Lin Shaye

Lin Shaye Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: October 12, 1943

Age: 80 years old

Birth Place: Detroit, Michigan

Lin Shaye made her feature debut in Jack Nicholson's "Goin' South" (1978) soon after arriving in Los Angeles. A favorite of Walter Hill, having worked in four of his films (as of 1999), she also acted in eight pictures produced by her older brother Robert Shaye before the Farrelly brothers rescued her from anonymity, giving her the first of her memorably unpleasant characters, an irate, upper-class dog owner in "Dumb and Dumber" (1994). As she told Stephen Schaefer in the BOSTON HERALD (August 11, 1999), "I come out to the set and Pete [Farrelly] says--and remember, this is their first movie too--'She screams when they open the door.' I said, 'What if instead of screaming, I had them do my hair like a poodle? And since people are like their dogs, if she goes'--and I did a little poodle cry."

The Farrellys, recognizing her as a kindred spirit, have cast her in every one of their pictures (to date), but Shaye was at her scene-stealing best in "There's Something About Mary" (1998) as Magda, the grotesquely sun-burned Miami matron (whose dog Matt Dillon accidentally electrocutes). When the pooch started licking her face in one scene, she seized the moment and began enthusiastically French-kissing the terrier, prompting Cameron Diaz to tell PEOPLE (September 14, 1998), "It was one of the funniest and most disgusting and disturbing things I've seen."

She entered a different kind of dementia as the God-fearing, KISS-hating mom in Adam Rifkin's "Detroit Rock City" (1999) and returned to the low-brow land of Farrelly in "Me, Myself and Irene" (2000). With her profile higher than ever, Shaye has made known her desire for some normal roles while also hoping that the Farrellys never do a movie without her.

Credits

Insidious: The Red DoorStream

Actor
Elise Rainier
Movie
2023
39%

Frank and Penelope

Actor
Ophelia
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2022

The Gnashing

Voice
Julia
Movie
2022

We Are Gathered Here Today

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Jean Cole
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2022

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story

Self
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2022

Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman

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2021

The GrudgeStream

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20%

Anderson Falls

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Angela Anderson
Movie
2020

Dreamkatcher

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Ruth
Movie
2020

Dreamkatcher

Executive Producer
Movie
2020

The Voices

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The Vagabond
Movie
2020

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters

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Mrs. Wylder
Movie
2020

The Call

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Edith Cranston
Movie
2020

Room for Rent

Actor
Joyce
Movie
2019

Get Gone

Actor
Mama
Movie
2019

Insidious: The Last Key: Extras

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Show
2018

Insidious: The Last KeyStream

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Elise Rainier
Movie
2018
33%

Los Angeles Overnight

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2018

The Final Wish

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Kate Hammond
Movie
2018

Gothic Harvest

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Griselda
Movie
2018

Mountain Top

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2017

The Black Room

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Miss Black
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2017

All About the Money

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Mrs. Womack
Movie
2017

Grow House

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Mrs. Gilliam
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2017

American GothicStream

Guest Star
Series
2016
58%

Texas Heart

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Mrs. Smith
Movie
2016

Abattoir

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Allie
Movie
2016

Jack Goes Home

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Teresa
Movie
2016

Buster's Mal Heart

Actor
Pauline
Movie
2016

Director's Cut

Actor
Captain Wheeler
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2016

The Midnight Man

Actor
Anna
Movie
2016

Insidious: Chapter 3 with Bonus Q & A

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Elise Rainier
Show
2015

Insidious: Chapter 3Stream

Actor
Elise Rainier
Movie
2015
57%

Tales of Halloween

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Movie
2015

Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves

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Movie
2015

Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha

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The Grand Lady
Movie
2015

Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight

Actor
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2014

OuijaStream

Actor
Paulina Morris
Movie
2014
5%

The Signal

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Mirabelle
Movie
2014

Lost Time

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Mysterious Woman
Movie
2014

Grace: The Possession

Actor
Movie
2014

All American Christmas Carol

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Movie
2013

Noobz

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Movie
2013

Insidious: Chapter 2Stream

Actor
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Movie
2013
39%

Big Ass Spider!

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2013

Matchmaker Santa

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Debbie
Movie
2012

3 Days of Normal

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Movie
2012

FDR: American Badass!

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Eleanor Roosevelt
Movie
2012

Crazy Kind of Love

Actor
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2012

I Was a Teenage Werebear

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2011

Take Me Home

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2011

Losing Control

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2011

Jackie Goldberg Private Dick

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Violet
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2011

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy

Actor
Dody Henderson
Movie
2011

Chillerama

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2011

Sedona

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Claire
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2011

Black Velvet

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Pool Lady
Movie
2011

Rosewood Lane

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2011

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams

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2010

Small Town Saturday NightStream

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Phyllis Ryan
Movie
2010

Next Stop Murder

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Detective Reeson
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2010

Farewell Mr. Kringle

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Zelda
Movie
2010

InsidiousStream

Actor
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Movie
2010
67%

Killer by Nature

Actor
Leona
Movie
2010

The Accidental Death of Joey by Sue

Actor
Mrs. Rawlings
Movie
2010

Black Limousine

Actor
Mrs. Harris
Movie
2010

American Cowslip

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Lou Anne
Movie
2009

The Penthouse

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Frances Roc
Movie
2009

Stuntmen

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Bumble Jackson
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2009

Wolf MoonStream

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Sunny
Movie
2009

In the Gutter

Self
Show
2008

Chronic Town

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Nurse
Movie
2008

Dirty Sexy MoneyStream

Guest Star
Leslie Donovan
Series
2007
68%

Private PracticeStream

Guest Star
Series
2007

Kush

Actor
Susan
Movie
2007

Snakes on a PlaneStream

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Grace
Movie
2006
69%

Surf School

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Larry's Mom
Movie
2006

Driftwood

Actor
Nancy Forrester
Movie
2006

Unbeatable Harold

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Jeannie
Movie
2006

Down the P.C.H.

Actor
Wendy O'Hara
Movie
2006

My Name Is EarlStream

Guest Star
Paul's Mom
Series
2005
82%

Bachelor Party Vegas

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Cassandra
Movie
2005

2001 Maniacs

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Granny Boone
Movie
2005

Hoboken Hollow

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Mrs. Brodrick
Movie
2005

Hate Crime

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Kathleen Slansky
Movie
2005

Sledge: The Untold Story

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2005

The Almost Guys

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2004

A Cinderella StoryStream

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Mrs. Wells
Movie
2004
11%

The Hillside Strangler

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Jenny Buono
Movie
2004

Drop Dead Sexy

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Ma Muzzy
Movie
2004

Who's Your Daddy?

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Ms. Harding
Movie
2003

Boat Trip

Actor
Sonja
Movie
2003
7%

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

Actor
Margie
Movie
2003

Dead EndStream

Actor
Laura Harrington
Movie
2003
75%

Man of the Year

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Flora
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2002

Contagion

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Laura Crowley
Movie
2001

Me, Myself & IreneStream

Actor
Mrs. Caleron (scenes deleted)
Movie
2000
48%

Wish You Were Dead

Actor
Jinny Macintosh
Movie
2000

Detroit Rock CityStream

Actor
Mrs. Bruce
Movie
1999
50%

BeckerStream

Guest Star
Series
1998

There's Something About MaryStream

Actor
Magda
Movie
1998
84%

Breakfast With Einstein

Actor
Movie
1998

KingpinStream

Actor
Roy's Landlady
Movie
1996
49%

Sketch Artist II: Hands That See

Actor
Bonnie
Movie
1995

FrasierStream

Guest Star
Anne
Series
1993
95%

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

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Witness
Movie
1993

Torch Song

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Teamster
Movie
1993

Amityville: A New Generation

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Nurse Turner
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1993

Roadside Prophets

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1992

CrittersStream

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50%

The Twilight Zone

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Series
1985

Who's the Boss?Stream

Guest Star
Series
1984

Highway to HeavenStream

Guest Star
Lila Barnes
Series
1984

The Long RidersStream

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Movie
1980
81%

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal

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Freida
Movie
1979

Eight Is EnoughStream

Guest Star
Series
1977