Janet A. Hoag (born September 19, 1948) is an American film and television actress. Her first major feature film role was in

Brian Yuzna Brian Yuzna is an American film producer, director, and writer. He is best known for his work in the science fiction and horror film genres. Yuzna began his career as a producer for several films by director Stuart Gordon, such as ''Re-Animator ...

's slasher film ''

The Dentist ''The Dentist'' is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and Charles Finch. It stars Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman, Earl Boen and Ken Foree. It follows a successful but mentally unstabl ...

'' (1996). She later had minor supporting roles in the films '' Christmas with the Kranks'' (2004), ''Wild'' (2014) and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

's ''

The Fabelmans ''The Fabelmans'' is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner. Loosely based on Spielberg's early life and beginnings as a filmmaker, the semi-autobiog ...

'' (2022). Hoag has appeared as a guest star in numerous television series, including recurring roles on ''

8 Simple Rules ''8 Simple Rules'' (originally ''8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter'') is an American television sitcom originally starring John Ritter and Katey Sagal as middle-class parents Paul and Cate Hennessy, raising their three children. ...

'' (2004), ''

Scream Queens A scream queen (a wordplay on ''screen queen'') is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. Scream king is the equivalent for men. Notable scream queen examples include ...

'' (2015), and '' Big Shot'' (2021).

Early life

Hoag was born September 19, 1948, in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. She graduated from Holy Child Academy in Portland and later attended

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

, graduating with a degree in business. She later worked in managerial positions for the Portland-based department store Meier and Frank before taking a sales management position in Southern California. Hoag was inspired to act after attending theater productions in Los Angeles. She abandoned her sales career and enrolled at the

Lee Strasberg Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by the actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Str ...

to study acting.

Career

Since the beginning of the 1990s, Hoag has appeared in several

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, including ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'', '' Step by Step'', '' Married... with Children'', ''

Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime-time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex in West Hollywood, ...

'', ''

Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news presenter, news anch ...

'', '' Providence'', ''

Judging Amy ''Judging Amy'' is an American legal drama television series that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS. This television series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly. Its main character (Brenneman) is a judge who serves ...

'', ''

The Norm Show ''The Norm Show'' is an American television sitcom that ran on ABC from March 24, 1999, to April 6, 2001. Starting in September 1999, the show's title was shortened to ''Norm''. The series starred Norm Macdonald, who created the series with B ...

'', ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. The concept is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film, also written by Whedon, a ...

'', ''

'', '' Sunset Beach'', ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'', ''

Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, to Decem ...

'', ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'', '' Coop & Cami Ask the World'' and others, although always playing minor characters. She guest starred on ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' in the episode "I Kissed a Girl", and in ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady for CBS. It aired from September 24, 2007, to May 16, 2019, running for 12 seasons and 279 episodes. The show originally centered on five charact ...

'' in the

season 6 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

episode "The Re-Entry Minimization". Hoag had a recurring character as Agatha Bean on the first season of ''

''. She has also appeared in some feature films, including ''

'' (1996), '' Progeny'' (1998), ''

Raising Flagg ''Raising Flagg'' is a 2006 film directed by Neal Miller and co-written by Miller, Nancy Miller and Dorothy Velasco. It was shot entirely on location in Portland, Oregon, Portland and St. Helens, Oregon. Plot Flagg Purdy is a Handyperson, hand ...

'', and ''

Wild Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to: Common meanings * Wilderness, a wild natural environment * Wildlife, an undomesticated organism * Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed Art, media and entertainment Film and television * ''Wild ...

'' (2014). Subsequent film roles include in

Karyn Kusama Karyn Kiyoko Kusama (born March 21, 1968) is an American filmmaker. She made her feature directorial debut with the sports drama film ''Girlfight'' (2000), for which she won Best Director and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival an ...

's thriller ''

Destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

'' (2018). In 2022, she had a minor supporting role in

's ''

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Jan Hoag Biography of films
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoag, Jan 1948 births American film actresses American television actresses Living people Actresses from Portland, Oregon Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni Oregon State University alumni 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses