Christine Jane Baranski (born May 2, 1952)^[1] is an American actress. She received thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Maryann Thorpe in the sitcomCybill (1995–1998). Baranski is also known for her roles asDiane Lockhart in the legal drama seriesThe Good Wife (2009–2016) and its spin-off seriesThe Good Fight (2017–2022), and as Agnes van Rhijn in the period drama seriesThe Gilded Age (2022–present), both roles which earned her Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Christine Baranski
Baranski in 2010
Born	Christine Jane Baranski (1952-05-02)May 2, 1952 (age 73) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Juilliard School (BFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1972–present
Spouse	Matthew Cowles ​ ​ (m. 1983; died 2014)​
Children	2, includingLily Cowles
Awards	Full list

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

Baranski won twoTony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Charlotte inTom Stoppard'sThe Real Thing (1984) and as Chris Gorman inNeil Simon'sRumors (1989). Her other majorBroadway credits includeHurlyburly (1984),The House of Blue Leaves (1986), andBoeing Boeing (2008). She also portrayedMrs. Lovett in theKennedy Center's production ofSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2002).

Baranski was born inBuffalo, New York, the daughter of Virginia (née Mazurowska) (1916-2002) and Lucien Baranski (1914-1960), who edited a Polish-language newspaper.^[2] She had an older brother, Michael J. Baranski (1949–1998), an advertising executive who died at age 48.^[3] She is of Polish descent, and her grandparents were stage actors in Poland before emigrating toUS.^[4][5] Baranski was raised in a heavily Polish andCatholic neighborhood in the Buffalo suburb ofCheektowaga. She attended high school at theVilla Maria Academy where she was class president andsalutatorian.^[6][7][8] She studied at New York City'sJuilliard School^[9] (Drama DivisionGroup 3: 1970–1974),^[10] where she graduated with aBachelor of Fine Arts degree.^[11]

Baranski made heroff-Broadway debut inComing Attractions atPlaywrights Horizons in 1980, and has appeared in several off-Broadway productions at theManhattan Theatre Club, starting withSally and Marsha in 1982. Baranski made herBroadway debut inHide & Seek in 1980. For her next Broadway performance, inTom Stoppard'sThe Real Thing, she won the 1984 Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Play. Other Broadway credits includeHurlyburly,The House of Blue Leaves,Rumors (for which she won her second Tony),Regrets Only,Nick & Nora, and theEncores! concert staging ofFollies.

At theKennedy Center inWashington, D.C., Baranski starred asMrs. Lovett inSweeney Todd in 2002 (for which she won the 2003Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical) and as the title character inMame in 2006.^[12][8] In her first Broadway production since 1991, Baranski was featured as the maid Berthe in the 2008 revival ofBoeing Boeing.^[13] The show garnered two Tony Awards, one for Best Revival of a Play and the other for Best Actor (Mark Rylance). The original cast wasBradley Whitford (Bernard),Kathryn Hahn (Gloria), Christine Baranski (Berthe),Gina Gershon (Gabriella), andMary McCormack (Gretchen). The show closed on January 4, 2009.

Baranski also appeared in a one-night-only concert benefit performance ofStephen Sondheim'sA Little Night Music forRoundabout Theatre Company as Countess Charlotte Malcolm on January 12, 2009.^[14] The cast includedVanessa Redgrave,Natasha Richardson,Victor Garber andMarc Kudisch. Baranski has won both theTony Award andDrama Desk Awards twice. In 2018, she was inducted into theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame.^[15]

Baranski has appeared in various film roles. Some of her better-known roles are as Katherine Archer inThe Birdcage (1996), Martha May Whovier inHow the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Mary Sunshine inChicago (2002) and Connie Chasseur inThe Ref (1994). Baranski received further recognition for her role as Tanya Chesham-Leigh in the hit musical filmMamma Mia! (2008), and its sequelMamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). Baranski played Cinderella's stepmother in the 2014film adaptation of the musicalInto the Woods.^[16] Baranski has also appeared in the films9½ Weeks (1986),Legal Eagles (1986),Reversal of Fortune (1990),Addams Family Values (1993),Jeffrey (1995),The Odd Couple II (1998)Bulworth (1998),Cruel Intentions (1999),Bowfinger (1999),Welcome to Mooseport (2004),Trolls (2016) andA Bad Moms Christmas (2017).

Baranski appeared in short-term roles on various daytime soap operas, includingAll My Children andAnother World. Baranski was featured asCybill Shepherd's sarcastic, hard-drinking friend Maryann Thorpe in theCBSsitcomCybill, which ran from 1995 until 1998, during which time she hostedSaturday Night Live and won anEmmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series along with three other nominations. During this, Baranski portrayed a librarian named Sonja Umdahl in the "Dick and the Single Girl" episode of3rd Rock from the Sun.^[17] A few years later, Baranski received an Emmy nomination for a guest starring role in theNBC seriesFrasier as a controversialtough love radio psychiatrist named Dr. Nora. The episode, which was named for the character, parodied Dr.Laura Schlessinger.^[18][19] The episode was pulled fromsyndication byParamount.^[19] Baranski had an uncredited role in the seriesNow and Again as the voice of Roger's overbearing wife Ruth, who was never seen by viewers.

Baranski later appeared in the 2000–2001 sitcomWelcome to New York and, withJohn Laroquette, in the 2003–2004NBC sitcomHappy Family. She co-starred withBernadette Peters in a pilot for anABC sitcom,Adopted, in 2005, which was not picked up. She also played Faith Clancy, the mother ofJim Clancy inGhost Whisperer. In 2009, Baranski began guest-starring inThe Big Bang Theory asDr. Beverly Hofstadter, a dispassionate psychiatrist and neuroscientist and mother of one of the protagonists, Leonard Hofstadter. She first appeared in the second-season episode"The Maternal Capacitance", for which she received anEmmy nomination. Due to the popularity of her first appearance, Baranski returned in the third season for the Christmas episode"The Maternal Congruence", receiving another Emmy nomination. She appeared in a total of 16 episodes during the show's run, earning four Emmy nominations for her recurring role.^[20][21]

From 2009 to 2016, Baranski played the role ofDiane Lockhart, a top litigator and senior partner of a Chicago law firm on theCBS seriesThe Good Wife. She was nominated for thePrimetime 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 onThe Good Wife and the aforementioned guest appearances onThe Big Bang Theory, her other recent appearances includeUgly Betty in 2009 as Victoria Hartley, the haughty mother ofBetty's new boyfriend.^[22][23]

From 2017 to 2022, Baranski starred in the CBS spinoff ofThe Good Wife, titledThe Good Fight. Her character, Diane Lockhart, joins another law firm after being forced to return to work.^[24] In the79th Golden Globe Awards, she was nominated for theGolden 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 theJulian Fellowes-createdHBO period dramaThe Gilded Age starring oppositeCarrie Coon,Louisa Jacobson, andCynthia Nixon. The cast received a nomination for theScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Although recognized for her versatility across genres and performing media, Baranski is particularly known for playing sophisticated and highly educated upper-class women.^[25] Consequently, the media began alluding to the resemblance between this repeated on-screen persona and Baranski's real personality.^[26][27][28] Caroline Hallemann ofTown & Country notes that, "For years, the award-winning actress has been the definition of on-screen sophistication."^[29] In 2017, the actress told Zac Posen forInterview 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 takesophisticated to your grave. You can be that worldly woman, that woman who looks beautiful dressed up."^[30] On the other hand, Baranski humorously addressed these claims during her appearance onThe 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."^[31]

Baranski was married to actorMatthew Cowles from October 1983 until his death on May 22, 2014.^[32] Together, they had two daughters, Isabel (b. 1984), a lawyer, andLily (b. 1987), an actress.^[33][34] She lives in Connecticut. As of 2021^[update], Baranski was a practicingCatholic, at times accompanying her friendRobert King, the co-creator ofThe Good Fight, on the walk home followingSunday services.^[35]

Baranski has received numerous accolades over her career including aPrimetime Emmy Award, threeScreen Actors Guild Awards, and twoTony Awards. Baranski is also the most nominated performer at theCritics' Choice Television Awards, with 10 nominations.

• Christine Baranski atIMDb
• Christine Baranski at theInternet Broadway Database 
• Christine Baranski at theInternet Off-Broadway Database (archived)