Melanie Jayne Lynskey (born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress. She rose to prominence for her portrayal of Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures (1994), which was followed by supporting roles in Ever After (1998), Coyote Ugly (2000), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), and Shattered Glass (2003). Subsequent film parts include Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Away We Go, Up in the Air, The Informant! (all 2009), Win Win (2011), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). In 2012, Lynskey transitioned into leading roles with the film Hello I Must Be Going (2012), followed by Happy Christmas (2014), The Intervention (2016), and I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017).
On television, Lynskey's best known role is that of Rose on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003-15). She also appeared as Michelle Pierson on the HBO series Togetherness (2015-16), for which she received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Video Melanie Lynskey
Early life
Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, to Kay Lynskey, a former nurse, and Tim Lynskey, an orthopedic surgeon. She is the oldest of five children, and has three brothers and one sister. Her surname is Irish.
During her childhood, Lynskey's family relocated to England for one year before returning to New Zealand. She attended New Plymouth Girls' High School, where she was involved in the drama department and school plays. After high school, Lynskey studied at Victoria University of Wellington.
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Career
1994-2002: Film debut and early success
Lynskey made her feature film debut at age 16, starring as Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures, a psychological drama based on the notorious Parker-Hulme murder case. She auditioned for the role of Pauline when a casting director visited her high school. Prior to this, 500 girls had been considered for the part, but "none were right". Fran Walsh, the film's co-writer, admired Lynskey's "quiet intensity", and said "we knew immediately that she was right for the role". The film, which was directed by Peter Jackson and co-starred Kate Winslet, was released to favorable reviews in 1994. Roger Ebert praised Jackson for casting "the right two actresses", noting that "there is a way Lynskey has of looking up from beneath glowering eyebrows that lets you know her insides are churning". Entertainment Weekly's Owen Gleiberman described Lynskey and Winslet as "extraordinary actresses". The film won Jackson and Walsh a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Lynskey was named Best Actress at the 1995 New Zealand Film and Television Awards.
After a two-year gap, Lynskey returned to acting in 1997 with a role in the independent feature Foreign Correspondents, which gained attention for being the first film in history to use crowdfunding. The following year, she broke into the mainstream when she appeared as Drew Barrymore's "nice" stepsister in Ever After, a re-imagining of the Cinderella story.
In 1999, she appeared in four features: Detroit Rock City, with Edward Furlong; The Cherry Orchard, with Charlotte Rampling; Shooters, with Gerard Butler; and the cult hit But I'm a Cheerleader, which often tops 'best of' lists for lesbian-themed movies. She then played a key role in the romantic comedy Coyote Ugly (2000), alongside John Goodman, and starred in Snakeskin (2001), her first New Zealand film project since Heavenly Creatures. David Stratton of Variety described it as "an excellent lead performance", and Lynskey was nominated for Best Actress at the Nokia New Zealand Film Awards.
In 2002, Lynskey experienced her first major box office success when she played the childhood best friend of Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, which broke records during its opening weekend in North America. She then appeared opposite Katie Holmes in the psychological thriller Abandon, and made her television debut in Rose Red, a miniseries scripted by Stephen King. The series was a ratings hit with an average of 18.5 million viewers over three consecutive nights.
2003-2011: Two and a Half Men, and prestigious supporting roles
In 2003, Lynskey played a writer for The New Republic in Shattered Glass, a film based on the exploits of former journalist Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen). Jeff Otto of IGN called it "a tension-filled drama with great performances". Later that year, she landed the part of Rose, the devious--but lovable--neighbor of Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. After initially appearing in the pilot episode as a guest character, Lynskey was invited to become a series regular, and went on to appear frequently throughout the show's first two seasons. Despite leaving the main cast in 2005 to concentrate on film work, she continued to make guest appearances on the show up until its final episode, which aired in February 2015.
Honestly, doing three or four episodes a year enabled me to pay my mortgage and do independent films. I had this double life: I had this whole indie side of my career, and people in that world didn't know I was on this huge sitcom. Then, people would recognize me from Two and a Half Men and think that I never had another job. But I couldn't have done one without the other.
In 2006, she had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's epic war drama Flags of Our Fathers, based on the book of the same name about the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima. Next, she appeared as a principal character on the FOX series Drive (2007), co-starred in the miniseries Comanche Moon (2008), and returned to New Zealand to star in Show of Hands (also 2008), which earned Lynskey a nomination for Best Actress at the Qantas Film and Television Awards.
In 2009, Lynskey garnered praise for her performance in Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes, playing a seemingly happy adoptive parent who hides a secret heartache. Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe called it "the best performance in the movie". She then appeared opposite Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, a dark comedy based on the true story of FBI whistleblower Mark Whitacre. In his review for The Independent, Geoffrey Macnab wrote: "Sterling support comes from Melanie Lynskey, as Whitacre's ever-loyal wife". Soderbergh told The Los Angeles Times: "She is so watchable. You never quite know what you're going to get, you just know it's going to be good. Her rhythms are really unusual, like her cadence and her reaction times to things, and the way she sort of lays out a sentence. It's just really, really interesting". Lynskey counts her time working on The Informant! as one of her favorite experiences.
Also in 2009, Lynskey appeared as Edward Norton's pregnant fiancée in Leaves of Grass, and in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, where she played the sister of George Clooney. The latter film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In October that year, Lynskey was presented with a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival.
In 2011, she co-starred alongside Paul Giamatti in Win Win, gaining strong reviews for her portrayal of a recovering drug addict. The following year, Lynskey appeared in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World with Steve Carell, and had a key role in the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, playing the mentally disturbed Aunt Helen.
2012-present: Transition to lead roles and greater success
The romantic drama Hello I Must Be Going (2012), in which Lynskey portrayed Amy, a dispirited 30-something who finds herself having to move back in with her parents, was particularly well received by critics. It was a landmark film for Lynskey because, for the first time in her career, she appeared in every single scene. She described the experience as "a lot of pressure", and said she initially assumed that the part would be given to Michelle Williams or Maggie Gyllenhaal. Speaking of his decision to cast Lynskey, director Todd Louiso said: "I knew if I cast her, the film had the potential to resonate on a thousand different levels". Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times wrote: "If you know the name Melanie Lynskey, you're already planning to see her in Hello I Must Be Going. If you don't, this film will have you making up for lost time. That's how good an actress she is". The performance earned her a nomination for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor.
In 2014, Lynskey's portrayal of an aspiring novelist in Happy Christmas was praised by critics. The film, which co-starred Anna Kendrick, drew attention for being almost entirely improvised. Stephen Holden of The New York Times commented: "The performances in Happy Christmas are so natural that the actors melt into their characters". The same year, she appeared with Amy Poehler in David Wain's satirical romantic comedy They Came Together, and played the female leads in Goodbye to All That, opposite Paul Schneider, and We'll Never Have Paris, opposite Simon Helberg. In April 2014, Lynskey was named an 'Emerging Master' honoree at the RiverRun International Film Festival.
Also in 2014, Lynskey was the voice of Beatrice, an ill-tempered bluebird, in Cartoon Network's ten-part miniseries Over the Garden Wall. The A.V. Club described Beatrice as "the series' standout character", noting that "Lynskey steals the show with her amazing putdowns and passive-aggressiveness, smartly avoiding overdone sass or sarcasm". The series went on to receive three Creative Arts Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Animated Program.
From 2015 to 2016, Lynskey played Michelle Pierson on the HBO series Togetherness, a show created, written and directed by brothers Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass. Togetherness ran for two seasons and received positive reviews from critics. Robert Lloyd of The Los Angeles Times wrote: "[Lynskey] is all deep waters and live wires; soft and steely, trying on new personas for size, her Michelle becomes the series' gravitational center. You can feel her feeling". The performance earned her a nomination for the 2015 Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Although she eventually missed out on a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2016, Lynskey was singled out as a worthy candidate on numerous occasions in the run-up to that year's ceremony. In March 2016, it was announced that HBO had decided not to renew Togetherness for a third season. Lynskey later compared this to having her "heart broken by someone I'm still in love with".
For her role in The Intervention (2016), Lynskey received the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Individual Performance at the Sundance Film Festival. Ethan Anderton of Slashfilm commented: "Lynskey is the standout, delivering a performance that is genuine, funny and touching all at the same time". The comedy-drama was the directional debut of Clea DuVall, who wrote the character of Annie, an uptight alcoholic, specifically for Lynskey. Also that year, she starred in the independent features Rainbow Time, Little Boxes, and The Great & The Small.
In 2017, Lynskey received praise for her portrayal of Ruth, a downtrodden vigilante, in the comedic thriller I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore. The film's director, Macon Blair, wrote the character with Lynskey in mind. The performance was described as her "best work yet" by Variety. The film, which also stars Elijah Wood, was awarded the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Lynskey received a nomination for the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actress. The same year, she starred in the independent drama And Then I Go, opposite Justin Long; the Australian miniseries Sunshine, opposite Anthony LaPaglia; the movie adaptation of Margaret Mahy's The Changeover, opposite Timothy Spall; and the anthology horror film XX, in which her character frantically tries to hide her husband's body after finding him dead. In her review of the latter, Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote: "The picture has a wry, comic charge, and Lynskey, terrific as always, brings a grace note of pathos to the wicked proceedings".
In 2018, she starred in the independent feature Sadie. In his review for Variety, Joe Leydon called it a "quietly absorbing and methodically disquieting drama", and described Lynskey's performance as "strong" and "compelling".
As announced in June 2017, Lynskey will appear as the female lead on Hulu's upcoming psychological horror series, Castle Rock. Her character, Molly Strand, is described as "a woman with a rare medical condition who's barely scraping by as a real estate agent, in a town where every third property is the site of someone's worst nightmare". Set in the Stephen King multiverse, the show is named after the fictional town that features in many of King's works. The series will premiere on 25 July 2018.
Acting style and "indie queen" status
Lynskey describes herself as a character actress. "Even when I'm reading a script where I'm supposed to be looking at the lead role, I'll find myself gravitating toward some small weirdo in a few scenes instead". Regarding her acting technique, Lynskey has said: "I don't have any training [...] so the only thing I have to go on is my own instinct. So if a director gives me a note that doesn't feel like it's in line with my instinct, it's very hard for me to do something that sort of feels like a lie. So, I'll argue it, and I can get kind of feisty because I feel it in my body, I know what is right".
Asked by an interviewer in 2012 on how she felt about typically being cast--up to that point--as a supporting player rather than a lead, Lynskey said it was something she had thought about a lot, and that the "meaty" parts are written for men, or Meryl Streep. "For a while, I was only being sent fat-girl parts", she said. "Seriously? Sometimes I feel like I'm making some kind of radical statement because I'm a size 6". She has subsequently taken on leading roles in a variety of independent films and has been labelled an "indie queen".
Speaking in 2017 about taking risks in her film work, she said: "I want to tell stories about women who are interesting and complicated and not like people you've seen before [...] There aren't that many opportunities [to do that] except in the independent film world. I've made films that have cost $50,000 [...] If you're willing to work like that, you get chances to do really creative, interesting stuff".
Other projects
In 2012, Lynskey starred as an animated version of herself in an airline safety video for Air New Zealand.
In 2015, she featured in the music video for the song "Waiting on Love" by Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers. The video "tells the story of a world under attack by an unlikely villain--a couple (Lynskey and Jason Ritter) blinded by love and oblivious to the threat they pose to the world around them".
In August 2016, it was revealed that Lynskey was attached to star in a television series written by Pamela Ribon. Based on the memoir Drunk Mom by Jowita Bydlowska, the series was reported to be in the early stages of development. Lynskey described it as a "dream" part. However, the project has yet to materialize.
Personal life
In 2001, Lynskey met American actor Jimmi Simpson during the filming of Rose Red, in which they both appeared. They became engaged in 2005 and married on 14 April 2007, in a chapel on Lake Hayes, near Queenstown, New Zealand. Lynskey filed for divorce from Simpson on 25 September 2012, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on 23 May 2014. In February 2017, she became engaged to actor Jason Ritter after four years of dating.
Lynskey resides in Los Angeles. She is best friends with her But I'm a Cheerleader co-star Clea DuVall. She has misophonia. Lynskey has been a vegetarian since age 10.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
References
External links
- Melanie Lynskey on IMDb
- Melanie Lynskey on Twitter
Source of article : Wikipedia
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