Amy Lauren Landecker (born September 30, 1969) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Sarah Pfefferman on the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

comedy-drama series '' Transparent'' (2014–2019), as well as her supporting roles in the films ''

Dan in Real Life ''Dan in Real Life'' is a 2007 American comedy drama film directed by Peter Hedges, and stars Steve Carell, Alison Pill, Juliette Binoche, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney and Dane Cook. This is the first Touchstone Pictures film to be distribut ...

'' (2007), ''

A Serious Man ''A Serious Man'' is a 2009 black comedy-drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in 1967, the film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesotan Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, ...

'' (2009), ''

All Is Bright ''All Is Bright'' (released as ''Almost Christmas'' in the UK) is a 2013 comedy-drama film directed by Phil Morrison. It stars Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd, with Sally Hawkins and Amy Landecker in supporting roles. The film debuted at the 2013 ...

'' (2013), ''

Project Almanac ''Project Almanac'' is a 2015 American found footage science fiction film directed by Dean Israelite in his directorial debut, and written by Jason Harry Pagan and Andrew Deutschman. The film stars Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Sam Lerner ...

'' (2015), and ''

Beatriz at Dinner ''Beatriz at Dinner'' is a 2017 comedy-drama film directed by Miguel Arteta and written by Mike White. An international co-production between the United States and Canada, it stars Salma Hayek, John Lithgow, Connie Britton, Jay Duplass, Amy La ...

'' (2017), and the TV series '' Your Honor'' (2020–2023).

Early life

Landecker was born September 30, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois. She is the daughter of

John Records Landecker John Records Landecker (born March 28, 1947) is an American Top 40/oldies disc jockey with a trademark saying "Records truly is my middle name" who created ''Boogie Check'', ''Americana Panorama'', and satirical songs and bits based on current e ...

, a Chicago radio personality. One of her maternal great-grandfathers was lawyer Joseph N. Welch. She attended the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, studying theater. Her paternal grandfather was a German Jewish refugee.

Career

Landecker earned her

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

card doing a voiceover for a

Tampax Tampax (a portmanteau of tampon and packs) is a brand of tampons currently owned by Procter & Gamble. It was based in White Plains, New York, US until its sale to Procter & Gamble in 1997. It is a subsidiary of P&G's Always brand and is sold ...

commercial. In the commercial, Landecker echoes the voice of the on-camera actress, saying only the word "ballet", but made $10,000 in residuals from the commercial. Landecker recalls, "I never saw money like that in my life, and it didn't even matter what I looked like! I was hooked on oiceoverfrom then on!" Early in her career, Landecker primarily focused on stage work, including but not limited to

Rajiv Joseph Rajiv Joseph (born June 16, 1974) is an American playwright. He was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play '' Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo'', and he won an Obie Award for Best New American Play for his play ''Descr ...

's '' All This Intimacy'' in 2006, and did not move to Los Angeles until she was 38. Since then, she has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including a supporting role as Mrs. Samsky in the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

-nominated film ''

'', directed by the

Coen brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...

. That performance received praise from many film critics, including Roger Ebert, who wrote, "Amy Landecker, too, is perfect as Mrs. Samsky. She makes the character sexy in a strictly logical sense, but any prudent man would know on first sight to stay clear". In 2011, Landecker was a regular cast member of ''

The Paul Reiser Show ''The Paul Reiser Show'' is an American sitcom television series, centered around actor Paul Reiser (as himself), that was originally aired on NBC. In May 2010, NBC announced that it had approved the series for the 2010–11 television season, ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, playing

Paul Reiser Paul Reiser (; born March 30, 1956) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He played the roles of Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom ''My Two Dads'', Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom ''Mad About You'', Modell in the 1982 film ''Diner (1982 f ...

's wife, Claire. On television, she has guest starred on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'', ''

NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

'', ''

Curb Your Enthusiasm ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', also known colloquially simply as ''Curb'', is an American television comedy of manners created by Larry David that premiered on HBO with an hour-long special in October 17, 1999, followed by 12 seasons broadcast from Oc ...

'' (where her character meets and starts to date

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He is known for his dry wit, portrayals of awkward social situations, and brutally honest takes on everyday life. He has received two Prim ...

), ''

Revenge Revenge is defined as committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Vengeful forms of justice, such as primitive justice or retributive justice, are often differentiated from more fo ...

'', and many more series. She has also appeared in a number of

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

theatrical productions, including '' Bug''. In 2013, Landecker co-starred in the films ''

'', ''

Clear History ''Clear History'' is a 2013 American comedy television film directed by Greg Mottola, written by Larry David, Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer, and starring David, Kate Hudson, Danny McBride, Philip Baker Hall, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, ...

'', and ''

Enough Said ''Enough Said'' is a 2013 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. The film stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette and Ben Falcone. Louis-Dreyfus plays Eva, a divorced ...

''. In 2014, she was cast alongside

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

and

Judith Light Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''A Doll's House''. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap oper ...

in the

Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

comedy-drama series, '' Transparent''. She co-starred in the

Michael Bay Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...

-produced time travel thriller ''

'', which was released in January 2015.

Personal life

Landecker divorced Jackson Lynch, with whom she has a daughter, in 2011. She began dating actor

Bradley Whitford Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in the NBC television political drama ''The West Wing'' (1999–2006), for which he ...

, whom she met on the set of '' Transparent,'' in 2015. They announced their engagement in March 2018 and married on July 17, 2019.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Landecker, Amy 1969 births 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Chicago American film actresses American people of English descent American people of German-Jewish descent American stage actresses American television actresses Living people University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni