Melanie Lynskey

Lynskey's professional debut came at age 15 with a starring role in Heavenly Creatures, a psychological drama based on a 1950s murder case.

Lynskey played schoolgirl Pauline Parker, who carries out a brutal crime with the assistance of her best friend, played by Kate Winslet.

She auditioned for the role when a casting director visited her high school; prior to this, five hundred girls had been considered for the part of Pauline, but "none were right".

Fran Walsh, the script's co-writer, admired Lynskey's "quiet intensity" and said, "We knew immediately that she was right for the role".

Melanie Jayne Lynskey (born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress.

Known for her portrayals of complex women and her command of American accents, she works predominantly in independent films and television.

She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Critics' Choice Awards and nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Lynskey made her film debut at age 17 in Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (1994), earning critical acclaim for her portrayal of murderer Pauline Parker.

Lynskey turned 16 during the making of the film and was 17 by the time of its release in 1994, whereupon it was met with critical acclaim.

Roger Ebert praised its director, Peter Jackson, for picking "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 her as "extraordinary", while Richard Corliss stated in his review for Time:

"The film's serendipitous stroke was to find Winslet and, especially, Lynskey, a first-time actress. They are perfect, fearless in embodying teenage hysteria. They declaim their lines with an intensity that approaches ecstasy, as if reading aloud from Wuthering Heights. The giggles that punctuate the girls' early friendship are not beneath Winslet and Lynskey. The screams that end the film are not beyond them."

Heavenly Creatures is recognised as a landmark in New Zealand cinema.

It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the 67th Academy Awards, while Lynskey was named Best Actress at the 1995 New Zealand Film Awards.

She regards working with Jackson and Winslet as an important learning experience, and grew particularly close to Winslet during filming.

Winslet later told The Irish Times, "Mel is like the left side of my body. [We] had the exact relationship in terms of communication and love that Pauline and Juliet had. From the minute we saw each other".

Despite the film's success, its creators tried to discourage Lynskey from pursuing a full-time acting career, as it was not thought to be realistic.

She later revealed, "[People were] looking out for me ... 'Thanks for doing this movie for us, and now be sure that you go to university and get a normal job.' No one wanted to be responsible for me being like, 'I'm gonna run off to Hollywood!' ... New Zealanders are very practical. Everybody was kind of like, 'That was fun [but] it's not what your life is gonna be'".

Following a three-year hiatus—during which she continued her education, auditioned for parts in films such as The Craft and The Crucible, and had a brief, non-speaking cameo in Peter Jackson's The Frighteners (1996)—Lynskey secured a leading role in the independent drama Foreign Correspondents, playing Melody, a timid receptionist who forms an unusual friendship with an overseas pen pal.

The role was offered to Lynskey in an email from the film's director, Mark Tapio Kines, who had seen Heavenly Creatures and read online that she was eager to work in America.

Filming took place in Los Angeles in 1997, with the project garnering attention for its use of crowdfunding, a strategy considered a "breakthrough" at the time.

That same year, she was cast in the supporting role of "charming and funny" stepsister Jacqueline De Ghent in Ever After, a feminist re-imagining of the Cinderella fairy tale.

She later had supporting roles in Ever After (1998), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), and Coyote Ugly (2000).

Filmed in the south of France, it was released to favourable reviews in 1998.

After moving to the United States, Lynskey became known as a character actress through parts in films such as Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Shattered Glass (2003), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Away We Go, Up in the Air, The Informant! (all 2009), Win Win (2011), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), and Don't Look Up (2021).

On television, Lynskey appeared as Rose on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003–2015).

Her starring role as a depressed divorcee in Hello I Must Be Going (2012) proved to be a turning point in Lynskey's career, with subsequent lead roles in Happy Christmas (2014), The Intervention (2016), and I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) establishing her as a prominent figure in independent cinema.

She starred as Michelle Pierson on HBO's Togetherness (2015–2016) and Molly Strand on Hulu's Castle Rock (2018), and co-starred in the miniseries Mrs. America (2020) and Candy (2022).

Since 2021, she has played Shauna on Showtime's Yellowjackets, winning the 2022 Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series and being nominated twice for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress (2022, 2023).

Lynskey is married to actor Jason Ritter, with whom she has a daughter.

Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, to Kay Lynskey, a real estate agent, and Tim Lynskey, an orthopedic surgeon.

Their surname is Irish.

Lynskey is the eldest of five children, and has three brothers and one sister.

Growing up, she was often solely responsible for the care of her siblings.

Lynskey was raised in the Baptist faith.

When she was six, Lynskey's family moved to England for one year before returning to New Zealand.

She recalls moving "a lot" due to her father's profession: "My dad was a medical student when I was born, so he was studying and going to different universities. And then he was doing his residency, so I was always the new kid in school".

She later attended New Plymouth Girls' High School, where she was involved in the drama department and school plays.

She has spoken about being shy at school and finding comfort in acting: "It was so freeing, having someone give me the words to say and not being myself for a minute. It just felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders".

After graduating high school, Lynskey studied for eighteen months at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in English literature, but dropped out to focus on her film career.