I watch very selective television. I watch 'Mad Men,' and I usually watch a season at a time.
— Jane Lynch
I think my cruelty hides beneath the surface a lot more than Sue Sylvester's.
I love that there are all these macho guy actors out there that have secret desires to be on 'Glee.'
We're all conditioned to think we have to get to the top and be the best.
I didn't have a coming out moment.
When I look back, I think I must have been hugely motivated. I would have loved for somebody to say, 'You go for it!' I just didn't have that.
I don't have to talk to a surgeon to play a surgeon, you know what I mean?
I've been in Chicago for every Christmas of my life.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a boy. I really had gender issues.
It's always a good idea to go up for the male roles. You go up against a bunch of beefy guys, and the casting director then feels smart for taking you on, like he's the one who thought outside the box.
I was filled with angst all the time, but when it came down to it, I dove into what was in front of me, and I always did my best. I invested 100 percent. And that's what saved me.
When I'm not feeling good about how I look, I figure if I just buy the right piece of clothing, I'll feel all right.
I looked at my mom and her life, and I thought, 'I don't want that.' I don't think my mom wanted it, either. I think my mom did want to be out there and have a career. She loved working. As soon as we were old enough to feed ourselves, she was out.
It has to come from a truthful place in order to be funny.
I never thought I would work with Meryl Streep. I also love Cate Blanchett.
I'm fascinated by Greta Garbo. My cat's named Greta, and I have a framed photograph of her from 1949.
A lot of the songs in 'See Jane Sing!' are pulled straight from the kitchen table and my parents harmonizing together.
I think about Chicago as being a very actor-centered theater town, and people aren't in it to get to the next level, like movies and television. We're there for the love of the theater. So I think it fit right into my particular skill set, which is I love performing live.
I love James Taylor and Carole King, Joni Mitchell - this is, like, early '70s stuff. I love the stuff from the '40s. I love that tight harmony that the studio singers in the '50s would sing. I love Patsy Cline. Yeah, I'm all over the place.
I did voice work for many years before I started having success as an actress. It was mostly radio and television voiceover work, but I know my way around the studio. I know how to use the cappuccino machines and the headphones.
Everybody has their own way to deal with it. I don't concern myself with other people's - whether or not they want to come out, it's not something for me think about.
It was my own internalised homophobia. I didn't want to be gay.
My parents felt judged by me.
Television is really fertile ground, and it's because of platforms like Netflix and Hulu and, of course, the cable channels like HBO and Showtime.
The comedians who I admire that are really good, they always take it to a deep psychological place.
I loved working with Cybill Shepherd. We had a good time together; we enjoyed being girlfriends. It was a real comfortable fit for us. I loved putting on a suit and tie.
Nothing like falling in love with a dead actress to prove your sanity.
One of the few advantages to not being beautiful is that one usually gets better-looking as one gets older; I am, in fact, at this very moment, gaining my looks.
I get the male thing. I like being that for a woman. But I also like being a woman, too. I like being girly.
From the start. As early as - I felt I was in the wrong sex; I really did. I would go into my dad's room and put on his clothes.
I love being in these ensemble comedy movies. I love working with a bunch of people and coming up with, you know, How can we make this moment funnier?
I can fool people that I was educated.
Will Ferrell in 'Talladega Nights.' He's a very generous performer. He's kind of just one of the guys, but his name happens to be above the title.
I've always sung. My dad had a song in his heart and on his lips 24/7. A lot of the time, it was the same song and the same phrase over and over again.
I do feel that softness for the vulnerability and the innocence in our world, including my own.
I auditioned for a one-act version of 'The Princess and the Pea' called 'The Ugly Duckling,' and I was cast as the King, starting a pattern of being cast in roles originally intended for men. I went to the first rehearsal, and I didn't get any laughs, and I choked and I quit. I walked away from it and joined the tennis team.
My first-ever role was the king in 'The Princess and the Pea.'
There are still parts of the country where it's hard: when you realize you're gay, it's like a death sentence.
I can be kind of razor sharp in my disapproval.
When I was a kid, we would get McDonalds on Christmas Eve, and that was a big deal because the closest one to the south side of Chicago was a 35 minute drive away. I remember opening the bag and smelling those fries, and even now when I smell them, it reminds me of Christmas Eve.
I have a big family. Even though it's only three kids in our family, it's always aunts and uncles and the whole thing.
I think the only way we can really get you to laugh hard is if we take it to a deep psychological place. It has to resonate with you on a really deep level in order for you to really do that good guffaw.
I'm like Jay Gatsby. I like to throw the party and then stand back, looking gorgeous. Stand back and watch it.
So much of Sue Sylvester, the angry woman, came from that part of my life, wanting to crush other people's dreams and judging others so harshly, which is always just a way of deflecting your own self-judgment.
I try to dress the bottom I have. The body I have and the bottom I have. I have the intention of looking fabulous every time, and I care about it a great deal. I'm very vain.
I wanted to - any chance I had to dress up as a boy, like Halloween, I would be a pirate or a ghost that wore a tie. A hobo.
If you're contriving something, if you're making something up, it's not funny. You can tell. It's instant. It has to come from someplace real.
When you raise your voice in song to express what's going on deep inside of you, I think people just react to that because it's so truthful. It's so raw.
I love Jennifer Saunders, the 'Absolutely Fabulous' creator.
In Chicago, actors start up companies and get together and produce things, and there's a really rich, vibrant non-Equity theater scene out there.
