Jane Krakowski

Jane Krakowski (; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her performance as Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and for her role as "Jenna Maroney" on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, for which she was been nominated for three Emmy Awards. She also regularly performs on the stage and won a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway revival of Nine and an Olivier Award for Guys and Dolls in London's West End.
Early life
Krakowski was born Jane Krajkowski in Parsippany, New Jersey. Her mother, Barbara (nee Benoit), is a college theater instructor and producing artistic director for the Women's Theater Company, and her father, Ed Krajkowski, is a chemical engineer. She has an older brother. Krakowski's father's family is entirely Polish and comes from Krakow, and although she only knows a few words in Polish, her father and grandparents are fluent. Krakowski was a childhood classmate of astronaut Garrett Reisman.
Krakowski grew up immersed in the local theater scene as a result of her parents' activities, saying in one interview, "Instead of hiring baby sitters, they brought me along with them." She took ballet lessons from age four, but later stopped because she was the wrong body shape, instead moving more towards Broadway dancing. She attended the Professional Children's School in New York City.
She dropped the "j" from the family last name when she began working as an actress.
Career
Television
In her first major television role, Krakowski joined the soap opera Search for Tomorrow in 1984, playing the role of Theresa Rebecca (T.R.) Kendall, a role she played until the show ended in 1986. She was nominated for two consecutive Daytime Emmy Awards for the role in 1986 and 1987.
In 1996, she made an appearance on the television series Early Edition as Dr. Handleman (season 1, episode 3 "Baby").
In 1997, she played office assistant Elaine Vassal on the television series Ally McBeal for five seasons until 2002; her role earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1999. In 2003, Krakowski guest-starred in the TV drama Everwood as psychologist Dr Gretchen Trott, a love interest for Treat Williams' Dr Andrew Brown. In 2003, she guest starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Emma Spevak, a serial killer of elderly women. In 2006, Krakowski was cast in the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, where she plays Jenna Maroney, a cast member of the fictional late night sketch show TGS with Tracy Jordan. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, she received Emmy nominations for her role in 30 Rock.
Movies
Krakowski made her movie debut in National Lampoon's Vacation; she has also appeared in Fatal Attraction, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (where she played Betty Rubble), Marci X, Alfie, Go, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Dance with Me, Stepping Out, Pretty Persuasion, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, and Mom at Sixteen. Krakowski was originally cast in the horror movie Sleepaway Camp, but dropped out just before filming began because she felt her character's death scene with a curling iron was so violent. She appeared in When Zachary Beaver Came to Town as a mother who wants to become a singer. In 2004, she starred in Alan Menken's TV movie version of A Christmas Carol, featured as The Ghost of Christmas Past.
Stage
A trained singer, Krakowski has made numerous appearances on stage. At age 18 she originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the 1987 Broadway production of Starlight Express. She appeared in the 1989 Broadway musical Grand Hotel as the typist and would-be-movie-star Flaemmchen, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her solo number "I Want to go to Hollywood" is included on the original cast recording. At the 2000 American Comedy Awards, Krakowski won rave reviews when she performed a sexually-charged musical tribute and love letter to Microsoft chairman, Bill Gates.
In 1995, she played the ditzy flight attendant April in The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Company. In 1996, she starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress.
In January 2002, Windham Hill Records released a Jim Brickman album titled Love Songs & Lullabies featuring Krakowski as a vocalist for the song "You", which became a hit on adult contemporary radio stations. Brickman and Krakowski also recorded an alternate Christmas version of the song. She also appeared on the album Broadway Cares: Home For The Holidays, singing the song "Santa Baby".
In 2003, she starred in the Broadway revival of Nine playing Carla, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress. Krakowski is known for her famous anti-gravity stunt during the number "A Call From The Vatican". Krakowski and the director struggled finding a company that would let her do air stunts without a harness; Krakowski came up with the idea of using the method previously portrayed in Broadway Bares. Krakowski recalled that the material took a long time to arrive, and the second time she ever did it was on the first performance.
In 2005, she starred as Miss Adelaide alongside Ewan McGregor in the new production of Guys and Dolls in London (Piccadilly Theatre) a role for which she won the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
In 2005, she performed a cabaret show called Better When It's Banned, which featured various songs deemed racy from the 1920s and '30s.
Krakowski performed in a January 2007 workshop production and backers' audition for a Broadway musical adaption of the 1980 movie, Xanadu, with music from the movie's soundtrack and a book by Douglas Carter Beane. Xanadu premiered on Broadway summer 2007, although Krakowski's role is played by Kerry Butler.
In 2008, Krakowski starred as Lola in New York City Center's production of Damn Yankees opposite Sean Hayes and Cheyenne Jackson.
On July 30 and 31 of 2009, Krakowski played the title character in a reading of Mrs. Sharp, with music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver and book by Kirsten A. Guenther, at Playwrights Horizons.
Other works
Krakowski played Wanda in the video for the Dixie Chicks' song "Goodbye Earl" in 2000, alongside Dennis Franz and Lauren Holly
Guest starred in an episode of Due South opposite Paul Gross.
Personal life
In 2007, it was reported that Krakowski was in a relationship with English documentarian Marc Singer, whom she met at a screening for Children of Men in 2006. Before that, she dated Julian Ovenden.
She married Robert Godley in 2010. On April 13, 2011, their son, Bennett Robert Godley, was born.
Recordings
Krakowski released her debut solo album on July 15, 2010 an album of cover versions called Laziest Gal in Town on DRG Records.
Selected recordings include:
1992: Grand Hotel, Studio Cast Recording (Mostly Original Broadway Cast)
1995: Company, Broadway Revival Cast Recording
1997: Once Upon a Mattress, Broadway Revival Cast Recording
1997: Sondheim at the Movies (singing the Academy Award-winning song "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy)
1998: The Burt Bacharach Album
2002: A Broadway Valentine
2003: Nine, Broadway Revival Cast Recording
2004: A Christmas Carol, Television Cast Recording
2010: The Laziest Gal in Town, solo album
Filmography
Television work
Awards and nominations
References
Other websites
Actors from New Jersey
American movie actors
American stage actors
American television actors
American voice actors
Tony Award winning actors
1968 births
Living people
Screen Actors Guild Award winners