Early life

Lynskey was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand, to a mother who is a former nurse and a father who is an orthopedic surgeon. She is the oldest of five children, and has three brothers and one sister. Her surname is Irish.

She studied theatre and English literature at Victoria University of Wellington.

Career

In 1994, Lynskey made her feature film debut at age 16, starring as Pauline Parker in the cult film Heavenly Creatures, which was inspired by the Parker-Hulme murder case. The film was directed by Peter Jackson and co-starred Kate Winslet. Lynskey won Best Actress at the 1995 New Zealand Film and TV Awards for her performance.

In 1998, Lynskey appeared in the Drew Barrymore film Ever After, a re-imagining of the Cinderella story. This was followed by parts in Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard, Shooters and Coyote Ugly, as well as the independent feature Snakeskin. Lynskey received her second nomination for Best Actress at the New Zealand Film and TV Awards for her performance in Snakeskin.

In 2002, Lynskey appeared in the Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama, co-starred with Katie Holmes in Abandon and made her television debut in Rose Red, a miniseries penned by Stephen King.

In 2003, Lynskey played a writer for The New Republic in Shattered Glass, a drama based on the exploits of former journalist Stephen Glass. Later that year, she landed the part of Rose - Charlie Harper's deranged but charming neighbour on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Despite leaving the main cast in 2005 to concentrate on film work, Lynskey continued to make guest appearances on the show, with a storyline where her character set her sights on Walden (Ashton Kutcher).

In 2006, she played the wife of Rene Gagnon in Clint Eastwood's World War II-set Flags of Our Fathers, and returned to New Zealand in late 2007 to a starring role in Show of Hands, which premiered at the 2008 Montreal Film Festival and earned Lynskey a nomination for Best Actress at the Qantas Television Awards.

In 2009, Lynskey garnered praise for her performance in Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes, playing a seemingly happy adoptive parent who hides a secret heartache. She also played the female lead - opposite Matt Damon - in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!, based on the true story of FBI whistleblower Mark Whitacre. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Soderbergh told the Los Angeles Times, "She is so watchable, you never quite know what you're going to get, you just know it's going to be good. Her rhythms are really unusual, like her cadence and her reaction times to things, and the way she sort of lays out a sentence. It's just really, really interesting." Lynskey counts her time working on The Informant! as one of her favorite experiences.

Also in 2009, Lynskey co-starred in Leaves of Grass with Edward Norton, and Jason Reitman's Academy Award-nominated Up in the Air, in which she played the younger sister of George Clooney's character. In October 2009, Lynskey was presented with a Spotlight Award by the Hollywood Film Festival.

In 2011, she co-starred in Win Win with Paul Giamatti. The following year, Lynskey appeared in Focus Features' comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World with Steve Carell, and had a key role in the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky's novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower, playing the mentally disturbed aunt of main character Charlie (Logan Lerman). The independent drama Hello I Must Be Going, in which she portrayed Amy, a dispirited 30-something who finds herself having to move back in with her parents, was particularly well received by critics. The performance earned her a nomination for Breakthrough Actor at the 2012 Gotham Awards. Hello I Must Be Going was selected to open the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

In 2014, Lynskey had starring roles in Joe Swanberg's Happy Christmas, Angus MacLachlan's Goodbye to All That and Simon Helberg's We'll Never Have Paris.

In 2015, Lynskey co-stars as Michelle Pierson on the HBO comedy series Togetherness, a show created by Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, and Steve Zissis.

Acting style

Lynskey describes herself as a character actress.

Personal life

In 2001, Lynskey met American actor Jimmi Simpson during the filming of Rose Red, in which they both appeared. They became engaged in 2005 and married on 14 April 2007, in a chapel on Lake Hayes, near Queenstown, New Zealand. Lynskey filed for divorce from Simpson on 25 September 2012, citing irreconcilable differences. The divorce was finalized on 23 May 2014.

She is best friends with But I'm a Cheerleader co-star Clea DuVall and resides in Los Angeles. She has misophonia.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Heavenly Creatures	Pauline Parker
1996	Frighteners, TheThe Frighteners	Deputy
1998	Ever After	Jacqueline de Ghent
1999	Foreign Correspondents	Melody
1999	Detroit Rock City	Beth Bumstein
1999	But I'm a Cheerleader	Hilary
1999	Cherry Orchard, TheThe Cherry Orchard	Dunyasha
1999	Measureless to Man		Short film
2000	Coyote Ugly	Gloria
2001	Snakeskin	Alice
2002	Shooters	Marie
2002	Abandon	Mousy Julie
2002	Sweet Home Alabama	Lurlynn
2003	Claustrophobia	Lauren
2003	Shattered Glass	Amy Brand
2004	Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder, TheThe Nearly Unadventurous Life of Zoe Cadwaulder	Zoe Cadwaulder	Short film
2005	Say Uncle	Susan
2006	Park	Sheryl
2006	Flags of Our Fathers	Pauline Harnois
2007	Itty Bitty Titty Committee	Plastic Surgery Lady	Uncredited
2008	Show of Hands	Jess
2008	Quiet Little Marriage, AA Quiet Little Marriage	Monique
2009	Away We Go	Munch Garnett
2009	Up in the Air	Julie Bingham
2009	Informant!, TheThe Informant!	Ginger Whitacre
2009	Leaves of Grass	Colleen
2010	Helena from the Wedding	Alice
2011	Win Win	Cindy
2011	Touchback	Macy
2012	Hello I Must Be Going	Amy
2012	Eye of the Hurricane	Amelia Kyte
2012	Seeking a Friend for the End of the World	Karen Amalfi
2012	Perks of Being a Wallflower, TheThe Perks of Being a Wallflower	Aunt Helen
2012	Putzel	Sally
2013	Big Ask, TheThe Big Ask	Hannah
2014	Happy Christmas	Kelly
2014	They Came Together	Brenda
2014	Chu and Blossom	Miss Shoemaker
2014	We'll Never Have Paris	Devon
2014	Goodbye to All That	Annie
2015	Digging for Fire	Squiggy
2016	The Intervention	Annie
2016	Rainbow Time	Lindsay
2016	Folk Hero & Funny Guy	Becky
2016	The Great & The Small	Margaret	Post-production
2016	Little Boxes	Gina	Post-production
2016	Life at These Speeds	Coach Rowan	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Rose Red	Rachel Wheaton	3 episodes
2003	Shield, TheThe Shield	Marcy	2 episodes
2003-2015	Two and a Half Men	Rose	63 episodes
2007	Drive	Wendy Partrakas	6 episodes
2008	Comanche Moon	Pearl Coleman	3 episodes
2008	Psych	Emily Bloom	Episode: "Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion"
2008	L Word, TheThe 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	Life & Times of Tim, TheThe Life & Times of Tim	Becky (voice)	6 episodes
2012	House	Natalie Travers	Episode: "Better Half"
2014	Over the Garden Wall	Beatrice (voice)	8 episodes
2014-2016	Jake and the Never Land Pirates	Pearl (voice)	3 episodes
2015-2016	Togetherness	Michelle Pierson	16 episodes
2015	Key & Peele	Fiance	Episode: "The Job Interview"
2016	Animals.	Linda (voice)	Episode: "Squirrels"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Work	Result
1995	New Zealand Film and TV Awards	Best Actress	Heavenly Creatures	Won
2001	Nokia New Zealand Film Awards	Best Actress	Snakeskin	Nominated
2009	Denver Film Critics Society	Best Acting Ensemble	Up in the Air	Nominated
2009	Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association	Best Ensemble	Up in the Air	Nominated
2009	New Zealand Film and TV Awards	Best Lead Actress in a Feature Film	Show of Hands	Nominated
2009	Hollywood Film Awards	Spotlight Award		Won
2011	CinEuphoria Awards	Best Supporting Actress - International	Away We Go	Won
2012	Gotham Awards	Breakthrough Award	Hello I Must Be Going	Nominated
2012	San Diego Film Critics Society	Best Ensemble Performance	The Perks of Being a Wallflower	Won
2014	RiverRun International Film Festival	Emerging Master		Won
2015	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series	Togetherness	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]