Molly Shannon as Mrs. Fisher
Molly Shannon has become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents on television and the silver screen.
Shannon spent six seasons as a cast member of Saturday Night Live, primarily known for the eclectic characters she created, such as Mary Katherine Gallagher and Sally O’Malley. In 2000, she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program.
Shannon was awarded the 2017 Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as a mother who is struggling with terminal cancer in the acclaimed drama Other People, written and directed by SNL writer Chris Kelly. Shannon recently reunited with Chris Kelly and fellow former SNL head writer, Sarah Schneider, in their new comedy, The Other Two, which was picked up for a second season by Comedy Central. She was recently seen on the third and final season of the popular HBO comedy, Divorce, opposite Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church. Shannon recently reprised her role of Val Bassett on NBC’s revival of Will & Grace. Her performance resulted in an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She also voiced the character of Murna in the Netflix animated series, Spy Kids: Mission Critical.
Shannon will soon be seen starring in the upcoming drama for Netflix, Horse Girl alongside Alison Brie. This fall she was also seen in the film, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Additional television credits include the Wet Hot American Summer miniseries for Netflix; a guest arc on the HBO series, Enlightened, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She also made several guest appearances on Raising Hope, CBS’s Life in Pieces, HBO’s comedy Getting On, the ABC Rebel Wilson comedy, Super Fun Night, the IFC mini-series The Spoils of Babylon alongside Tobey Maguire and Kristen Wiig, Up All Night, The Middle, Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy, a recurring guest starring role on the Fox hit Glee, the TBS animated series Neighbors from Hell, the U.S. version of the popular Australian sitcom Kath and Kim, as well as Cracking Up, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, Seinfeld, Pushing Daisies and 30 Rock, among many others. Her television movies include More of Me, 12 Days of Christmas Eve and The Music Man.
Film credits include the independent comedy, Wild Nights with Emily, which premiered at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival; Tamara Jenkins’ Netflix original film, Private Life alongside Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival; the animated comedy, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation; and the Netflix comedy Sextuplets.
Shannon’s film credits also include Half Magic; The Little Hours; Fun Mom Dinner; William H. Macy’s comedy The Layover; the independent feature film Miles from director Nathan Adloff; We Don’t Belong Here, a drama about a crumbling family that also stars Catherine Keener and Anton Yelchin; Me, Earl and the Dying Girl, an independent drama which won the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival; the American zombie comedy, Life After Beth; the 5th installment of the popular Scary Movie franchise; the animated comedy, Hotel Transylvania and the sequel Hotel Transylvania 2; Bad Teacher alongside Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel and Justin Timberlake; Superstar, portraying everybody's favorite Catholic schoolgirl Mary Katherine Gallagher; Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette; Year of the Dog; Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; Evan Almighty; Igor; Keenen Ivory Wayans' Little Man; Scary Movie 4; Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas; A Night at the Roxbury; Analyze This; Happiness; Never Been Kissed; The Good Boy!; Serendipity; Osmosis Jones; The Santa Clause 2 and Wet Hot American Summer.
In 2011, Abrams Books for Young Readers released Molly’s first children’s picture book, Tilly the Trickster. The book tells the tale of Tilly, “a mischief maker of the best kind—one who learns her lesson but never lets the reader stop having fun.” In 2010, Shannon made her Broadway debut replacing Tony Award winner Katie Finneran in the hit musical Promises, Promises alongside Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.