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Molly Claire Shannon (born September 16, 1964 in Shaker Heights, Ohio) is an Emmy nominated actress and writer.

Contents 1 Career 2 Television and film 3 Personal life 4 Quotes 5 Fictional portrayal 6 External link

Before Saturday Night Live, she had a struggling career in films. She landed a supporting role as Meg in the present day sequences in the horror film remake of The Phantom of the Opera with Robert Englund and Jill Schoelen. In 1993, she appeared in a supporting role in an episode of In Living Color ("Police Brutality Training").

Shannon's major break came in February 1995 when she was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live to replace Janeane Garofalo after Garofalo left mid-season. Shannon was one of the few castmembers to be kept when Lorne Michaels overhauled his cast for season 21 after season 20 proved to be a critical and ratings disappointment (along with David Spade, Norm MacDonald, Mark McKinney, and Tim Meadows). She played various recurring characters on the show, including 50-year old dancer Sally O'Mally (who constantly proclaimed her age), quirky joyologist Helen Madden, and NPR radio co-host of Delicious Dish (opposite Ana Gasteyer). She was especially known for playing the character of neurotic, yet melodramatic Catholic school girl Mary Katherine Gallagher. She also did impressions of Monica Lewinsky (alongside frequent host John Goodman's Linda Tripp), Elizabeth Taylor, Courtney Love, Ann Miller (from the recurring sketch "Leg Up"), and Björk.

On a noteworthy Seinfeld episode called The Summer of George, she played Sam, the co-worker who drove Elaine Benes crazy because she didn't swing her arms while walking. She also appeared in Sheryl Crow's video for the song "A Change (Will Do You Good)" and played the recurring role of loony neighbor Val Bassett, Grace Adler's nemesis, on Will & Grace, appearing in five episodes over the sitcom's eight-season run.

Shannon left SNL in 2001 (surpassing Victoria Jackson as the show's longest-serving female cast member). In 1998, she played the role of Emily Sanderson in A Night at the Roxbury, featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan who were also cast members of SNL at the time. In 1999, she reprised her Mary Katherine Gallagher character for the movie Superstar, and had a supporting role in Never Been Kissed. In 2004, she starred in a Fox network television series Cracking Up with actor Jason Schwartzman. It lasted only nine episodes before cancellation. She guest starred in an episode of Scrubs that same year.

Shannon married artist Fritz Chesnut on May 29, 2004. They have two children: daughter Stella (b. 2003) and son Nolan (b. 2005).

• "I used to get really painful crushes on really unavailable guys."

• "I feel so great about it. I did six full years,and loved it. I felt like it was time. Not everything is always going to be a perfect decision. Sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss, and that is the way it goes." (about leaving Saturday Night Live to pursue a film career).

• "My dad was a real fun guy despite his personal problems, he was a great father. It wasn't easy, but he did a good job of raising my sister Mary and me all by himself."

• It is stated in Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm that " ... Molly Shannon fucked two guys to death". The first was her fiance business manager during her first year at SNL ('heart explosion'); and the second being a "sound guy" on SNL. The story was recounted by Patrick O'Hara a fictional HBO media relations representative.

• Molly Shannon at the Internet Movie Database
• The Career Cookbook Molly Shannon Profile