Carol Kane Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Carol Kane
Kane in 2018
Born	Carolyn Laurie Kane (1952-06-18) June 18, 1952 (age 73) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Actress comedian
Years active	1966–present

Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She is well-known for her many roles in movies and TV shows. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the movie Hester Street (1975).

Carol Kane also starred in popular films like Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Annie Hall (1977), and The Princess Bride (1987). On TV, she played Simka Gravas in Taxi in the early 1980s, winning two Emmy Awards. Later, she was Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked on Broadway. From 2015 to 2020, she played Lillian Kaushtupper in the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. More recently, she has appeared as Pelia in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Growing Up
Acting Career
Personal Life
Awards and Achievements
Images for kids
See also

Growing Up

Carol Kane was born on June 18, 1952, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her mother, Joy, was a jazz singer, teacher, dancer, and pianist. Her father, Michael Kane, was an architect. Carol's family is Jewish, and her grandparents came from Russia, Austria, and Poland.

Because of her father's job, Carol moved a lot when she was a child. She lived in Paris for a short time when she was eight years old and started learning French. She also lived in Haiti when she was ten. Her parents divorced when she was 12.

Carol went to a boarding school called Cherry Lawn School. She also studied acting at HB Studio and the Professional Children's School in New York City. By the age of 14, she was already a member of important acting groups like the Screen Actors Guild. Her first professional acting job was in a play called The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1966.

Acting Career

Early Roles and Big Recognition (1971–1979)

Carol Kane started her film career as a teenager. She had small parts in movies like Desperate Characters and Carnal Knowledge in 1971. In 1972, she got her first main role in the Canadian movie Wedding in White. She also worked with actor Jack Nicholson in the 1973 film The Last Detail.

Theatrical release poster for Hester Street (1975)

In 1975, Carol Kane starred in Hester Street. She played a Russian-Jewish immigrant trying to fit into New York in the late 1800s. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She says this is still her favorite role. That same year, she was also in the crime drama Dog Day Afternoon with Al Pacino.

After these big roles, Carol Kane found it hard to get new parts for a while. She returned to the screen in 1977 with Gene Wilder's comedy The World's Greatest Lover. This movie helped show her talent for comedy. She also appeared in Woody Allen's romantic comedy Annie Hall that year. Later, she was in the horror films The Mafu Cage (1978) and When a Stranger Calls (1979). She even had a small role in The Muppet Movie in 1979.

Kane and Gene Wilder in a publicity photo for The World's Greatest Lover, 1977

Taxi and Becoming a Comedy Star (1980–1990)

From 1980 to 1983, Carol Kane played Simka Dahblitz-Gravas on the TV show Taxi. Simka was the wife of Andy Kaufman's character, Latka. Carol believes she was chosen for the role because she could speak Yiddish in Hester Street, which helped her create Simka's unique accent.

Carol Kane and Andy Kaufman had a great connection on screen. She won two Emmy Awards for her work on Taxi. This role helped her become known for comedy, and she started getting more parts in sitcoms and funny movies.

In 1987, she appeared in The Princess Bride, a very popular fantasy movie. She played Valerie, the wife of Miracle Max. In 1988, she was in the Bill Murray movie Scrooged, where she played a modern version of the Ghost of Christmas Present. Critics praised her funny performance in this film.

Regular TV and Film Roles (1990–2004)

Carol Kane became a regular on the NBC series American Dreamer from 1990 to 1991. In 1993, she played Grandmama Addams in Addams Family Values, where she worked again with her Taxi co-star Christopher Lloyd. She also made guest appearances on popular shows like Seinfeld in 1994 and Ellen in 1996.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, she continued to appear in many films. These included The Pallbearer (1996), Office Killer (1997), and Jawbreaker (1999). In 1999, she even had a cameo as herself in Man on the Moon, a movie about Andy Kaufman.

Wicked and Expanding Her Work (2005–2014)

Carol Kane is also famous for playing Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked. She performed this role in different productions from 2005 to 2014, including on Broadway.

In 2009, she guest starred in the TV series Two and a Half Men. In 2010, she appeared in the ABC series Ugly Betty. She also performed in plays, including Love, Loss, and What I Wore off-Broadway and The Children's Hour in London. In 2012, she was on Broadway in a play called Harvey. She returned to Wicked on Broadway from 2013 to 2014, which included the show's 10th anniversary.

In 2014, she had a recurring role on the TV series Gotham as Gertrude Kapelput, the mother of the character Penguin.

Recent Roles and Lasting Impact (2015–Present)

In 2015, Carol Kane joined the cast of the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She played Lillian Kaushtupper, the main character's landlord. She loved working with the show's creator, Tina Fey. This role became one of her longest TV appearances, lasting four seasons. She also returned for an interactive special called Kimmy vs the Reverend.

In 2018, she was in the Western film The Sisters Brothers. In 2019, she appeared in the horror comedy The Dead Don't Die, working again with Bill Murray. She also reunited with her Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt co-star Fred Armisen in the HBO series Los Espookys.

In 2020, Carol Kane was part of the cast of the Amazon series Hunters, which also featured Al Pacino. She also participated in online reunions for Taxi and The Princess Bride to raise money for charity.

In 2022, it was announced that Carol Kane would join the cast of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds as Chief Engineer Pelia. She has been a recurring character on the show since 2023.

In 2024, Carol Kane starred in the comedy film Between the Temples. In this movie, she plays a woman who decides to have a bat mitzvah later in life. She won an award for Best Supporting Actress for this role.

Personal Life

Carol Kane was in a relationship with actor Woody Harrelson from 1986 to 1988. They are still friends today.

She has never been married or had children of her own. She has said that she didn't feel she would be calm enough to be the kind of mother she wanted to be. However, she is the godmother to actress Bianca Hunter and acts as a grandmother to Bianca's four children.

People often notice Carol Kane's unique, high, and breathy voice. She has often changed her voice for different roles. She has said that she wishes her voice was deeper.

Awards and Achievements

Carol Kane has received several awards and nominations for her acting:

In 1976, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Hester Street.
She won two Emmy Awards for her work on the TV series Taxi in 1982 and 1983.
In 2024, she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Between the Temples.