Melanie Lynskey filmography

Lynskey at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey made her film debut in 1994 when she played teenage murderess Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures, a crime drama directed by Peter Jackson. Following a hiatus,^[1] she resumed her career with a supporting role in the fairytale romance Ever After (1998), and spent the next few years appearing in a variety of big-budget and small-scale features, such as Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader (both 1999), Coyote Ugly (2000), Snakeskin (2001), Abandon (2002), and the commercially successful romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002).^[2]

Lynskey appeared as Rose, the conniving love interest of Charlie Harper, on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men between 2003 and 2015.^[3] During this time she played supporting parts in Shattered Glass (2003), Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Sam Mendes's Away We Go, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air, Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! (all 2009), Win Win (2011), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). Her starring role as a depressed divorcee in Hello I Must Be Going (2012) proved to be a turning point in Lynskey's career,^[4] with headline parts in dramedies such as Happy Christmas, Goodbye to All That (both 2014) and The Intervention (2016) coming next, establishing her as a prominent figure on the American independent film scene.^[5] For her portrayal of a disgruntled vigilante in the 2017 thriller I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, she was nominated for the Gotham Award for Best Actress.^[6]

Lynskey starred as a conflicted housewife on HBO's Togetherness from 2015 to 2016, earning praise and a Critics' Choice nomination.^[7] She then appeared as an ambitious defence lawyer in the Australian drama series Sunshine (2017), a troubled psychic on Hulu's Castle Rock (2018), a conservative activist in the FX miniseries Mrs. America (2020), and real-life murder victim Betty Gore in the Hulu miniseries Candy (2022). Her transition to mainstream success continued with her role as a put-upon wife in the 2021 film Don't Look Up, as well as her portrayal of Shauna, a secretive plane crash survivor, on the Showtime thriller series Yellowjackets (2021–present),^[8] for which she won the 2022 Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress and was nominated twice for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress (2022, 2023).^[9][10][11] She received a further Emmy nomination (Outstanding Guest Actress, 2023) for her role as a ruthless war criminal on the first season of HBO's The Last of Us.^[11]

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Heavenly Creatures	Pauline Parker
1996	The Frighteners	Deputy
1998	Ever After	Jacqueline
1999	Foreign Correspondents	Melody
	Detroit Rock City	Beth
	But I'm a Cheerleader	Hilary
	The Cherry Orchard	Dunyasha
	Measureless to Man	Unknown	Short film
2000	Coyote Ugly	Gloria
2001	Snakeskin	Alice
2002	Shooters	Marie
	Abandon	Mousy Julie	Credited as Melanie Jayne Lynskey
	Sweet Home Alabama	Lurlynn
2003	Claustrophobia	Lauren
	Shattered Glass	Amy Brand
2004	The Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder	Zoe Cadwaulder	Short film
2005	Say Uncle	Susan
2006	Park	Sheryl
	Flags of Our Fathers	Pauline Harnois
2007	Itty Bitty Titty Committee	Plastic Surgery Lady	Uncredited
2008	Show of Hands	Jess
	A Quiet Little Marriage	Monique
2009	Away We Go	Munch
	Up in the Air	Julie Bingham
	The Informant!	Ginger Whitacre
	Leaves of Grass	Colleen
2010	Helena from the Wedding	Alice
2011	Win Win	Cindy
	Touchback	Macy
2012	Hello I Must Be Going	Amy
	Eye of the Hurricane	Amelia Kyte
	Seeking a Friend for the End of the World	Karen
	The Perks of Being a Wallflower	Aunt Helen
	Putzel	Sally
2013	The Big Ask	Hannah
2014	Happy Christmas	Kelly
	They Came Together	Brenda
	Chu and Blossom	Miss Shoemaker
	We'll Never Have Paris	Devon
	Goodbye to All That	Annie Wall
2015	Digging for Fire	Squiggy
2016	The Intervention	Annie
	Rainbow Time	Lindsay
	The Great & the Small	Margaret
	Little Boxes	Gina McNulty-Burns
	Folk Hero & Funny Guy	Becky
2017	I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore	Ruth
	XX	Mary	Segment: "The Birthday Party"
	1 Mile to You	Coach Rowan
	And Then I Go	Janice
	The Changeover	Kate Chant
2018	Sadie	Rae
2021	Lady of the Manor	Hannah
	Don't Look Up	June Mindy
2024	Griffin in Summer	Helen
	Over the Garden Wall: 10th Anniversary Tribute	Beatrice (voice)	Short film
TBA	Pike River †	Anna Osborne

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Rose Red	Rachel Wheaton	Main cast; 3 episodes
2003	The Shield	Marcy	2 episodes
2003–2015	Two and a Half Men	Rose	Series regular (2003–2005), recurring thereafter; 63 episodes
2007	Drive	Wendy Patrakas	Main cast; 6 episodes
2008	Comanche Moon	Pearl Coleman	Main cast; 3 episodes
	Psych	Emily Bloom	Episode: "Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion"
	The L Word	Clea Mason	2 episodes
2009	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia	Kate	Episode: "The Gang Exploits the Mortgage Crisis"
2010	Memphis Beat	Annaliese Jones	Episode: "Polk Salad Annie"
2010–2012	The Life & Times of Tim	Becky (voice)	Recurring; 6 episodes
2012	House	Natalie Tavares	Episode: "Better Half"
2014	Over the Garden Wall	Beatrice (voice)	Main cast; 8 episodes
2014–2015	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Pearl (voice)	2 episodes
2015–2016	Togetherness	Michelle Pierson	Main role; 16 episodes
2015	Key & Peele	Fiancée	Episode: "The Job Interview"
2016–2018	Future-Worm!	Megan; Madeline Madison (voice)	Series regular; 13 episodes
2016	Animals	Linda (voice)	Episode: "Squirrels"
	Our Ex-Wife	Sara	Main cast; pilot
2017	American Dad!	Sharon (voice)	Episode: "A Whole Slotta Love"
	Girlboss	Gail	Recurring; 3 episodes
	Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later	Laura	2 episodes
	Sunshine	Zara Skelton	Main role; 4 episodes
2018	Summer Camp Island	Sun (voice)	Recurring; 3 episodes
	Castle Rock	Molly Strand	Main role; 10 episodes
2019	Easy	Beth	Episode: "Blank Pages"
2020	Mrs. America	Rosemary Thomson	Main cast; 9 episodes
2021	Young Sheldon	Professor Dora Ericson	2 episodes
	Mom	Shannon	Episode: "My Kinda People and the Big To-Do"
2021–present	Yellowjackets	Shauna	Main role; 19 episodes
2022	Candy	Betty Gore	Main role; 5 episodes
2023	The Last of Us	Kathleen Coghlan	2 episodes
	HouseBroken	Pinky; Memory Sheep (voice)	3 episodes
2024	The Tattooist of Auschwitz	Heather Morris	Main role; 6 episodes

Key

†	Denotes series that have not yet been released

Podcasts

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
2014–2016	The Thrilling Adventure Hour	Various	6 episodes
2016	The Worst Idea of All Time	Roxanne / Mom / Malcolm / Paddy Schwarz	1 episode

Music videos

Year	Song	Artist	Notes
2006	"Mousey"	Goodshirt	Directed by Jimmi Simpson
2015	"Waiting on Love"	Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers	Directed by Todd Hurvitz
	"Team Ball Player Thing"	#KiwisCureBatten	Directed by Taika Waititi and Jesse Griffin

References

1. Breznican, Anthony (22 September 2012). "Melanie Lynskey makes sexy splash in 'Hello I Must Be Going'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
2. "Sweet Home Alabama tops the weekend box office". Entertainment Weekly. 29 September 2002. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
3. "Melanie Lynskey Could Have Been Just The Wacky Sitcom Neighbor. She Chose Otherwise". Fast Company. 24 February 2017. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
4. James, Maris (4 September 2012). "The Playlist Profile: Melanie Lynskey Talks Hollywood, 'Hello I Must Be Going,' 'Heavenly Creatures' & More". The Playlist. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
5. Strauss, Bob (24 February 2017). "How Melanie Lynskey's risky instincts brought her to Netflix". Los Angeles Daily News. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
6. Cox, Gordon (19 October 2017). "'Get Out' Leads 2017 Gotham Awards Nominations". Variety. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
7. "2015 Critics' Choice TV Award Nominations Are Outstanding & More Than Make Up For Some Big Emmy Snubs". Bustle. 6 May 2015. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
8. Saner, Emine (24 February 2022). "'I was filled with self-loathing': Yellowjackets' Melanie Lynskey on insecurity, ambition and her idol Kate Winslet". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
9. Wynne, Kelly (13 March 2022). "Melanie Lynskey Thanks Husband Jason Ritter and Her 'Angel' Nanny in Critics Choice Speech". People. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
10. "Here are the 2022 Emmy nominees (full list)". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
11. "Emmys nominations 2023: See the full list of nominees". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 July 2023.