Early life

Jane Adams was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Janice, an administrative assistant, and William Adams, an engineer. She has a younger brother, Jonathan, and was raised in Wheaton, Illinois, and Bellevue, Washington. Adams attended the University of Washington, where she studied political science, and the Cornish College of the Arts, where she took theater. She attended the Juilliard School's Drama Division (1985 - 1989, Group 18) where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1989.

Career

Adams performed theatre at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She turned down the chance to work in Sister Act with Whoopi Goldberg for the opportunity to work with Arthur Miller onstage.

She worked with Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in Father of the Bride Part II. She went back to the stage and won the 1995 Tony Award for best performance by a featured actress in a play for the Broadway revival of An Inspector Calls. She also won the Outer Critics Circle Award for best featured actress in a play in the Broadway production of Paul Rudnick's I Hate Hamlet.

In 1998, she starred in Happiness with Philip Seymour Hoffman, playing the role of Joy, a sensitive single woman who is struggling with life. She and the cast won many ensemble awards. The next year, Adams got a recurring role on the hit comedy series Frasier from 1999 to 2000. She played Dr. Mel Karnofsky, who became Niles Crane's second wife. She also had a role in the film Mumford.

In 2001, she was in the independent film titled Songcatcher, with Janet McTeer. She and the cast won a Sundance Special Jury Prize.

In 2007, she appeared in The Sensation of Sight and The Brave One. In the latter film, she appeared opposite Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard, Mary Steenburgen and Naveen Andrews.

From 2009-2011, Adams co-starred in the HBO series Hung opposite Thomas Jane. She starred in and co-wrote the movie All the Light in the Sky.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Bombs Away	Greeting Girl
1990	Vital Signs	Suzanne Maloney
1990	Rising Son	Meg Bradley	Television film
1992	Light Sleeper	Randi Jost
1994	I Love Trouble	Evans
1994	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	Ruth Hale
1995	Father of the Bride Part II	Dr. Megan Eisenberg
1996	Kansas City	Nettie Bolt
1998	Music from Another Room	Irene
1998	Happiness	Joy Jordan	National Board of Review Award for Best Cast
1998	Day at the Beach	Marie
1998	You've Got Mail	Sydney Anne	Uncredited
1999	Fish in the Bathtub, AA Fish in the Bathtub	Ruthie
1999	Texas Funeral, AA Texas Funeral	Mary Joan
1999	Mumford	Dr. Phyllis Sheeler
2000	Songcatcher	Eleanor 'Elna' Penleric	Sundance Film Festival: Special Jury Prize for Ensemble Cast
2000	Wonder Boys	Oola
2001	Anniversary Party, TheThe Anniversary Party	Clair Forsyth
2002	Orange County	Mona
2004	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	Carrie
2004	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	White Faced Woman
2005	Stone Cold	Brianna Lincoln	Television film
2006	Last Holiday	Rochelle
2006	Little Children	Sheila
2006	Sensation of Sight, TheThe Sensation of Sight	Alice
2007	Brave One, TheThe Brave One	Nicole
2008	Wackness, TheThe Wackness	Eleanor
2008	Lifelines	Nancy Bernstein
2009	Alexander the Last	Director
2009	Calvin Marshall	June Marshall
2011	The Lie	Dr. Bentel
2011	Silver Bullets	June
2011	Restless	Mabel
2012	All the Light in the Sky	Marie	Also writer Bridgestone Grand Jury Prize for Best Actress in Narrative Feature
2015	Digging for Fire	Woman on beach
2015	Poltergeist	Dr. Claire Powell

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Tales from the Darkside	Charlotte Rose Cantrell	Episode: "Deliver Us from Goodness"
1987, 1989	Family Ties	First Love / Marty Brodie	3 episodes
1989, 1995	ABC Afterschool Special	Elly Robinson / Michelle	2 episodes
1993	Lifestories: Families in Crisis	Beth	Episode: "Dead Drunk: The Kevin Tunell Story"
1996	Relativity	Karen Lukens	7 episodes
1997	Liberty!	Sara Scott	6 episodes
1999	Outer Limits, TheThe Outer Limits	Mona Bailey	Episode: "What Will The Neighbors Think"
1999-2000	Frasier	Dr. Mel Karnofsky	11 episodes
2000	Citizen Baines	Reeva Eidenberg	9 episodes
2000	From Where I Sit	Ruth	Pilot
2001	Night Visions	Amanda	Episode: "The Doghouse"
2003	Carnivàle	Mother of Dead Baby	Uncredited Episode: "Milfay"
2003	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Sylvia Campbell	Episode: "The Gift"
2007	House	Bonnie	Episode: "House Training"
2008	In Plain Sight	Ruth Ferguson / Ruth Fraser	Episode: "Don of the Dead"
2009-2011	Hung	Tanya Skagle	30 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy
2012	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Joanne Parsons	Episode: "Learning Curve"
2013	Axe Cop	Red Headed Women (voice)	Episode: "Super Axe"
2014	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Belinda Goff	Episode: "Rubbery Homicide"
2016	Easy

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	I Hate Hamlet	Deirdre McDavey	Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Debut Performance
1992	Crucible, TheThe Crucible	Mary Warren
1994	Inspector Calls, AnAn Inspector Calls	Sheila Birling	Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play
2003	Enchanted April	Rose Arnott	Replacement
2004	Match	Lisa
2006	Resurrection Blues	Emily Shapiro

[ Source: Wikipedia ]