Biografie

Baranski has said the most enjoyable film shoots she has done were the "Mamma Mia" films because she could "research" her character over martinis with old friend Meryl Streep after each daily wrap.

Before succeeding on the sitcom Cybill (1995), she had already completed close to 20 years' success in New York theater, both on and off Broadway, garnering wins in all major acting areas (Tony Award, Obie Award, Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award), later winning an Emmy Award as well.

She won her first Tony Award in the Broadway play "The Real Thing", in which she played a woman having an affair with a character played by Jeremy Irons (who also won a Tony Award). Five years later, she appeared in the film Die Affäre der Sunny von B. (1990), in which she again played a woman having an affair with a character played by Irons, who this time won an Oscar for his performance.

She auditioned for the role of Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars: Episode IV - Eine neue Hoffnung (1977), which eventually went to Carrie Fisher.

Has won two Tony Awards as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play): in 1984 for Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" and in 1989 for "Rumors". In her acceptance speech for her second Tony Award for the Broadway play "Rumors", she announced that her win made her the 100th person to ever receive an award for working on or appearing in a Neil Simon production in film, television, or theater.

Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.

I wish I didn't have to live up to anything.

I went to one of the world's great music schools, Juilliard, to acting school and never had any voice training. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I began to go and see a singing teacher, and I discovered I had a voice, but I never felt very much confidence about singing in public and rarely went up for musical auditions.

I attribute the longevity of my career to the fact that I didn't have to carry that mantle [beauty]. I was never beautiful so I'm not unbeautiful. I may not have been a leading lady, but I had great clothes and funny lines. I think I had more flexibility.

[on her 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award] It baffles me a little. Maybe it keeps me young, but I still feel like I have so much left to do. I don't feel there's a period at the end of this sentence yet.