There's Something About Mary

Background:

“I may be the only actress in Hollywood who won't need a face lift, because when I take off my makeup, I look so great compared to my characters!” Lin Shaye

American character actress Lin Shaye, younger sister of cofounder and former co-CEO of New Line Cinema Robert Shaye, has amassed over 100 films and television credits to her resume since the mid-1970s. She is known for playing Mrs. Neugeboren and Magda in the Farrelly brothers box office hits “Dumb and Dumber” (1994) and “There's Something About Mary” (1998), respectively. She also acted in the Farrellys' “Kingpin” (1996) and “Stuck on You” (2003). Shaye won a 2004 Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival Award in Jean-Baptiste Andrea's “Dead End (2003) and a 2005 Breckenridge Festival of Film Award for her role in the festival favorite “Hate Crime” (2005). Also recognized as Walter Hill's favorite, the magnetic blonde has appeared in four movies by the director, including “The Long Riders” (1980), “Brewster's Millions” (1985), “Extreme Prejudice” (1987) and “Last Man Standing” (1996). Other film highlights include “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), “Critters” (1986), “The Hidden” (1987), “Critters 2: The Main Course” (1988, all produced by her brother), “Book of Love” (1990, directed and produced by her brother), “Detroit Rock City” (1999), “Say It Isn't So” (2001), “A Cinderella Story” (2004), “Snakes on a Plane” (2006) and “Pledge This!” (2006). Shaye has also guest starred in such TV series as “The Twilight Zone,” “Falcon Crest,” “Who's the Boss,” “Life Goes On,” “My So-Called Life,” “Frasier,” “Crossing Jordan,” “My Name Is Earl” and “ER” and acted in several TV films, including her debut, “Sex and the Married Woman” (1977).

Recently appearing in “Penthouse” (2009) and “My Sister's Keeper” (2009), Shaye will be seen in the upcoming films “Small Town Saturday Night” (2009), “Stuntmen” (2009), “Red & Blue Marbles” (2009), “Killer by Nature” (2009), “American Cowslip” (2009), “Dark Moon Rising” (2009), “Pickin' & Grinnin'” (2009) and “2001 Maniacs: Beverly Hellbillys” (2009).

Detroit

Childhood and Family:

Linda Shaye was born in 1944 in Detroit, Michigan, to Max Mendle Shaye, a supermarket owner and artist, and Dorothy (died in 1989), a housewife. She has an older brother named Robert Shaye (born in March 3, 1939), who is a film executive. Linda attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she majored in acting. She later moved to New York to work in off-Broadway plays and by 1977, headed to Los Angeles to further launch her acting career.

Linda has been married twice. She remained with her first husband, Marshall Rubinoff, until his death on July 7, 1968. She later married actor Clayton Landey on January 1, 1988, but the couple divorced in 2007. Linda has one son, Lee J Landey (born in 1989). Linda is Jewish.

Dumb & Dumber

Career:

Following the death of her first husband, Lin Shaye moved to New York City and appeared in off-Broadway productions. In 1975, she hit the big screen when she landed a small role in “Hester Street,” a drama directed by Joan Micklin Silver and starring Oscar nominee Carol Kane. Two years later, she made her television acting debut in the NBC comedy film “Sex and the Married Woman,” directed by Jack Arnold and starring Barry Newman and Joanna Pettet. Soon after arriving in Hollywood, the Michigan native briefly appeared in “Goin' South,” which was directed by and starred Jack Nicholson.

In 1980, Shaye was cast in Walter Hills' western “The Long Riders,” which marked her first collaboration with the director. A fictionalized report of the James-Younger gang, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1980 and is famous in part for casting four sets of actor brothers as the real-life brothers. She then alternated between TV and film roles with appearances in “Alone in the Dark” (1982), her first film which was produced by her brother, Robert Shaye, Wes Craven's successful horror film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), which was produced by her brother for New Line Cinema, and the NBC original Movie “Summer Fantasy” (1984), before being reunited with Hill for “Brewster's Millions” (1985). They worked together again in 1987 on “Extreme Prejudice,” an action film that cast Nick Nolte and Powers Boothe on opposite sides of the law. In between the two films, she guest starred in “The Twilight Zone,” “Cagney & Lacey” and “Falcon Crest” and played Sally in Stephen Herek's horror movie “Critters” (1986).

Shaye went on to appear in Charlie Loventhal's “My Demon Lover” (1987), Wayne Wang's “Slam Dance” (1987), Jack Sholder's cult favorite “The Hidden” (1987, as Carol Miller), the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle “The Running Man” (1987), the sequel “Critters 2: The Main Course” (1988, reprised her role of Sal), and Anthony Perkins' “Lucky Stiff” (1988). She also portrayed Mrs. Padnick in “Mona,” a 1987 episode of the Tony Danza popular sitcom “Who's the Boss?” After appearing in “Pump Up the Volume” (1990), which starred Christian Slater, she was cast as Mrs. Flynn in “Book of Love” (also 1990), which was adapted from the autobiographical novel “Jack in the Box” by William Kotzwinkle. The comedy was produced and helmed by her brother. Subsequent film projects included Abbe Wool's “Roadside Prophets” (1992), “National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1” (1993), Tom Holland's “The Temp” (1993, played the secretary of Faye Dunaway), Gus Van Sant's “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” (1993), “Corrina, Corrina” (1994) and Wes Craven's “New Nightmare” (1994).

However, Shaye did not really come out of anonymity until the Farrelly brothers hired her to play Mrs. Neugeboren in “Dumb & Dumber” (1994), which was very successful at the box office. She next supported Eric Roberts and Lance Henriksen in the independent thriller “The Nature of the Beast” (1995), rejoined Bobby and Peter Farrelly for their comedy “Kingpin” (1996), and was cast as The Madame in “Last Man Standing” (also 1996), her reunion with Walter Hill after nine years. The last two pictures cast her among big names like Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Bruce Dern and Christopher Walken.

Shaye's partnership with the Farrely brothers offered the gifted actress additional prominence when she received a Blockbuster Entertainment nomination in the category of Favorite Supporting Actress – Comedy for her performance in the 1998 sleeper hit “There's Something About Mary,” starring Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon and Ben Stiller. Shaye next portrayed the nurse of Gina Phillips in Richard LaGravenese's comedy “Living Out Loud” (1998), starring Holly Hunter, Danny DeVito, Queen Latifah, Martin Donovan, and Claudia Shear, and Mrs. Bruce in the Adam Rifkin-helmed “Detroit Rock City” (1999), opposite Edward Furlong, Natasha Lyonne, James DeBello, and Giuseppe Andrews.

Entering the new millennium, Shaye worked with the Farrelly brothers in “Me, Myself & Irene” (2000), but her part ended up on the cutting room floor. She next played Nurse Bautista in the comedy “Say It Isn't So” (2001), which was directed by J.B. Rogers and starred Chris Klein, Heather Graham, Orlando Jones and Sally Field, costarred with her husband, Clayton Landey, in the comedy “Wish You Were Dead” (2002), teamed up with Cuba Gooding Jr., Roselyn Sanchez, Vivica A. Fox and Roger Moore for Mort Nathan's comedy “Boat Trip” (2002), and played Laura Harrington in the horror film “Dead End (2003), which was co-directed and co-written by Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa. Shaye’s performance in the latter movie brought her a Best Actress honor at the 2004 Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival.

Still in 2003, Shaye was cast as Margie in “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.” Directed by Troy Miller and co-written by Miller and the Farrely brothers, the comedy was a bomb. Additionally, Shaye appeared in the Farrelly brothers' “Stick on You,” David M. Evans' “After School Special” and Tara Judelle's “Manfast” (all also 2003). After appearing in an episode of “Crossing Jordan” (2004), she received the supporting role of Mrs. Wells in Mark Rosman's “A Cinderella Story” (2004), which starred Hilary Duff, appeared with Kim Basinger in David R. Ellis' action movie “Cellular” (2004), and portrayed Kathleen Slansky in Tommy Stovall's “Hate Crime” (2005), where she picked up a Best of the Fest for Best Supporting Actress at the 2005 Breckenridge Festival of Film. She then costarred as Granny Boone in the Tim Sullivan-directed “2001 Maniacs” (2005). 2005 also saw roles in Glen Stephens' “Hoboken Hollow,” Brad Martin's “Sledge: The Untold Story,” Michael Philip's black comedy “Drop Dead Sexy” (starred Jason Lee and Crispin Glover), and Morgan J. Freeman's “Piggy Banks.”

In 2006 to 2007, Shaye remained busy working in such movies as “Unbeatable Harold,” “Jesus, Mary and Joey,” “Snoop Dogg's 'Hood of Horror,'” “Down the P.C.H.,” “Surf School,” “Driftwood,” “National Lampoon's 'The Stoned Age,’” “Kush,” “On the Lot,” “Time Upon a Once” (TV), “The Election,” and “Chasing Robert.” She also played Grace and Miss Prin in the Samuel L. Jackson thriller “Snakes on a Plane” and the Paris Hilton comedy “Pledge This,” respectively. She then appeared in episodes of TV shows like “My Name Is Earl,” “On the Lot” and “Dirty Sexy Money.”

Next up for Shaye, she was cast in Robert Englund's comedy “Killer Pad” (2008), played the mother of Cody Kasch in the direct-to-video “Asylum” (2008) for director David R. Ellis, and appeared as a nurse in the Method Fest and Ashland Independent Film Festival winner “Chronic Town” (2008). Following a guest role in an episode of “ER” called “And in the End” (2009), she played Frances Roc in “Penthouse” (2009) and Nurse Adele in Nick Cassavetes' “My Sister's Keeper” (2009), which is based on the 2004 Jodi Picoult novel of the same name. The latter film reunited her with “There's Something About Mary” star Cameron Diaz.

An active performer, Shaye has completed filming “Small Town Saturday Night” (2009), a drama directed by Ryan Craig and starring Chris Pine, and the Eric Amadio-directed/written “Stuntmen” (2009), which stars Marc Blucas, Ross Patterson, Chris Tarantino, Dominique Swain, Carly Pope and Brandon Routh. She will appear in the sci-fi film “Red & Blue Marbles” (2009), opposite Chad Faust and William Sadler, the comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy” (2009), with Leslie Bibb, Martin Starr, Lake Bell, Don Johnson and Tyler Labine, and the adventure “Killer by Nature” (2009), with Zachary Ray Sherman, Ron Perlman and Armand Assante. She is scheduled to play Lou Anne in Mark David's “American Cowslip” (2009), opposite Diane Ladd, Bonnie Johnson in Jon Gries' “Pickin' & Grinnin'” (2009), and Sunny in Dana Mennie's “Dark Moon Rising” (2009). She will also reprise her role of Granny Boone in the installment “2001 Maniacs: Beverly Hellbillys” (2009) for filmmaker Tim Sullivan.

Awards:

• Breckenridge Festival of Film: Best of the Fest, Best Supporting Actress, “Hate Crime,” 2005

• Peñíscola Comedy Film Festival: Best Actress, “Dead End,” 2004

• Method Fest: Best Supporting Actress, Feature Film, 2002