Jane Curtin

Jane Curtin's first calling wasn't comedy, but education. After studying at Northeastern in the late 1960s, she decided to leave academia and join a comedy troupe, performing skits and plays in Boston and New York City. She drew the attention of TV producer Lorne Michaels, who was putting together the first cast for "Saturday Night Live" (NBC 1975- ). Curtin joined the inaugural Not Ready For Prime Time Players and stayed on until 1980. Along with her stint as the "Weekend Update" anchor, her best-known character was as part of the Coneheads duo with Dan Aykroyd, a role she reprised in the movie "Coneheads" (1993). After SNL, her next major television work was as the star of "Kate & Allie" (CBS 1984-89), for which she won an Emmy award. Her next major role was as Dr. Mary Albright, the love interest to the alien played by John Lithgow on the fish-out-of-water sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun" (NBC 1996-2001). In 2006, her bid to be a regular on another notable TV show failed when "Crumbs" (ABC 2006) was canceled after one season. She regularly showed up for "Saturday Night Live" anniversaries and retrospectives over the years, and consistently popped up in a variety of comedies, including the Tim Allen-starring "The Shaggy Dog" (2006), the Paul Rudd comedy "I Love You, Man" (2009), and in the Melissa McCarthy drama "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" (2017).