Molly Shannon extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Molly Shannon
Shannon at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Molly Helen Shannon September 16, 1964 (1964-09-16) (age 45) Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, Comedian, Writer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse(s)	Fritz Chesnut (2004–present)

Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress, comedian and writer, best known for her work as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1995-2001. Most recently, she starred on the NBC sitcom Kath & Kim until its cancellation in 2009.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Saturday Night Live characters 5.1 Original characters 5.2 Celebrity characters 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Shannon was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio to an Irish American Catholic family.¹² Her mother, Peg Shannon, was a teacher, and her father, James F. Shannon, was a sales manager.³ Shannon was involved in a traumatic car accident when she was four years old which killed her mother, younger sister, and cousin.⁴ Shannon attended St. Dominic School in Shaker Heights for grade school, and Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio, for high school.

Career

Before Saturday Night Live, Shannon had a struggling career in films, her most notable being a supporting role as Meg in the 1989 horror film remake of The Phantom of the Opera with Robert Englund. In 1991, she had a brief appearance in the second season of Twin Peaks, and in 1993, she appeared in a supporting role in two episodes of In Living Color, the first in a fake TV commercials with Chris Rock (played by Shawn Wayans), and the second in a sketch with Jim Carrey, playing LAPD Sergeant Stacy Koon (think Rodney King).

Shannon's major break came in February 1995, when she was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live to replace Janeane Garofalo after Garofalo left mid-season. Shannon was one of the few cast members to be kept (along with David Spade, Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney, and Tim Meadows) when Lorne Michaels engaged in a major cast overhaul between seasons 20 and 21.

She appeared in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Summer of George," where she played Sam, the co-worker who drove Elaine Benes crazy because she did not swing her arms while walking. She also appeared in Sheryl Crow's video for the song "A Change (Will Do You Good)" and played the recurring role of loony neighbor Val Bassett, Grace Adler's nemesis, on Will & Grace, appearing in five episodes over the sitcom's eight-season run. In 1998, she played the role of Emily Sanderson in the film A Night at the Roxbury, featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan who were also cast members of SNL at the time.

In 1999, Shannon starred alongside Will Ferrell in Superstar, a feature film based on her most famous SNL character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, the awkward Catholic school student who aspires to be a musical superstar.

Shannon left SNL in 2001, surpassing Victoria Jackson as the show's longest-serving female cast member (she has since been surpassed by Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler). In 2003, she appeared in the romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter and the television remake of The Music Man.

In 2004, she starred in a short-lived Fox network television series Cracking Up with actor Jason Schwartzman. That same year, she guest starred in an episode of Scrubs and starred as Mrs. Baker in the film Good Boy! . In 2006, Shannon was featured in the Sofia Coppola directed movie Marie Antoinette as Aunt Victoire. The next year, Shannon guest starred on ABC's Pushing Daisies and the film Evan Almighty. Shannon also made a rare move to drama, appearing in the critically acclaimed film Year of the Dog in 2007.

Shannon hosted Saturday Night Live on May 12, 2007, making her the second former female cast member to host (after Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the first one to have been a cast member for Lorne Michaels (Louis-Dreyus was a cast member under Dick Ebersol).

In 2008, Shannon starred as Kath in the US version of the hit Australian sitcom Kath & Kim (U.S. TV series). Also in 2008, she starred in an episode of the comedy series Pushing Daisies and the TV movie More of Me.

In early 2010, Shannon was cast in a recurring role on the Fox television series Glee as Brenda Castle, an astronomy and badminton teacher who has a rivalry with main character Sue Sylvester.⁵

Personal life

Shannon married artist Fritz Chesnut on May 29, 2004. They have two children: daughter Stella (b. 2003), and son Nolan (b. 2005).

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	The Phantom of the Opera	Meg
1991	Twin Peaks	Judy Swain	1 episode
1993	In Living Color	Officer Trainee	1 episode
	General Hospital	Surrogate Mother #2	1 episode
1994	The John Larroquette Show		1 episode
	Sister, Sister	Cashier	1 episode
	Ellen	Woman	1 episode
1995	Saturday Night Live	Various	120 episodes (1995-2001)
	Return to Two Moon Junction	Traci
1996	Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace	Homeless Lady
1997	Dinner and Driving	Arguing Woman in Café
	The Single Guy	Melody Pugh	1 episode
	Seinfeld	Sam	1 episode
1998	The Thin Pink Line	Aanl
	Happiness	Nancy
	A Night at the Roxbury	Emily Sanderson
	Daydream Believer	Susan Bradley
1999	Analyze This	Caroline
	Never Been Kissed	Anita
	My Neighbors the Yamadas	Matsuko Yamada	Dubbed English Voice
	Superstar	Mary Katherine Gallagher
	Will & Grace	Val Bassett	5 episodes (1999-2004)
2000	SNL Fanatic	Anna Nicole Smith	TV
	My 5 Wives	Barbara Van Dyke
	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Betty Lou Who
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Gail von Kleinenstein
	Saturday Night Live Primetime Extra 1	Elizabeth Taylor	TV
	Osmosis Jones	Mrs. Boyd
	Serendipity	Eve
	Shallow Hal	Mrs Mary Larson	Uncredited
2002	Sex and the City	Lily Martin	3 episodes
	The Santa Clause 2	Tracy
2003	American Splendor	Stage Actor Joyce
	The Music Man	Mrs Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn	TV
	Ed	Linda Berringer	1 episode
	My Boss's Daughter	Audrey Bennett
	Good Boy!	Mrs. Baker
2004	Scrubs	Denise Lemmon	1 episode
	The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve	Angie	TV
	Cracking Up	Lesley Shackleton	7 episodes (2004-2006)
2005	Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie	Jackie Frost	Voice
	American Dad	Kristy	3 episodes (2005-2007)
2006	Shut Up and Sing	Trish
	Scary Movie 4	Marilyn
	Marie Antoinette	Aunt Victoire
	Little Man	Soccer Mom
	Talladega Nights	Mrs. Dennit
	My Gym Partner's a Monkey	Pretties	1 episode
	The Amazing Screw-On Head	Patience the Vampire	TV / Voice
	Gray Matters	Carrie
	Air Buddies	Molly	Voice
2007	The Mastersons of Manhattan	Amanda Masterson
	Year of the Dog	Peggy
	30 Rock	Katherine Catherine	1 episode
	Evan Almighty	Eve Adams
	More of Me	Alice	TV
	Pushing Daisies	Dilly Balsam	1 episode
2008	More of Me	Alice	Made of televisión
	Snow Buddies	Molly	Voice
	Igor	Eva	Voice
	Kath & Kim	Kath	18 episodes (2008-2009)
2009	What Goes Up	Penelope Little
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Jeannie	1 episode
2010	Glee	Brenda Castle	recurring

Saturday Night Live characters

Original characters

• Mary Katherine Gallagher, Shannon's best known character. An odd, outcast student at a Catholic school who enjoyed performing in the choir and school plays. Shannon starred in a 1999 feature film based on the character.

• Sally O'Malley, a proud 50-year old dancer with a bouffant hairdo, who wore tight red pants and proclaimed how much she loved to "kick, stretch and kick!"

• Helen Madden, an overly exuberant self-proclaimed "Joyologist", who appeared on talk shows with the trademark catchphrase "I love it, I love it!"

• Circe Nightshade, the co-host of "Goth Talk" (with Chris Kattan).

• Terri Rialto, co-host of the NPR radio show "Delicious Dish" (with Ana Gasteyer).

• Jeannie Darcy, an unfunny mullet-haired stand-up comedian, who ended almost every joke with the phrase "Don't get me started, don't even get me started!"

Celebrity characters

• Courtney Love
• Monica Lewinsky
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Björk
• Ann Miller
• Tori Amos
• Emma Bunton
• Soon-Yi Previn
• Liza Minneli
• Kim Cattrall
• Brooke Shields
• Angelina Jolie

References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Molly Shannon

External links

• Molly Shannon at the Internet Movie Database
• The Career Cookbook Molly Shannon Profile
• Maxim Rated Top SNL performer
• ontheinside.info/Molly Shannon