Mary Lynn Rajskub life and biography

Mary Lynn Rajskub is an American actress and comedian. She stars as Chloe O'Brian on the Fox action-thriller 24.

Rajskub was born in Trenton, Michigan and raised in Dearborn, Michigan. Her father is a pipefitter of Czech descent and her mother worked as a pharmacist's assistant. Rajskub played the clarinet in the school band, and played Frenchie in the musical Grease. Rajskub speaks English, Portuguese, French and Russian. One of her childhood inspirations was Moonlighting with Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd. Her first part was as an Oompa-Loompa in a community theater production of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and her first starring role was Raggedy Ann. Rajskub moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a waitress in a Hard Rock Cafe and as a ticket-taker at the Beverly Center movie theater before becoming an actress.

As a skilled guitar player, Rajskub has been part of the comic duo called 'Girls Guitar Club' and appeared on the NBC's 'Late Friday' TV show. In the 2000s she has ventured into more dramatic roles, most notably her role as analyst Chloe O'Brian opposite Kiefer Sutherland on the popular TV series "24" (2001). She joined the show in 2003 at the beginning of the show's third season, then returned in the show's fourth season as a recurring cast member. Her character has been a hit with viewers and critics. Rajskub became a main cast member in the show's fifth season, then replaced Kim Raver as a female lead, with top billing second only to Kiefer Sutherland in the season of 2006 - 2007, until her character was arrested and skipped a few episodes in 2007.

While she has been mainly a television star, Rajskub also played bit parts on the big screen in Magnolia (1999), Man on the Moon (1999), Road Trip (2000), among her other works. She offered mesmerizing performances in Mysterious Skin (2004), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), and in Punch-Drunk Love (2002), then played a few more visible roles such as Janet Stone in Firewall (2006), opposite Harrison Ford, and as Pam in Little Miss Sunshine (2006). In 2006 Harrison Ford presented Rajskub with the Female Breakthrough Award for her "high concept comedic stage productions, as well as her TV and film acting skills." She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Awards two times, in 2005, and in 2007.

Besides her work in film and on television, Mary Lynn Rajskub has been performing locally in Hollywood with her Girls Guitar Club show. Outside of her acting profession she is fond of art and is known as a regular visitor of LA's best museums, she also has been writing, painting and exhibiting her works at art shows and art auctions.

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