Amy Landecker Biography

Amy Landecker originally began acting on stage, working with the Steppenwolf and Goodman theaters in Chicago. She eventually moved to New York City while working on a Bob Falls directed production of a Rebecca Gilman play at the Public Theatre. While in NYC, she worked at the Barrow St Theater and Second Stage, and acted in a number of Off-Broadway theatrical productions. She won an ensemble 'Obie Award' for her performance in Tracy Letts' play 'Bug', which also took her to perform on stage in Los Angeles at the age of 38. Her early film and television appearances were in small roles, such as a reporter in 'Light It Up' (1999) or a couple guest appearances on CBS' 'Early Edition' (1999-2000).

Early on, she also worked as a voiceover artist narrating various TV commercials and earned her 'Screen Actors Guild' card doing voiceover for a Tampax commercial. In the commercial, she only echoes the voice of the on-camera actress, saying the word "ballet", but made over $10,000 in residuals payments, which encouraged her to do more voiceover work. She also often did voice-doubling for actress Julia Roberts in many of Roberts' films and trailers whenever Automated Dialog Replacement was required. However, she began to work regularly in films and on television shows after moving to LA, and got a breakthrough after being cast in the supporting role of Mrs. Samsky in the 2009 film 'A Serious Man', her performance in which earned her praise from critics.

Soon after settling in Los Angles, Amy Landecker appeared in guest roles on television series such as 'Law & Order', 'Mad Men', 'Medium', and 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'. In 2011, she became a regular cast member on NBC's 'The Paul Reiser Show', playing Reiser's wife Claire. The same year, she also had guest roles in a bunch of shows including 'NCIS', 'House', 'The Protector', 'Happily Divorced', 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', and 'Prime Suspect'. She had memorable guest appearances in four episodes of 'Louie' between 2010 and 2014, and had a recurring role in 'Revenge' in 2011-14. She had roles in series such as 'House of Lies', 'Private Practice' and 'Retired at 35' in 2012.

In 2013, she acted in the films 'All Is Bright' and 'Enough Said', the telefilm 'Clear History', and appeared on the series 'Vegas'. In 2014, she began appearing in the main role of Sarah Pfefferman in the Amazon Studios web-drama series 'Transparent', which earned her critical acclaim. Interestingly, she initially didn't even audition for 'Transparent' at all because its breakdown said that nudity and sexual activity would be required, which she was not interested in. However, series creator Jill Soloway already had her in mind for the role, and asked her out to lunch to talk about it, following which she accepted the role, which she describes as "the best role of my life". Her recent film credits include 'Project Almanac', 'Doctor Strange', and 'Beatriz at Dinner'. She also did voice acting for Barbara Lake in the animated series 'Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia' in 2016-18.

Amy Lauren Landecker was born on September 30, 1969 in Chicago, Illinois, United States to Judith and John Records Landecker. Her father is a Chicago radio personality and Top40/Oldies disc jockey. Records is her paternal grandmother's family name. Lawyer Joseph N. Welch was one of her maternal great-grandfathers. She studied at the Francis W. Parker School and then attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Amy Landecker's first marriage was to journalist Jackson Michael Lynch, with whom she has a daughter. They divorced in 2011, following which she briefly dated Larry David, whom she met on the set of the series 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'. She began dating her 'Transparent' co-star Bradley Whitford in early 2015. Whitford announced their engagement on the Marc Maron podcast on April 23, 2018, and they finally got married on July 17, 2019. She has three step-children from Whitford's previous marriage to actress Jane Kaczmarek.