Christine Baranski

Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952) is an American actress. She received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcom Cybill (1995–1998). Baranski is also known for her roles as Diane Lockhart in the legal drama series The Good Wife (2009–2016) and its spin-off series The Good Fight (2017–2022), and as Agnes van Rhijn in the period drama series The Gilded Age (2022–present); both roles earned her Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Baranski is also known for her film roles in Reversal of Fortune (1990), The Birdcage (1996), Cruel Intentions (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Chicago (2002), Mamma Mia! (2008), Into the Woods (2014), and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). For her recurring role as Dr. Beverly Hofstadter in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2009–2019), she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Baranski won two Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Charlotte in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing (1984) and as Chris Gorman in Neil Simon's Rumors (1989). Her other major Broadway credits include Hurlyburly (1984), The House of Blue Leaves (1986), and Boeing Boeing (2008). She also portrayed Mrs. Lovett in the Kennedy Center's production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2002).

Early life and education Baranski was born in Buffalo, New York, the daughter of Virginia (née Mazurowska) (1916–2002) and Lucien Baranski (1914–1960), who edited a Polish-language newspaper. She had an older brother, Michael J. Baranski (1949–1998), an advertising executive who died at age 48. She is of Polish descent, and her grandparents were stage actors in Poland before immigrating to the United States. Baranski was raised in a heavily Polish and Catholic neighborhood in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga. She attended high school at the Villa Maria Academy where she was class president and salutatorian. She studied at New York City's Juilliard School (Drama Division Group 3: 1970–1974), where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Career Stage

Baranski made her off-Broadway debut in Coming Attractions at Playwrights Horizons in 1980, and has appeared in several off-Broadway productions at the Manhattan Theatre Club, starting with Sally and Marsha in 1982. She was in the original 1983 off-Broadway version of Sunday in the Park with George, but did not participate in the show's later Broadway run. Baranski made her Broadway debut in Hide & Seek in 1980. For her next Broadway performance, she played Charlotte in Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing, winning the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She next replaced Judith Ivey as Bonnie in Hurlyburly, mistress Bunny Flingus in the original Broadway production of The House of Blue Leaves, Chris Gorman in Rumors (for which she won her second Tony), Regrets Only, Nick & Nora, and the Encores! concert staging of Follies. In 1992, she starred as Chloe in the original production of Terrence McNally's Lips Together, Teeth Apart, about two straight couples who spend a weekend in a gay community over the Fourth of July weekend. She won her second Drama Desk Award.

At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Baranski starred as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd in 2002 (for which she won the 2003 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical) and as the title character in Mame in 2006. The show garnered two Tony Awards (Best Revival of a Play and Best Actor in a Play for Mark Rylance). The original cast included Bradley Whitford (Bernard), Kathryn Hahn (Gloria), Christine Baranski (Berthe), Gina Gershon (Gabriella), and Mary McCormack (Gretchen). The show closed on January 4, 2009, after 17 previews and 279 performances.

Baranski also appeared in a one-night-only concert benefit performance of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music for Roundabout Theatre Company as Countess Charlotte Malcolm on January 12, 2009. The cast included Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Victor Garber and Marc Kudisch. In 2018, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

Baranski is due to make her first West End appearance in a production of Hay Fever in September 2026, which she described as a "dream come true".

Film Baranski has appeared in various film roles. Some of her better-known roles are as Katherine Archer in The Birdcage (1996), Martha May Whovier in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Mary Sunshine in Chicago (2002) and Connie Chasseur in The Ref (1994). Baranski received further recognition for her role as Tanya Chesham-Leigh in the hit musical film Mamma Mia! (2008), and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). Baranski played Cinderella's stepmother in the 2014 film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods. A few years later, Baranski received an Emmy nomination for a guest starring role in the hit NBC series Frasier as controversial tough love radio psychiatrist Dr. Nora Fairchild. The episode, which was named for the character, parodied Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The episode was pulled from syndication by Paramount.

From 2009 to 2016, Baranski played the role of Diane Lockhart, a top litigator and senior partner of a Chicago law firm on the CBS series The Good Wife. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for six seasons of the series, in the years 2010 to 2015. Besides her work on The Good Wife and the aforementioned guest appearances on The Big Bang Theory, her other appearances in that period include Ugly Betty in 2009 as Victoria Hartley, the haughty mother of Betty's new boyfriend.

From 2017 to 2022, Baranski reprised her role on The Good Wife in a spin-off titled The Good Fight. The show features Diane Lockhart joining another law firm after being forced to return to work. In the 79th Golden Globe Awards, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama for her work in the fifth season of the show. Since 2022 she has portrayed Agnes van Rhijn in the Julian Fellowes-created HBO period drama The Gilded Age starring opposite Carrie Coon, Louisa Jacobson, and Cynthia Nixon. The cast received a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Acting style and screen persona Although recognized for her versatility across genres and performing media, Baranski is particularly known for playing sophisticated and highly educated upper-class women. Consequently, the media began alluding to the resemblance between this repeated on-screen persona and Baranski's real personality. Caroline Hallemann of Town & Country notes that, "For years, the award-winning actress has been the definition of on-screen sophistication." In 2017, the actress told Zac Posen for Interview Magazine, "What I'm getting at is if your career is not predicated on just your physical beauty, you're able to project a sophistication. You can take sophisticated to your grave. You can be that worldly woman, that woman who looks beautiful dressed up." On the other hand, Baranski humorously addressed these claims during her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, "Everybody thinks this is, you know, this sophisticated lady, this New York type, these characters that I play, they think that's me. They should be in a room alone with me when I watch the Buffalo Bills. It is loud."

Personal life Baranski was married to actor Matthew Cowles from October 1983 until his death on May 22, 2014. Together, they had two daughters, Isabel (born 1984), a lawyer, and Lily (born 1987), an actress. She lives in Bethlehem, Connecticut with her daughters. She is a practicing Catholic, at times accompanying her friend Robert King, the co-creator of The Good Fight, on the walk home during filming in 2021 following Sunday Mass. Like her character Diane Lockhart, Baranski is a member of the Democratic Party and is a liberal feminist. In 2024, she endorsed and campaigned for Kamala Harris.

Filmography Film Year Title Role 1982 Soup for One Blonde in Bar 1983 Lovesick Nymphomaniac 1984 Crackers Maxine 1986 9½ Weeks Thea Legal Eagles Carol Freeman 1987 The Pick-up Artist Harriet 1990 Reversal of Fortune Andrea Reynolds 1993 The Night We Never Met Lucy Life with Mikey Carol Addams Family Values Becky Martin-Granger 1994 The Ref Connie Chasseur Getting In Mrs. Margaret "Maggie" Higgs The War Miss Strapford 1995 New Jersey Drive Prosecutor Jeffrey Ann Marwood Bartle 1996 The Birdcage Katherine Archer 1998 The Odd Couple II Thelma Bulworth Constance Bulworth 1999 Cruel Intentions Bunny Caldwell Bowfinger Carol Get Bruce! Herself 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Martha May Whovier 2002 The Guru Shantal Chicago Mary Sunshine 2003 Marci X Mary Ellen Spinkle 2004 Welcome to Mooseport Charlotte Cole 2005 Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy? Amelia Von Butch (voice) 2006 Falling for Grace Bree Barrington Relative Strangers Arleen Clayton Bonneville Francine 2008 Mamma Mia! Tanya Chesham-Leigh 2010 The Bounty Hunter Kitty Hurley 2012 Foodfight! Hedda Shopper (voice) 2014 Into the Woods Cinderella's Stepmother Yellowbird Janet (voice) 2016 Trolls Chef Berger (voice) Miss Sloane Evelyn Sumner 2017 A Bad Moms Christmas Ruth 2018 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Tanya Chesham-Leigh 2020 Christmas on the Square Regina Fuller TBA All That She Wants Post-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 1966 Combat! Silent Orphan Girl Episode: 142 "The Furlough" 1977 Busting Loose Debbie Episode: "The Decision: Part 1" 1980 Playing for Time Olga TV movie 1981 Texas Sadie 2 episodes 1982 Helena TV movie 1983 Another World Beverly Tucker Unknown episodes 1984 All My Children Jewel Maniscalo Unknown episodes 1985 Big Shots in America Cara TV movie The Equalizer Victoria Baines Episode: "Mama's Boy" 1987 The House of Blue Leaves Bunny Flingus TV movie 1988 The Thorns Polly Episode: "The Maid" 1991 Law & Order Katherine Masucci Beigel Episodes: "The Torrents of Greed Parts 1 & 2" 1992 Screenplay Blair Bennett Episode: "Buying a Landslide" 1993 To Dance with the White Dog Kate TV movie 1994 Law & Order Rose Siegal Episode: "Nurture" 1995–1998 Cybill Maryann Thorpe Main role 1996 Saturday Night Live Herself (host) Episode: "Christine Baranski/The Cure" 1997 3rd Rock from the Sun Sonja Umdahl Episode: "Dick and the Single Girl" 1999 Now and Again Ruth Bender (voice) Episode: "Origins"; uncredited Frasier Dr. Nora Fairchild Episode: "Dr. Nora" 2000 Timothy Tweedle the First Christmas Elf Flo (voice) TV movie 2000–2001 Welcome to New York Marsha Bickner Main role 2001 Citizen Baines Glenn Ferguson Baines Welch Episode: "Three Days in November" 2002 Presidio Med Dr. Terry Howland Episodes: "Pick Your Battles", "Best of Enemies" 2003 Eloise at the Plaza Prunella Stickler TV movie Eloise at Christmastime TV movie 2003–2004 Happy Family Annie Brennan Main role 2004 Spellbound TV movie In the Game TV pilot 2005 Recipe for a Perfect Christmas Lee Bellmont TV movie Adopted Judy Rabinowitz TV movie Ghost Whisperer Faith Clancy 2 episodes 2006 Inseparable Barbara TV movie American Dad! Homeless Woman (voice) Episode: "Failure Is Not a Factory-installed Option" 2009 Ugly Betty Victoria Hartley 3 episodes Psych Alice Clayton Episode: "He Dead" 20092011,20132019 The Big Bang Theory Dr. Beverly Hofstadter Recurring role 2009–2016 The Good Wife Diane Lockhart Main role 2011 Who Is Simon Miller? Amanda TV movie Ugly Americans Grimes' Mummy (voice) Episode: "Mummy Dearest" 2013Family Guy Herself (voice) Episode: "Call Girl" 2015Sinatra: All or Nothing at All Ruth Berle (voice) Limited series 2015–2019 BoJack Horseman Amanda Hannity (voice) 2 episodes 2017 Regular Show Guardian (voice) Episode: "A Regular Epic Final Battle" 2017–2022 The Good Fight Diane Lockhart Main role; Also producer 2017 Michael Jackson's Halloween Mrs. Grau (voice) TV special Spirit Riding Free Miz McDonnell (voice) Episode: "Lucky and the Long Way Home" 2018–2022 Fancy Nancy Mrs. Devine (voice) 19 episodes 2018Family Guy Newport Heiress Episode: "Con Heiress" 2019 Young Sheldon Beverly Hofstadter (voice) Episode: "A Swedish Science Thing and the Equation for Toast" Archibald's Next Big Thing Madame Baroness (voice) Episode: "The Secret of Madame Baroness" The Bravest Knight The Dragon (voice) 2 episodes Spirit Riding Free: Pony Tales Miz McDonnell (voice) Episode: "The Mystery of the Golden Unicorn" 2020 Magical Girl Friendship Squad Verus (voice) 3 episodes 2021 Fairfax Joyce (voice) Episode: "Fairfolks" The Simpsons Herself (voice) Episode: "Portrait of a Lackey on Fire" 2022present The Gilded Age Agnes van Rhijn Main role 2022 The Loud House Joyce Crandall (voice) Episode: "Save Royal Woods!" 2023 Praise Petey White St. Barts (voice) Main role 2025Nine Perfect StrangersVictoria8 episodes (season 2) 2026Stuart Fails to Save the UniverseHerselfEpisode: "Spoiler: Zack's in This One"

Theatre

Video games Year Project Role 2013 Skylanders: Swap Force Kaos' Mother 2017 Steven Universe: Save the LightHessonite 2019 Steven Universe: Unleash the Light

Audio

Awards and nominations

Baranski has received numerous accolades over her career including a Primetime Emmy Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Tony Awards. Baranski is also the most nominated performer at the Critics' Choice Television Awards, with 10 nominations.