At 45, Melanie Lynskey has been working steadily and delivering standout performances throughout her three decades in the business. But no one can deny she is having a moment, coming off two back-to-back TV projects that had viewers talking.
In addition to her role in Hulu’s true-crime drama “Candy,” in which she played a Betty Gore, an unfulfilled suburban housewife who is killed by her husband’s mistress, Lynskey is part of the sprawling ensemble of Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” playing the adult version of Shauna Sheridan, a woman silently tormented by her trauma in adulthood. Shifting between 1996 and the present, “Yellowjackets” follows members of New Jersey’s state champion girls’ high school soccer team as they struggle to survive in a remote Canadian wilderness after their plane crashes en route to a championship game in Seattle.
Her performance as Shauna just landed Lynskey her first Emmy nomination, for lead actress in a drama series. After the announcement, the L.A. Times spoke with Lynskey about her remarkable year.
