefit performance of Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" for Roundabout Theatre Company as Countess Charlotte Malcolm on January 12, 2009. The cast included Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Victor Garber, and Marc Kudisch, among others.
She has won both the Tony and Drama Desk Awards twice.
Television work
Baranski was featured as Cybill Shepherd's hard-drinking friend Maryanne Thorpe in the CBS sitcom "Cybill", which ran from 1995 until 1998, during which time she hosted "Saturday Night Live" and won an Emmy Award as best supporting actress in a comedy series along with three other nominations.
In 1999 Baranski received an Emmy nomination for a guest starring role as an intimidating radio psychiatrist on an episode of the NBC series "Frasier". She had an uncredited role in the series "Now and Again" as the voice of Roger's overbearing wife Ruth, who was never seen by viewers.
She later appeared in the 2000-2001 sitcom "Welcome to New York" and, with John Larroquette, in the 2003-2004 NBC sitcom "Happy Family". She also appeared in the classic sitcom "The Brady Bunch" playing Paula, a friend of Marcia's who gets Marcia into trouble at a slumber party. She co-starred with Bernadette Peters in a pilot for an ABC sitcom, "Adopted", in 2005, which was not picked up. She also played Faith Clancy, the mother of Jim Clancy in "Ghost Whisperer".
She guest starred as a geeky Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, a bespectacled and unemotional expert in psychiatry and neural science, and Leonard's mom, in a season two episode of "The Big Bang Theory" titled 'The Maternal Capacitance', for which she received an Emmy nomination.
She portrayed a librarian named Sonja Umdahl in the episode 'Dick and the Single Girl' of the series "3rd Rock from the Sun".
In 2009, Baranski appeared on "Ugly Betty" as Victoria Hartley, the haughty mother of Betty's new boyfriend.
She has been tapped as a regular CBS drama pilot "The Good Wife". (... more)
She has also been set to guest star on the USA tv show Psych for their season premiere.
Awards/nominations
;Television/Film
American Comedy Awards
*Funniest Female Guest Appearance in a TV Series, 'Frasier,' 2000, Nominated
*Funniest Supporting Female Performer in a TV Series, 'Cybill,' 1996, "Won"
Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
*Favorite Supporting Actress - Comedy, 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas,' 2001, Nominated
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
*Best Acting Ensemble, 'Chicago,' 2003, "Won (shared)"
Emmy Awards
*Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, 'The Big Bang Theory,' 2009 Nominated
*Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, 'Frasier,' 1999, Nominated
*Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1998, Nominated
*Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1997, Nominated
*Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1996, Nominated
*Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1995, "Won"
Golden Globes
*Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, 'Cybill,' 1997, Nominated
*Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, 'Cybill,' 1996, Nominated
Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards
*Best Acting Ensemble, 'Chicago,' 2003, Nominated (shared)
Screen Actors Guild Awards
*Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, 'Chicago,' 2003, "Won (shared)"
*Outstanding Performance by the Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture, 'The Birdcage,' 1997, "Won (shared)"
*Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1997, Nominated
*Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1996, "Won"
Viewers for Quality Television Awards/Q Award
*Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series, 'Cybill,' 1996, "Won"
;Broadway
Drama Desk Awards
*Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, 'Lips Together, Teeth Apart,' 1992, "Won"
*Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, 'The Real Thing,' 1984, "Won"
Tony Awards
*Best Featured Actress in a Play, 'Rumors,' 1989, "Won"
*Best Featured Actress in a Play, 'The Real Thing,' 1984, "Won"
External links
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Christine Baranski.
