Jane Kaczmarek

Kaczmarek was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the daughter of Evelyn (née Gregorska), a teacher, and Edward Kaczmarek, a US Department of Defense worker.[1][2][3] Of Polish ancestry,[4] she grew up in Greendale, where she was raised a Roman Catholic.[5] She majored in theater at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and later attended graduate school at the Yale School of Drama, where she was a part of its theater company.

In 1998, Kaczmarek was cast as David and Jennifer's mother in the movie Pleasantville. She has had several Broadway hits, including Lost in Yonkers and Raised in Captivity, where she won an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. Her first television role was that of Margie Spoletto on For Lovers Only (1982). One of her first notable appearances was in the 1984 movie Falling in Love, starring Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, playing the role of Ann Raftis, De Niro's character's wife. She also played a role in The Heavenly Kid in 1985 as Emily.

Kaczmarek has also appeared in over 40 television roles, including:

Jane was in Hill Street Blues playing a recurring role as an officer, Marinaro's partner in the 4th season

• Nurse Sandy Burns on St. Elsewhere (1982).
• Connie Lehman in The Paper Chase: The Second Year (1983–1984).
• Mrs. Hall, a school guidance counselor, in Something About Amelia an ABC made-for-TV movie (1984)
• Mary Newell Abbott on Hometown (1985), a comedy/drama on CBS directly adapted from the 1983 hit movie The Big Chill.
• Linda Bauer, a lawyer, on the ABC legal drama Equal Justice (1990–1991).
• Maureen Cutler, girlfriend of Martin Crane (John Mahoney) on Frasier in "Police Story" (052–1996) and "Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine" (082–1997).
• Janet Rudman on Law & Order in "Censure" (414–1994).
• Carol Anderson, biological mother of Julie Emrick on Felicity in 5 episodes (1999–2000).
• Holly in five episodes of Cybill (1996–1997).
• Helene Thompson in three episodes of Party of Five (1995–1999).
• Lois, the mother of Malcolm (Frankie Muniz), Reese (Justin Berfield), Francis (Christopher Masterson), Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan), and baby Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez), the wife of Hal (Bryan Cranston), and the daughter of Ida Welker (Cloris Leachman) in 148 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle from 2000–2006.
• Trudy Kessler, Courtroom Judge in 25 episodes of Raising the Bar from 2008–2009.
• The voice of Judge Constance Harm, the strict cruel judge of Springfield Courthouse, in eight episodes of The Simpsons from 2001 to 2010, namely "The Parent Rap", "Brawl in the Family", "Barting Over", "Brake My Wife, Please", "The Wandering Juvie", "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister", "Rome-old and Juli-eh", and recently "Chief of Hearts".
• Mrs. Armwood, Frankie Heck's dental teacher in The Middle'\
• Dr. Gallo, psychiatrist in The Big Bang Theory

Kaczmarek married fellow Wisconsin native and actor Bradley Whitford on August 15, 1992. They lived in Los Angeles with their three children. Both were very active with charity, and were seen attending many major award shows together. She is the founder of "Clothes Off Our Back" which auctions celebrity clothing for children's charities. In June 2009, the couple filed for divorce after almost 17 years of marriage.[12][13] The divorce was finalized in October 2010.[14] One of the last times they were seen together publicly was in September 2008, at the opening of a Los Angeles production of The House of Blue Leaves,[15] in which Kaczmarek was starring. According to a June 2009 magazine interview with More.com conducted prior to announcement of the divorce, she replied "That's a big no comment" when asked to sum up her love life. She also added that she used to believe that she could "go it alone and as long as I had some fabulous boy on my arm, or man, and my career was sailing, that's all I needed" whereas she now had grown to appreciate the support of her girlfriends "to talk about kids, to talk about marriages, to talk about just life".[16] In 2010, they sold their villa, a former mansion, in San Marino, California.[17]

Kaczmarek underwent a hip replacement in April 2004, due to chronic arthritis.[18] She recovered quickly, and used an X-ray of her new hip for her Emmy campaign the following summer, advertising herself as "the only Emmy nominee with an artificial hip (except for Anthony LaPaglia)".[19]

In 2006, Kaczmarek and Malcolm in the Middle co-star Erik Per Sullivan contributed the afterword for the children's book Together that shows the importance of domestic animals to impoverished people in the world, inspired by the mission of the nonprofit charitable organization Heifer International.

She is a registered Democrat.[20]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jane Kaczmarek.

• Jane Kaczmarek on IMDb
• Kaczmarek supports Milwaukee parks