Jane Lynch

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Jane Lynch

One of the big winners of Sunday night's Emmy Awards was Jane Lynch, who received her first Emmy for her work on the comedy series "Glee."

Lynch took home the prize for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy. She had previously been nominated for a guest appearance on "Two and a Half Men."

In her acceptance speech, Lynch explained that actors "have no choice or any marketable skills." She thanked the program's creator, Ryan Murphy, and her costars.

"I have to thank my lord and creator Ryan Murphy for creating this role of a lifetime and the cast who are so young and fresh-faced, and when I'm not seething with jealousy, I'm so proud of you."

Lynch is phenomenal in her role as cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. Prior to her work on "Glee," she had appeared in several of Christopher Guest's movies, such as "Best in Show" and "A Mighty Wind."

She had also starred in "Lovespring International" and "Party Down" as well as appearing in over 100 other projects.

She is also one of Gina Wilhelm Actress's favorite actors and role model.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Kristin Chenoweth Wins Emmy

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Kristin Chenoweth Wins Emmy

The 61st annual Emmys were held this Sunday. There were several repeat winners as well as many first-time winners.

One first-time winner was Kristin Chenoweth, who got the award for supporting actress in a comedy for the now-cancelled "Pushing Daisies."

Chenoweth said, "They remembered a show that got canceled that I've never been more proud to be on. I'd much rather be on that than something that lasts a long time that I don't care about."

Other winning actresses included Toni Collette for best actress in a comedy, Glenn Close for best actress in a drama, and Jessica Lange for her work on "Grey Gardens."

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Tina Fey Wins Best Guest Actress

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Tina Fey Wins Best Guest Actress

Tina Fey received a best guest actress in a comedy Emmy for her imitation of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live."

The award was given as part of the Creative Arts Primetime Emmys, which were presented September 12.

At the same ceremony, Ellen Burstyn was given the prize for best guest actress on a drama for her work on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Burstyn had received five nominations, but this was her first win.

These awards precede the main ceremony, which will be held next Sunday, September 20, and will be hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.

Fey has an opportunity to win more Emmys at that ceremony, where she is nominated for best actress in a comedy for her starring role in "30 Rock."

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Learning About Ingrid Bergman

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Learning About Ingrid Bergman

Today would have been Ingrid Bergman's birthday. Bergman's family tried to discourage her from acting, but she pursued it on her own, memorizing poetry in her bedroom.

She was in some high school plays and was an extra in a movie. On graduation, she used her inheritance to go to the Royal Dramatic Theater School in Stockholm.

She left the school a year later when she got a small role in a Swedish movie. She starred in "Intermezzo" in 1936, which sealed her position as a star in Sweden and launched her Hollywood career.

In Hollywood, she starred in the remake of "Intermezzo" with Leslie Howard. She also appeared in movies with Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, and Bing Crosby, and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

She considered her role in "Casablanca" not to be of great importance, though I think she's alone in that assessment.

On the other hand, she actually didn't know the end of the movie until it was filmed (the studio had considered a very different ending).

She won a number of awards, including Best Actress Oscars for "Gaslight" in 1944 and "Anastasia" in 1956.

She won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Murder on the Orient Express" in 1974, making her the first actress to win that award after getting two leading actress statuettes.

Bergman acted until her death, appearing as Prime Minister Golda Meir in the miniseries "A Woman Called Golda" in 1982. That performance earned her an Emmy and a Golden Globe.

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Laura Linney's Chances for an Emmy Next Year

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Laura Linney's Chances for an Emmy Next Year

The Los Angeles Times' Awards Insider column is already handicapping Laura Linney's chances of winning an Emmy for lead actress in a comedy series next year.

Tom O'Neil, the writer of the column, has already decided that Tina Fey will win again this year for "30 Rock," and so has moved on to next year's contest.

Linney is set to star in "The C Word" on Showtime, her series debut. In the hour-long comedy, Linney plays a suburban housewife facing cancer.

Showtime president Robert Greenblatt voiced his confidence in Linney, saying, "She will no doubt make this character both heartbreaking and disarmingly funny."

He added that he was thrilled she had chosen this show for her series debut.

Laura Linney has already won an Emmy every time she's been nominated. Her most recent win was for lead actress in a movie or miniseries for her portrayal of Abigail Adams in "John Adams."

She also won in the same category in 2002 for "Wild Iris." She also won for guest actress in a comedy series for her work in "Frasier" in 2004.

Linney has also received three Oscar nominations, two for lead actress in "You Can Count on Me" and "The Savages" and one for supporting actress in "Kinsey."

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Lisa Kudrow's Inspiration

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Lisa Kudrow's Inspiration

Lisa Kudrow has revealed her inspiration for her character, Phoebe Buffay, on the long-running series "Friends."

Kudrow explains that she hard a hard time getting in touch with Phoebe's spiritual side.

"Pheobe was so spiritual and 'out there' - and I wasn't at all," Kudrow said. Instead, she turned to costar Jennifer Aniston for advice.

Aniston gave Kudrow books to read to get insight into her character.

The work paid off. Kudrow received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998.

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Handicapping the Emmys

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Handicapping the Emmys

It's getting close to Emmy nomination time, so the Los Angeles Times is picking who they expect to receive nominations. Today they look at lead comedy actress.

This year, Tom O'Neil expects all five of last year's nominees to return when nominations are announced on July 16.

Those nominees were Christina Applegate of "Samantha Who?", America Ferrera from "Ugly Betty," Julia Louis-Dreyfus from "The New Adventures of Old Christine," and Mary-Louise Parker of "Weeds."

Those are in addition to last year's winner, Tina Fey from "30 Rock."

However, this year there will be six nominees. Additionally, nominees will be chosen by a popular vote.

O'Neil thinks that means Amy Poehler of "Parks and Recreation" has a good chance, as she's immensely popular, even if her show isn't.

He also thinks Toni Collette of "The United States of Tara" may get the nomination, as shows and movies dealing with multiple personality disorder often are recognized by the academy.

This possibility was highlighted in an earlier post on this blog.

Finally, O'Neil says that there is a chance for 2005 winner Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives" again this year, but points out that she wasn't nominated last year.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Sharon Gless Gets Notice

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Sharon Gless Gets Notice

Sharon Gless is happy she gets to smoke on TV.

She lives in California, so she doesn't get to smoke in public places. However, her character on the USA Network series "Burn Notice" is a chain-smoking hypochondriac, so she's pleased.

"My husband said, 'How happy are you? They're paying you to smoke.'"

Gless likes the ways she can use the cigarette to enhance her characterization. "I can take a hit, hold it in my lungs, say whole sentences, and then blow it out when I choose for emphasis."

Of course, she's no stranger to television. She won two Emmys for best lead actress for her work on the series "Cagney and Lacey," a series that itself won 14 Emmys.

The show was also a blueprint for cop shows that followed it.

In the '90s, she was mostly being ignored, as she had put on weight. Still, she remained focused on her acting and landed a role on Showtime's "Queer as Folk."

At the time she was doing a play in Chicago, but someone sneaked a copy of the script to her. She called Showtime and told them she wanted the role.

The producers told her she didn't want it because there's no money in cable. Gless insisted she did because she knew what she could do with the character.

She knows that "Queer as Folk" changed her life. For one thing, it put her back on television.

For another thing, because she wasn't constantly being beaten up about her weight, she actually started slimming down.

She says since "Queer as Folk," she's never stopped working.

For the first season of "Burn Notice," her character was described as "needy." Since then, the network said they loved what she was doing, and she's been getting richer scenes ever since.

She works for hours at home, trying to instill every word of dialogue with meaning.

She says that she's happiest when she is working, and is fortunate because most of her female peers simply aren't anymore.

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Edie Falco, No Longer a Soprano

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Edie Falco, No Longer a Soprano

Edie Falco rose to prominence on HBO's "The Sopranos," playing Carmela Soprano for eight years and winning three Emmys in the process.

Now she can be seen playing the title character on Showtime's "Nurse Jackie." Falco says the characters couldn't be more different.

Carmela was long-suffering. Jackie, on the other hand, is a self-styled vigilante with a pill habit.

She explains that Jackie is willing to go to any length to get what she wants, even if it means breaking the law, stepping on other people, or flushing a patient's ear down the toilet.

Falco was able to relate to Jackie's addiction. She's a recovering alcoholic who is 17 years sober.

The single mother of two had a lot of struggles before she suddenly hit it really big on "The Sopranos."

She was inspired to act by her mother's work in community theater. After studying acting at the State University of New York at Purchase, her early struggling years turned into more than a decade of work.

She kept waiting for her big break, but she never gave up on acting. She says until the '90s, she was always "one step above homelessness."

She says the constant money worries of that time were far more harrowing for her than getting sober or her bout with breast cancer.

The only "day job" she could take was waitressing. However, she gave up on waitressing when she gave up drinking.

After getting to play a number of recurring roles in a number of different shows as well as an extra role that grew into a speaking role in Woody Allen's "Bullets Over Broadway," she finally got her break.

It very nearly didn't happen, though. She had been cast in a television series based on the movie "Fargo" with her playing Police Chief Marge Gunderson, the part Frances McDormand played in the film.

She had thought that would be her big break. Marge Gunderson had earned McDormand an Oscar, and the series was directed by Kathy Bates.

When the pilot didn't get picked up, Falco was devastated. On the other hand, if she had done that series, she wouldn't have been available to do "The Sopranos."

The experience has caused her to be more philosophic. "That taught me to sit back and let things happen the way they're supposed to."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Jaime Pressly is Sexy AND Funny

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Jaime Pressly is Sexy AND Funny

For years, Jaime Pressly was told she couldn't be funny-she was too sexy and pretty. She now has an Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Emmy that says otherwise.

However, now that she has that award, (along with her success on "My Name is Earl" and a scene-stealing role in "I Love You, Man") people are saying she's too funny to be sexy.

Pressly says she actually doesn't mind that as much. She says comedy is her first love.

She started in gymnastics before becoming a model and finally an actress, but most of her roles were small and involved being some sort of "sex bomb."

It wasn't until Greg Garcia, the creator of "My Name is Earl" that someone finally gave her a chance to be funny.

Pressly says she believes comedy is genetic, and her family is very funny.

She said that filming "I Love You, Man" was more like partying than working. So much of it was improvised that she doesn't remember now which parts were scripted and which weren't.

Pressly also wrote a book, "It's Not Necessarily Not the Truth: Dreaming Bigger than the Town You're From," which came out on Monday.

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Julianna Margulies Can't Count on This Emmy

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Julianna Margulies Can't Count on This Emmy

In her first season on "ER," Julianna Margulies received a best supporting actress Emmy.

Although she (and, at some point during the season, all other actors from the first season of the show) was in this week's episode, she won't be eligible for a guest star Emmy.

The rules for the Emmys state that guest stars must be credited as such. Margulies (as well as Noah Wylie, George Clooney, and Eriq LaSalle) were credited along with the rest of the cast regulars.

By contrast, Susan Sarandon was credited as making a "special appearance," while Ernest Borgnine was listed as a "special guest star."

Margulies is the only series regular ever to have won a performance Emmy, though the series itself has won a number of awards.

Gina Wilhelm Actress