Out actress Jane Lynch sat down with me as part of TheSmokingCocktail.com Out-Celeb interview series and spoke quite candidly about her life, discussing everything from coming out to breaking in. It's honest, revealing and completely outrageous - much like the actress herself.
Lynch's star has been on a meteoric rise since Christopher Guest discovered her and placed her in his improv acting company in the features Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. She followed that with scene-stealing-star-turns in 40 Year Old Virgin, Role Models, Talledega Nights and Post Grad before hitting the thespian mother-load starring as Meryl Streep's sister in Julie & Julia.
In this exclusive video interview (see below), Lynch speaks openly about her childhood ("I was a tomboy and very male identified. I didn't have a name for it, but I knew I liked girls."), coming out ("I didn't come out to my parents until my 30's"), her first lesbian experience ("I had an affair with my voice teacher in college!") and working those sapphic scenes with straight actresses ("Jennifer Coolidge does that dumb thing, but she's dumb as a fox"; "Cybil Shepherd is very interested... perhaps bi-curious..?").
Lynch has always been an advocate for LGBT rights and has even sat on the board of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Being out as a lesbian is important to her because she believes in positive role models for LGBT folks across the country. In keeping with this spirit, she has even donated her talents to innumerable gay films, including Tru Loved, Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother, Little Black Boot, Bam Bam and Celeste, Promtreversy and Love is Love to name just a few. "I think it's important to support the gay film making," she notes, "Our stories just aren't told. And there are more of us out there than people know, and I think it's important to put a real face on that - folks learn that way, that we're not these freak of natures."
Lynch has always been an advocate for LGBT rights and has even sat on the board of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. Being out as a lesbian is important to her because she believes in positive role models for LGBT folks across the country. In keeping with this spirit, she has even donated her talents to innumerable gay films, including Tru Loved, Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother, Little Black Boot, Bam Bam and Celeste, Promtreversy and Love is Love to name just a few. "I think it's important to support the gay film making," she notes, "Our stories just aren't told. And there are more of us out there than people know, and I think it's important to put a real face on that - folks learn that way, that we're not these freak of natures."
GLEE is one of the most highly anticipated new shows of the season, and openly-gay show creator Ryan Murphy wanted Lynch to be part of it. The two previously worked together on the FOX series Popular (one of my favorite tv shows of all time), but since Lynch was committed to a new series on Starz, Murphy could only book her as a guest star. With the long wait between the series premier and the actually series, Lynch managed to get out of her other contract and commit to GLEE as a series regular.
I've already seen the second episode of GLEE (which airs this Wednesday night) and let me just tell you...the magic continues. Murphy has assembled a top notch cast of Broadway veterans (and newcomers) and the show mixes a sweetness with cutting humor and of course enough musical numbers to strike the band and drama geek in all of us. Murphy also created Nip/Tuck so you know he's the master of plot twists and surprises, so this ain't your kids' High School Musical, ya hear? (see a sneak peak at this week's episode immediately following Jane's interview, below).
Although Lynch hasn't performed yet in GLEE, you can get a taste of her musical talents in the video interview I did with her at Dinah Shore last year. To put a spin on the celeb interview, it's completely done in song! (see below under Celeb Interviews, it's hysterical.)
Watch video here:
Here's a sneak peak of this week's episode of GLEE
And here's some other TheSmokingCocktail.com Out Celeb Interviews, including conversations with Ilene Chaiken, Perez Hilton, Chad Allen and more, including the musical interview with Jane recorded at The Dinah Shore Weekend.
If you live in Southern California, come out tomorrow to the viewing party at East/West in WeHo sponsored by DIVA.
5 comments:
Jane Lynch is made of awesome! Nice interview!
JD,
The Jane interview was just wonderful. It was the first thing in three years that made me miss LA.
Love Jane, that little girl from Dolton IL, love you.
Oh my!!! this woman is just awesome!! I always thought so but I had never seen her as her real self. I really thing I got a big crush on her!! Amazing!
OK--this whole Glee thing is really kinda boring. I mean let's all just do karyoke for television. My husband records all the episodes and I just yawn. Frankly, I don't see anything compelling about Ms. Lynch either. Give me something raw and not so cheesy and glossy.
I am 48 and a custodian at a small university. One of the work study students who helps me was talking about what an amazing show Glee was. So I just thought I would watch an episode on Hulu to see what was so special about this show. I have to say that she was absolutely right and decided to buy the entire first season at amazon. That same night, I saw that someone from Glee was going to be on SNL. I had never heard of Jane Lynch before. All I knew is she played Sue and I had to watch. Wow!! She just blew me away at how funny and talented she was. I couldn't believe I had never heard of her before. I ran a search to find out who she was and really why I didn't know her. This site came up on the search with this interview.I'm really not big on watching celebrities talking about their lives. They are just so far removed from the life of a cleaning lady. Little did I know that it would start to change the coarse of the rest of my life. The things about her childhood mirrored so much of mine. I too was a tomboy and had a serious crush on Julie Andrews. That I was more boy identified but was never interested in them otherwise. I too had a thing for older women. The thing is, I had forgotten about all of that. When I found out that being called a tomboy wasn't a good thing I tried to change. I pushed all those memories out of my head and never revisited them until I saw this interview. The things I had always kept hidden about myself and never talked about with anyone came so fluidly out of her mouth. I have suffered for years with depression and suicidal thoughts. Always feeling empty and hopeless. Always trying to hide my feelings and really never being honest with myself. But I see the truth now like I have just awakened from a very long sleep. I am set on a coarse now to change my life. To be honest and get help for all the years I had kept being a lesbian a secret. Thank you for this interview. It has touched me to the core of my being the way nothing ever has.
Sincerely. Me
Post a Comment