Jane Krakowski

Jane Krakowski (/krəˈkaʊski/; née Krajkowski; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series 30 Rock (2006–13, 2020), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Krakowski's other television roles have included Elaine Vassal in the Fox legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal (1997–2002) and Jacqueline White in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2020). For the latter, she received another Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series nomination.

A trained singer, Krakowski has also worked on the stage. At age 18, she played the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the Broadway production of Starlight Express (1987). She has since won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the revival of Nine (2003). Other Tony-nominated roles include Grand Hotel (1989) and She Loves Me (2016). She received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in the West End revival of Guys and Dolls (2005). She received another nomination for her role in Here We Are (2025). In film role, she has appeared as Cousin Vicki Johnson in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) and as Betty Rubble in The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000).

Early life

Jane Krakowski was born and raised in Parsippany, New Jersey on October 11, 1968, the daughter of Edward A. Krajkowski (1938-2016), a chemical engineer employed at Picatinny Arsenal and former recording artist, and Barbara (née Benoit), a college theater instructor and producing artistic director for the Women's Theater Company. She has an older brother. Krakowski's father's family is Polish, and while she speaks very little Polish, her father and paternal grandparents are fluent.

Krakowski grew up immersed in the local theater scene as a result of her parents' involvement, saying in one interview: "Instead of hiring baby sitters, they brought me along with them." She took ballet lessons at age four, but later stopped because she had the wrong body shape, instead moving more towards Broadway dancing. She attended Parsippany High School and then the Professional Children's School in New York City and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Career

1983–2005: Early work and theater roles

Following a 1981 television commercial at age 12 for the video game Solar Fox, Krakowski's first major role and feature film debut came at the age of 14, when she played Cousin Vicki Johnson in the 1983 road comedy National Lampoon's Vacation. Krakowski was originally cast in the 1983 horror film Sleepaway Camp, but dropped out just before filming began because she felt her character Judy's death scene with a curling iron was too violent. In 1984, she began appearing as Theresa Rebecca "T.R." Kendall in the NBC soap opera Search for Tomorrow, part of the NBC Daytime programming block; she continued the role until the show ended in 1986 and was nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards in 1986 and 1987.[citation needed] She also appeared in several episodes of the soap opera Another World in 1989.

At age 18, Krakowski originated the role of Dinah the Dining Car in the 1987 Broadway production of Starlight Express. She appeared in the 1989 Broadway musical Grand Hotel as the typist and would-be film star Flaemmchen, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 44th Tony Awards. Her solo number, "I Want to Go to Hollywood," is included on the original cast recording. In 1995, she played the ditzy flight attendant April in the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Company, followed by a starring role alongside Sarah Jessica Parker in the 1996 Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress.

From 1997 to 2002, Krakowski played office assistant Elaine Vassal in the Fox comedy-drama series Ally McBeal; she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 56th Golden Globe Awards in 1999. She portrayed Betty Rubble in the 2000 film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. She also appeared in the music video for The Chicks's song "Goodbye Earl" in 2000, and in a recurring role on the drama series Everwood in 2003.

At the 2000 American Comedy Awards, Krakowski won rave reviews when she performed a sexually charged musical tribute and love letter to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. The following year, Krakowski appeared on the album Broadway Cares: Home for the Holidays, singing the song "Santa Baby". She also collaborated with Jim Brickman on the song "You" for Brickman's 2002 album Love Songs & Lullabies; the song became a hit on adult contemporary radio stations. Brickman and Krakowski later recorded a Christmas-themed alternate version of the song.

In 2003, she starred as Carla Albanese in the Broadway revival of Nine, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical at the 57th Tony Awards. Krakowski's performance was noted for a "breathtaking" aerial stunt she performed during the number "A Call from the Vatican". In 2005, Krakowski performed her own cabaret show, Better When It's Banned, at Lincoln Center, and starred as Miss Adelaide in Michael Grandage's West End revival of Guys and Dolls at London's Piccadilly Theatre, for which she received the 2006 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

2006–2020: Breakthrough with 30 Rock

From 2006 to 2013, Krakowski played the role of Jenna Maroney, a clueless and narcissistic actress, on the Tina Fey-created NBC comedy series 30 Rock. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013.

Between 2007 and 2009, Krakowski performed in a workshop production of the musical Xanadu; a New York City Center production of Damn Yankees alongside Sean Hayes and Cheyenne Jackson; and a staged reading at Playwrights Horizons of the musical Mrs. Sharp.

Following 30 Rock's conclusion, Krakowski joined the cast of Fey's follow-up series, the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, in the role of the condescending socialite Jacqueline White. Schmidt ran from 2015 to 2020 and garnered Krakowski her fifth Primetime Emmy Award nomination at the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Krakowski starred as Ilona Ritter in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 2016 Broadway revival of Jerry Bock's and Sheldon Harnick's She Loves Me. For her performance, Krakowski won the 2016 Fred and Adele Astaire Award as Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show; the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical; and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for the Tony Award for Featured Actress in a Musical at the 70th Tony Awards.

2021–present

Since 2021, Krakowski has hosted a Fox reboot of the 1950s game show Name That Tune, with former American Idol judge Randy Jackson as bandleader. Krakowski has said, "One of the reasons I wanted to do Name That Tune was to perform again in front of a live audience."

From 2021 to 2023, Krakowski portrayed The Countess/Bobbie Flanagan in the musical comedy television series Schmigadoon!, created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.

In November 2021, Krakowski contracted a breakthrough case of COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw from NBC's Annie Live!, where she was to play Lily St. Regis.

Krakowski returned to the West End in 2025 for a 2-month run as Marianne Brink in Stephen Sondheim's final musical, Here We Are, earning a second nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

From October 2025 to January 2026, she portrayed the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in the historical farce Oh, Mary!, written and originated by Cole Escola.

Personal life

Krakowski became engaged to Robert Godley in 2009. They have a son, born in April 2011. The couple separated in 2013.

In January 2021, the Daily Mail alleged that Krakowski had a nine-month relationship with Mike Lindell, the inventor of My Pillow, between late 2019 and the summer of 2020. Both Krakowski and Lindell denied the allegation, and Lindell sued the Daily Mail for libel. The case was dismissed on the grounds that a "reasonable person" would not view anything in the Daily Mail article as defamatory.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Theater

Discography

Krakowski released her debut solo album on July 15, 2010. It is an album of cover versions called Laziest Gal in Town. It released on DRG Records.

Selected recordings include:

• 1992: Grand Hotel, Studio Cast Recording (mostly original Broadway cast)
• 1995: Company, Broadway revival cast recording
• 1997: Once Upon a Mattress, Broadway revival cast recording
• 1997: Sondheim at the Movies (singing the Academy Award-winning song "Sooner or Later" from Dick Tracy)
• 1998: The Burt Bacharach Album
• 2002: A Broadway Valentine
• 2003: Nine, Broadway revival cast recording
• 2004: A Christmas Carol, television cast recording
• 2010: The Laziest Gal in Town, solo album
• 2016: She Loves Me, Broadway revival cast recording

Awards and nominations

Actor Awards

Critics' Choice Awards

Emmy Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Laurence Olivier Awards

Tony Awards

Miscellaneous awards and honors

External links

• at IMDb
• at the Internet Broadway Database
• at Playbill Vault