Jayne Houdyshell

Jayne Houdyshell (born September 25, 1953) is an American actress.

Known for her character actor role on stage and screen she has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Obie Awards, and a Drama Desk Award.

Since the mid-1970s, she has appeared in more than 200 plays at regional theaters throughout the United States, including the Meadow Brook Theater, Attic Theater, Missouri Repertory Theater, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater, Delaware Theater Company, Wilma Theater, Syracuse Stage, Studio Arena, GeVa Theater, Actors Theater of Louisville, Steppenwolf Theater, American Conservatory Theater, Timber Lake Playhouse, Old Creamery Theatre, Totem Pole Playhouse, Peterborough Players, and others.

She graduated from Topeka High School in 1971, and she went on to Emporia State University then on to graduate with honors from the Academy of Dramatic Art at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan in 1974.

Houdyshell reminisces that, after moving to Manhattan in 1980, “I was traveling all that 20 years...There was a community of actors who did that.

We were itinerant actors who just continually moved around the country from theater to theater and job to job." She has appeared in numerous films, including Changing Lanes (2002) with Ben Affleck, Maid in Manhattan (2002) with Jennifer Lopez, Garden State (2004) with Zach Braff and Natalie Portman.

Houdyshell's television credits include appearances on Third Watch, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Blue Bloods, and The Good Fight, and as Bunny Folger on Only Murders in the Building.

She won a Theater World Award and an Obie Award, Outstanding Performance, for the Off-Broadway production of Well, which ran in 2004 at the Public Theater.

She made her Broadway debut in the musical A Wonderful Life (2005).

She received the 2005 Joseph Jefferson Award, Supporting Actress, Play for her performance in The Pain and the Itch for Steppenwolf Theatre Company and a 2005 Barrymore Award, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play for her work in The Clean House at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia.

Houdyshell's Broadway credits include Wicked, Well, Bye Bye Birdie, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

She was Tony-nominated for her roles in the Lisa Kron play Well (2006), the revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Follies (2012), the new play by Lucas Hnath A Doll's House, Part 2 (2017), and the revival of Meredith Willson's The Music Man (2022).

During this time she acted in Trust the Man (2006) with Julianne Moore, and Everybody's Fine (2009) with Robert DeNiro, Kate Beckinsale, Drew Barrymore, and Sam Rockwell.

It was a role that garnered her a Tony Award nomination in 2006.

Houdyshell's other New York credits include Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote at Primary Stages, Coraline, The New Century, at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center (2008); The Receptionist at the Manhattan Theater Club (2007); Much Ado About Nothing (Delacorte Theatre, 2004); Fighting Words, and The Pain and the Itch at Playwrights Horizons (2009); Attempts on Her Life at Soho Rep; and True Love at the Zipper Theater (2001).

She also had a role in the 2010 film The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler

In New York, she is known for her role as "Ann Kron" in the Broadway production of Well by Lisa Kron.

In 2010, she starred as the Stage Manager in the film Morning Glory opposite Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, and Rachel McAdams.

She played the role of "Hattie" in the 2011 revival of Follies, and received a 2012 Tony Award nomination, Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance.

Houdyshell played the Nurse in the 2013 Broadway revival of Romeo and Juliet.

In 2015, she starred as Rose Offer on the NBC limited series American Odyssey opposite Anna Friel and Peter Facinelli.

She went on to receive the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Humans (2016).

She appeared in The Humans as "Deirdre Blake", first in its Off-Broadway engagement at the Roundabout Theatre Company in September 2015 to December 2015, and then the Broadway production of the play which opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on February 18, 2016.

For The Humans she won the 2016 Tony Award, Featured Actress in a Play, the 2016 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble Performance, and the Obie Award, Performance.

She was also nominated for the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Actress in a Play.

She is also known for her supporting film roles in Alexander Payne's science fiction comedy Downsizing (2017) and Greta Gerwig's period piece Little Women, and for reprising her role in the 2021 film adaptation of The Humans.

She has had recurring roles in various television series, including Third Watch, Law & Order, Blue Bloods, and The Good Fight.

She currently stars as "Bunny Folger" on the hit Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building, for which she was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

Raised in Topeka, Kansas, she is the youngest of four daughters born to Galen "Buzz" Houdyshell and Louella Taylor.

In 2017, she appeared in Alexander Payne's science fiction comedy feature Downsizing opposite Matt Damon.

In 2017 she played Ann Marie in Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2.

In 2018, she starred on the third season of the ABC thriller Quantico as The Widow.

In 2019, she appeared as the housekeeper Hannah in Greta Gerwig's critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film adaptation of Little Women starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, and Meryl Streep.

In April 2019, Houdyshell returned to Broadway as the Earl of Gloucester in the Sam Gold directed production of King Lear, with Glenda Jackson in the title role.

In 2021, she reprised her Tony-winning role of Deidre Blake in The Humans, the film adaptation of her Broadway play.

The movie co-starred Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, and June Squibb.

It had its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2021.

The film was released by A24 on November 24, 2021, both in theaters and on Showtime.

In 2021 and 2022, she played the memorable role of Bunny Folger on seasons 1 and 2 of the hit, Emmy-nominated Hulu series Only Murders in the Building, opposite Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez.

For her performance she received two nominations alongside the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.