Molly Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for playing Joanne Mulcahey in the Chris Kelly autobiographical film Other People.
Shannon appeared in supporting roles in several films, including Happiness (1998), A Night at the Roxbury (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), Serendipity (2001), Osmosis Jones (2001), My Boss's Daughter (2003), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), More of Me (2007), Evan Almighty (2007), and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015). She appeared in the animated films Igor (2008) and Hotel Transylvania (2012). On television, Shannon had roles in Enlightened (2013), Divorce (2016–2019), The Other Two (2019–2022), The White Lotus (2021), I Love That for You (2022), and Only Murders in the Building (2024), winning her first Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series for the lattermost.
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Early life
Shannon was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, to an Irish-American Catholic family. Her maternal grandparents were born in Ireland, with her grandfather being from Cloghmore, Achill, Mayo.
On June 1, 1969, when Shannon was four years old, she and her older sister survived a car crash that killed her younger sister, her cousin, and her mother. Her father, Jim, was driving the family home from an all-day party during which he drank alcohol and subsequently took a nap. The crash occurred 90 minutes into the drive later that evening when the car struck a solid steel light pole (since that time, most light poles have been converted to breakaway poles to reduce injuries). Contrary to published articles that Jim had been driving drunk, there was no BAC report taken. In her memoir, Hello, Molly!, Shannon writes: "There is no way to know exactly what happened that night, though my gut tells me he fell asleep at the wheel."
Shannon attended high school in Ohio, and she attended New York University, where she studied drama and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1987.
Career
Before Saturday Night Live, Shannon worked as a hostess at Cravings restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, and as a food demo girl at Gelson's supermarket in Marina Del Rey. She auditioned for her first big film role and was cast, playing the supporting part of Meg in the 1989 horror film remake of The Phantom of the Opera, with Robert Englund. In 1991, she had a brief appearance in the second season of Twin Peaks as "the happy helping hand lady", and in 1993, she appeared with minor roles in three episodes of In Living Color, the first in a fake TV commercial with Shawn Wayans playing Chris Rock, the second in a sketch with Jim Carrey, playing LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon, and third being a parody of Star Trek.
Shannon's major break came in February 1995, when she was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live to replace Janeane Garofalo, who had left mid-season. Shannon was one of the few cast members to be kept (along with David Spade, Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney and Tim Meadows) when Lorne Michaels overhauled his cast and writers for season 21 (1995–96).
She appeared in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld titled "The Summer of George", where she played Sam, the co-worker who drove Elaine Benes crazy because she did not swing her arms while walking. She appeared in Sheryl Crow's video for the song "A Change (Will Do You Good)" and played the recurring role of loony neighbor Val Bassett, Grace Adler's nemesis, on Will & Grace, appearing in five episodes over the sitcom's eight-season run. In 1998, she played the role of Emily Sanderson in the film A Night at the Roxbury, featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan who were also cast members of SNL at the time. She appeared in Sex and the City in a number of episodes.
In 1999, Shannon starred in Superstar, a feature film based on her character Mary Katherine Gallagher, an awkward Catholic school student who aspires to be a musical superstar. Shannon had created the character while a student at NYU, and had expanded on her in a series of SNL sketches prior to the film.
During her run on SNL, Shannon starred in the films Never Been Kissed (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Osmosis Jones (2001) and Serendipity (2001). Shannon left SNL in 2001. In 2003, she appeared in the romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter and the television remake of The Music Man.
Saturday Night Live characters
Mary Katherine Gallagher: Shannon's best known character. An odd, outcast student at a Catholic school who enjoyed performing in the choir and school plays. Shannon starred in the 1999 feature film Superstar based on the character.
Sally O'Malley: a proud 50-year-old dancer ("I'm FIFTY!") with a bouffant hairdo, who wore tight red pants and proclaimed how much she loved to "kick, stretch and kick!"
Circe Nightshade: co-host of "Goth Talk" (with Chris Kattan).
Miss Colleen: co-host of "Dog Show" (with Will Ferrell).
Elizabeth: one of the "Southern Gals."
Helen Madden: an overly exuberant self-proclaimed "Joyologist", who appeared on talk shows with the trademark catchphrase "I love it, I love it, I love it!"
Veronica Kilvere: an airhead fashion model who hosts the "Veronica & Co." talk show.
Janette Blow: wife of Joe Blow (played by Colin Quinn) on "The Local News" public-access television cable TV talk show.
Terri Rialto: co-host of the NPR radio show "Delicious Dish" (with Ana Gasteyer).
Margaret Healy: a woman who enjoys doing many voices and accents.
Jeannie Darcy: an unfunny mullet-haired stand-up comedian, who ended almost every joke with the phrase "Don't get me started, don't even get me started!"
Personal life
Shannon married artist Fritz Chesnut on May 29, 2004. They have two children.
