Born: : December 21, 1955, Greendale, Wisconsin
Early days: She is a daughter of Evelyn, a teacher, and Edward Kaczmarek, a defense department worker. She majored in theater at the University of Wisconsin�Madison and later studied at the Yale School of Drama for her graduate degree and was a part of its theater company. She has had several Broadway hits, including Lost In Yonkers and Raised In Captivity, where she won an LA Drama Critics� Award. Her first television role was that of Margie Spoletto on For Lovers Only (1982). Her first major role was that of Linda Bauer on Equal Justice from 1990-1991.
Career. Kaczmarek appeared in over forty television roles, the most notable including: Connie Lehman in "The Paper Chase: The Second Year" and "The Paper Chase: The Third Year" (1983-1984); Maureen Culter, girlfriend of Martin Crane on Frasier in "Police Story" (1996) and "Dad Loves Sherry, the Boys Just Whine" (1997); Janet Rudman on Law & Order in "Censure" (1994); "David's Mom", mother of David and Jennifer in Pleasantville (1998); Carol Anderson, biological mother of Julie Emrick on Felicity in 5 episodes (1999-2000); Helene Thompson in three episodes of Party of Five (1995-1999); Lois, mother of Malcolm, Reese, Francis, Dewey, and baby Jamie, and wife of Hal in 151 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle from 2000 to 2006; Judge Constance Harm in several episodes of The Simpsons from 2001 to present.
Malcolm in the Middle. In 2000, Kaczmarek was cast to play Lois in the FOX mid-season replacement Malcolm in the Middle. TV Guide dubbed her role in the series as a "true breakout; a female Homer Simpson", and critics hailed her for her comic talents. Later, Kaczmarek would credit the show for bringing out her comedic side, claiming, "[Before Malcolm] I couldn�t even get auditions for comedies. I played very unfunny people." Kaczmarek was nominated seven times for an Emmy for her performance on the show, one for every year. She also earned three Golden Globe nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, was honored with a Television Critics Association Award in 2000 and 2001, plus an American Comedy Award and a Family Television Award in 2001.
Post Malcolm Following the end of Malcolm in the Middle, Kaczmarek went on to star in the short-lived series Help Me Help You co-starring Ted Danson. Starting Fall 2008, she is starring in the hour long TNT series Raising the Bar as Judge Trudy Kessler. She also continues to voice Judge Constance Harm on several Simpsons episodes as mentioned above.
Personal life. Kaczmarek married West Wing actor and fellow Wisconsin native Bradley Whitford in 1992. They lived in Los Angeles with their three children: Frances Genevieve (b. 1997), George Edward (b. 1999) and Mary Louisa (b. 2002). Both were very active with charity, and have been seen attending many major award shows together. She is the founder of �Clothes Off Our Back� which auctions celebrity clothing for children�s charities. In June 2009, the couple filed for divorce after almost 17 years of marriage. One of the last times they were seen together publicly was in September 2008, at the opening of a Los Angeles production of The House of Blue Leaves, in which Kaczmarek was starring. According to a June 2009 magazine interview with More.com she said that she used to believe that she could "�go it alone and as long as I had some fabulous boy on my arm, or man, and my career was sailing, that�s all I needed" whereas she now had grown to appreciate the support of her girlfriends to "to talk about kids, to talk about marriages, to talk about just life". Kaczmarek underwent a hip replacement in April 2004, due to chronic arthritis. She recovered quickly, and used an X-ray of her new hip for her Emmy campaign the following summer, advertising herself as "the only Emmy nominee with an artificial hip (except for Anthony LaPaglia)". In 2006, Kaczmarek and Malcolm in the Middle co-star Erik Per Sullivan contributed the afterword for the children�s book, Together, that shows the importance of domestic animals to impoverished people in the world, and was inspired by the mission of the nonprofit charitable organization, Heifer International.
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