Biography, Filmography And Pictures:

Tony award winner Jane Krakowski is one of the few Hollywood celebrities to make a successful transition from child actor to adult star, and to Broadway stage performer all before the age of thirty-five. The actress may be best known for her role as Elaine Vassal on the smash hit sitcom, "Ally McBeal" (1997),with Calista Flockhart and Portia de Rossi, but she surprised critics with her outstanding portrayal of the arrogant late night television skit writer, Jenna Maroney on Tina Fey’s hit sitcom, “30 Rock”.

Jane was born in Parsippany, New Jersey on Oct. 11, 1968, and started acting by the age of fifteen. After auditioning, and being hired for a fashion show in 1981, her show business career started to takeoff. Her big-screen debut, as Cousin Vicki, in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with Chevy Chase segued into other bit parts in the films “Fatal Attraction” (1987), starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, and then “Stepping Out” in 1991, but it was her role as Rebecca 'T.R.' Kendall in the long running daytime soap opera “Search for Tomorrow” that gained her the most attention by critics and audiences. She then appeared in several made for television moves including "When We Were Young" (1989), "Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules" starring Matt Dillon, Kyra Sedgwick and Ray Liotta, with three short stories about male and female relationships. 

One high profile project was the dramatic mini-series "Queen" (1993), with Ann-Margret, Halle Berry, Danny Glover and Martin Sheen, about a plantation owner's son who falls in love with a slave named Easter, and together they have a light-skinned daughter named Queen. Krakowski then took a supporting role alongside Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake and Brendan Fraser in the big-screen movie "Mrs. Winterbourne" (1996), a romantic comedy of mistaken identity and unexpected love. Jane was then hired and cast in the musical drama "Dance With Me", with Vanessa Williams and Kris Kristofferson, where after a young Cuban man buries his mother he moves to Houston to meet his father John for the first time. The difficult part is that John doesn't know he is his father.

Jane was growing frustrated, as it seemed she was relegated to small bit parts and supporting roles in mediocre movies and small television projects. But her next role gave her reputation a small boost when she took a supporting role alongside Katie Holmes in the crime thriller "Go" (1999), a film that tells the story of the events after a drug deal told from three different points of view. Her next role as Betty O'Shale in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000) also did nothing to help boost her career as a serious adult actress. She then made guest appearances on several television shows including "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles", "Due South", "Early Edition", "Ally" with Courtney Thorne-Smith and Portia de Rossi, and then wrapped the year in the animated family comedy "CatDog: The Great Parent Mystery". 

Her next role brought her some valuable attention when she appeared in an animated family comedy lending her voice to the character of a female sloth in "Ice Age" (2002), starring Ray Romano, Jack Black and Denis Leary, a story set during the Ice Age, where a saber tooth tiger, a sloth, and a wooly mammoth find a lost human infant, and they try to return him to his tribe. The film was a smash hit both at the box office and with critics, and was nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature, a Kid's Choice Award, and Young Artist Award for Best Family Feature Film - Animation. 

The actress was finally beginning to receive the critical attention she needed to be considered for more powerful roles. "Ice Age" raised her Hollywood status and mode her a movie star. And her big break was right around the corner.

The big break for her came in the role of Elaine Vassal in 112 episodes of the runaway smash hit "Ally McBeal" (1997), starring Calista Flockhart and Greg Germann, about a single young lawyer looking for love and fulfillment in life, who works for a Boston Law firm with her ex-lover and his wife, a money loving boss and an annoying receptionist. With all that is going on she must contend with her feelings, and her over-active imagination. The show was one of the highest rated series of the season, and made her an overnight sensation. Audiences and producers wanted more of the actress, and they were about to get their wish. 

After wrapping "Ally McBeal", the actress made guest appearances on "Rocket Power", "Everwood" with Treat Williams, the crime drama "Hack", and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit". Jane then took a co-starring lead in the musical comedy "Marci X" (2003), with Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans, a funny tale about a Jewish-American Princess who is forced to take control of a hard-core hip-hop record label and tries to rein the one of the label's most controversial rappers. Krakowski followed with the family dramatic comedy "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town", where Zachary Beaver, a sideshow attraction also known as the world's fattest boy, arrives in the sleepy town of Granger, Texas. 

A big break came for the actress in 2004 when she took a leading role as Dorie in the comedy "Alfie" (2004), also starring Jude Law and Marisa Tomei, about a cockney womanizer who learns the hard way about the dangers of his actions. "Alfie" won a Golden Globe Award, and was nominated for seven additional film awards. But more importantly, her role in "Alfie" showed she could help carry a big budget movie and not be up-staged by more well known actors. 

She was starting to gain traction in Hollywood, and people were starting to take her seriously. She furthered her rising profile in the role of Emily Klein in the comedy "Pretty Persuasion" (2005), starring a young Evan Rachel Wood, about a 15-year-old girl who incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment. 

She was now becoming famous, and showed her talent in family comedies, serious dramas, and threw in a little singing and dancing to boot. Jane returned to network television for two dramatic movies including "A Christmas Carol" with Kelsey Grammer as the Scrooge, and "Mom At Sixteen" starring with Danielle Panabaker, about a pregnant sixteen year old Jacey's well-meaning mother who forces her to keep the birth a secret and decides to raise the baby as her own. 

The actress wrapped her run on television that year with the comedy "Sex, Power, Love & Politics" with James Van Der Beek, about five motivated politicians who were each voted most likely to become President of the United States who struggle to reach their goals in Washington D.C. She then graced the stages of Broadway in 2006 and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Miss Adelaide in the London revival of "Guys and Dolls."

Another blockbuster smash hit followed with the animated family comedy "Open Season" (2006), with Martin Lawrence, Ashton Kutcher, Gary Sinise, Debra Messing, and Patrick Warburton, where Boog (Lawrence), a domesticated 900 pound. Grizzly bear finds himself stranded in the woods three days before open hunting season. Forced to rely on Elliot (Kutcher), a fast-talking mule deer, the two form an unlikely friendship and must quickly rally other forest animals if they are to form a rag-tag army against the hunters. 

Also that year, executives at NBC television created controversy when they hired Krakowski to replace ex-Saturday Night Live comedian Rachel Dratch for the pilot of their new show “30 Rock,” the Golden Globe winning sitcom created by, executive produced by, and starring Tina Fey. Although the circumstances for Dratch’s firing were never made public, the actress herself later said that she was just a victim of “creative re-tooling” and denied rumors of infighting and salary disagreements. The change worked well for her, and she exploded on screen as the spoiled star of the sitcom’s fictional “Girlie Show” late night comedy sketch show. "30 Rock" became a smash hit and won a primetime Emmy in September 2008.

During the off season of "30 Rock", she managed to appear in two high-profile films. First was the summer comedy "The Rocker" (2008), starring Rainn Wilson, Christina Applegate and Emma Stone, and then portrayed Miss May Dooley in the family mystery "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (2008), a drama based on the American Girl doll line that centers on Kit Kittredge, a young woman who grows up in the early years of the Great Depression. She then lent her voice to the sequel "Open Season 2" (2009), the direct to video movie where Mr. Weenie, a domesticated dachshund, escapes to join the rebellion of forest animals. 

She wrapped her year in the horror thriller "Cirque du Freak" (2009), working alongside Salma Hayek, Willem Dafoe and John C. Reilly, a thriller about a young boy named Darren Shan who  meets a mysterious man at a freak show who turns out to be a Vampire. After a series of events Darren must leave his normal life and go on the road with the Cirque Du Freak and become a Vampire. Krakowski was now a full-blown Hollywood celebrity, and audiences loved her.

Watch Jane Krakowski Video Interview Talking About Her Career

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