Movies

Molly Helen Shannon (born September 16, 1964) is an American actress and comedian. Shannon was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2001. In 2017, she won the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Other People.

She has appeared in supporting roles in a number of films, such as Happiness (1998), A Night at the Roxbury (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Wet Hot American Summer (2001), reprising her character in the miniseries Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015), and its follow-up Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017), Osmosis Jones (2001), My Boss's Daughter (2003), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015). Her voice can also be heard in the animated films Igor (2008) and the Hotel Transylvania film series (2012–2022). In television, Shannon is known for her roles in Enlightened (2013), Divorce (2016–2019), The White Lotus (2021) and I Love That for You (2022).

Early life
Shannon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 16, 1964, to an Irish-American Catholic family, and grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her mother, Mary Margaret "Peg" (née Keating), was a teacher, and her father, James Francis Shannon, was a sales manager. Her maternal grandparents were born in Ireland, with her grandfather being from Cloghmore, Achill, Mayo. When Shannon was four years old, her mother, younger sister, and cousin died in a car crash while her father was driving under the influence.

Shannon attended St. Dominic School in Shaker Heights for grade school, and Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio. She attended New York University, where she studied drama and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1987.