Early life

Shannon was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on September 16, 1964, to an Irish American Catholic family. Her mother, Mary Margaret "Peg" (née Keating), was a teacher, and her father, James Francis Shannon, was a sales manager. At age four, Shannon was involved in a car accident which killed her mother, younger sister, and cousin. Shannon attended St. Dominic School in Shaker Heights for grade school, and Hawken School in Gates Mills, Ohio. She attended New York University, where she studied drama and graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1987.

Career

Before Saturday Night Live, Shannon had a struggling career in movies, her most notable being a supporting role as Meg in the 1989 horror film remake of The Phantom of the Opera with Robert Englund. In 1991, she had a brief appearance in the second season of Twin Peaks, and in 1993, she appeared with minor roles in three episodes of In Living Color, the first in a fake TV commercials with Chris Rock (played by Shawn Wayans), the second in a sketch with Jim Carrey, playing LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon and third being a parody of Star Trek.

Shannon's major break came in February 1995, when she was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live to replace Janeane Garofalo after Garofalo left mid-season due to creative differences. Shannon was one of the few cast members to be kept (along with David Spade, Norm Macdonald, Mark McKinney and Tim Meadows) when Lorne Michaels overhauled his cast and writers for season 21 (1995-96).

She appeared in a 1997 episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Summer of George," where she played Sam, the co-worker who drove Elaine Benes crazy because she did not swing her arms while walking. She also appeared in Sheryl Crow's video for the song "A Change (Will Do You Good)" and played the recurring role of loony neighbor Val Bassett, Grace Adler's nemesis, on Will & Grace, appearing in five episodes over the sitcom's eight-season run. In 1998, she played the role of Emily Sanderson in the film A Night at the Roxbury, featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan who were also cast members of SNL at the time.

In 1999 Shannon starred in Superstar, a feature film based on her most famous SNL character, Mary Katherine Gallagher, the awkward Catholic school student who aspires to be a musical superstar.

Shannon left SNL in 2001, surpassing Victoria Jackson as the show's longest-serving female cast member (she has since been surpassed by Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph, and Amy Poehler). In 2003, she appeared in the romantic comedy My Boss's Daughter and the television remake of The Music Man.

In 2004 she starred in a short-lived Fox network television series Cracking Up with actor Jason Schwartzman. That same year, she guest starred in an episode of Scrubs and starred as Mrs. Baker in the film Good Boy!. In 2006, Shannon was featured in the Sofia Coppola directed movie Marie Antoinette as Aunt Victoire. The next year, Shannon guest starred on ABC's Pushing Daisies, and appeared in the film Evan Almighty. Shannon also made a rare move to drama, appearing in the critically acclaimed film Year of the Dog in 2007.

Shannon hosted Saturday Night Live on May 12, 2007, making her the second former female cast member to host (after Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the first one to have been a cast member for Lorne Michaels (Louis-Dreyfus was a cast member under Dick Ebersol).

In 2008, Shannon starred as Kath in the American version of the hit Australian sitcom Kath & Kim.

In early 2010, Shannon was cast in a recurring role on the Fox television series Glee as Brenda Castle, an astronomy and badminton teacher who has a rivalry with main character Sue Sylvester.

She returned to Saturday Night Live for a special Mother's Day episode on May 8, 2010, and also the October 2010 reunion special "Women of SNL".

Shannon replaced Katie Finneran in the role of Marge McDougall in the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises on 12 October 2010, and remained through its closure on 2 January 2011 along with co-stars Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.

Shannon's first children's book, Tilly the Trickster, was released September 1, 2011.

As of Spring 2012, she has replaced Pauley Perrette as the spokesperson for Expedia.

She was a guest, along with Denis Leary, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on June 9, 2015.

Personal life

Shannon married artist Fritz Chesnut on May 29, 2004. They have two children: daughter Stella (b. 2003), and son Nolan (b. 2005).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	The Phantom of the Opera	Meg (New York)
1995	Return to Two Moon Junction	Traci
1996	Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace	Homeless Lady
1997	Dinner and Driving	Arguing Woman in Cafe
1998	Happiness	Nancy
1998	A Night at the Roxbury	Emily Sanderson	Produced by Lorne Michaels
1998	The Thin Pink Line	Aanl
1998	Daydream Believer	Susan Bradley	Short Film
1999	Analyze This	Caroline
1999	Never Been Kissed	Anita
1999	My Neighbors the Yamadas	Matsuko Yamada (English version, voiceover)	Japanese animated film
1999	Superstar	Mary Katherine Gallagher	Produced by Lorne Michaels
2000	My 5 Wives	Dr. Van Dyke
2000	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	Betty Lou Who
2001	Wet Hot American Summer	Gail von Kleinenstein
2001	Osmosis Jones	Mrs. Boyd
2001	Serendipity	Eve
2001	Shallow Hal	Mrs. Mary Larson
2002	The Santa Clause 2	Tracy
2003	American Splendor	Stage Actor Joyce
2003	My Boss's Daughter	Audrey Bennett
2003	Good Boy!	Mrs. Baker
2005	Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie	Jackie Frost	Voice Only
2006	Shut Up and Sing	Trish
2006	Scary Movie 4	Marilyn
2006	Marie Antoinette	Aunt Victoire
2006	Little Man	Soccer Mom
2006	Talladega Nights	Mrs. Dennit
2006	Gray Matters	Carrie
2006	Air Buddies	Molly	Voice Only
2007	Year of the Dog	Peggy Spade
2007	Evan Almighty	Eve Adams
2008	Snow Buddies	Molly
2008	Igor	Eva
2009	What Goes Up	Penelope Little
2011	Bad Teacher	Melody Tiara
2012	Casa de Mi Padre	Sheila
2012	The Five-Year Engagement	Onion Chef
2012	Hotel Transylvania	Wanda	Voice Only
2013	Scary Movie 5	Heather Darcy
2013	Trust Me	Janice
2014	Life After Beth	Geenie Slocum
2015	Me and Earl and the Dying Girl	Denise Kushner
2015	Addicted to Fresno	Margaret
2015	Larry Gaye: Renegade Male Flight Attendant	Emily McCoy
2015	Hotel Transylvania 2	Wanda	Voice Only
2016	We Don't Belong Here	Deborah	Completed
2016	Half Magic		Filming
2016	Other People	Joanne	Post-Production
2016	The Layover		Post-Production
2016	Miles	Pam Walton	Post-Production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Twin Peaks	Judy Swain	1 episode
1992-1993	In Living Color	Officer Trainee	5 episodes
1993	General Hospital	1 episode	Surrogate Mother #2
1994	The John Larroquette Show		1 episode
1994	Sister, Sister	Cashier	1 episode
1994	Ellen	Woman	1 episode
1995-2010	Saturday Night Live	Various	Cast Member 1995-2001, 123 episodes
1997	The Single Guy	Melody Pugh	1 episode
1997	Seinfeld	Sam	1 episode
1999-2004	Will and Grace	Val Bassett	5 episodes
2000	SNL Fanatic	Anna Nicole Smith	TV Short
2001	Saturday Night Live Primetime Extra 1	Elizabeth Taylor	TV Short
2002	Sex and the City	Lily Martin	3 episodes
2003	Johnny Bravo	Multiple Voices	1 episode
2003	Ed	Linda Berringer	1 episode
2003	The Music Man	Mrs. Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn	TV movie
2004	The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve	Angie	TV movie
2004	Scrubs	Denise Lemmon	1 episode
2004-2006	Cracking Up	Lesley Shackleton	7 episodes
2005-2007	American Dad!	Kristy	3 episodes
2006	My Gym Partner's a Monkey	Pretties	1 episode
2006	The Amazing Screw-On Head	Patience the Vampire (voice)	1 episode, unsold pilot
2007	30 Rock	Katherine Catherine	1 episode
2007	Pushing Daisies	Dilly Balsam	1 episode
2007	The Mastersons of Manhattan	Amanda Masterson	TV movie
2007	More of Me	Alice McGowan	TV movie
2008-2009	Kath & Kim	Kath	18 episodes
2009	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Jeannie	1 episode
2010	Glee	Brenda Castle	2 episodes
2010	Neighbors from Hell	Tina Hellman (voice)	10 episodes
2011-2013	The Middle	Janet	2 episodes
2011-2012	Up All Night	Nancy	2 episodes
2012	Web Therapy	Kirsten Noble	2 episodes
2012	Partners	Cassandra	1 episode
2013	Doc McStuffins	Rita (voice)	1 episode
2013	Happily Divorced	Peggy	1 episode
2013	Enlightened	Eileen Foliente	Nominated—Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series
2013	Hannibal	Kidnapper	1 episode
2013	Jessie	Col. Beverly Shannon	1 episode
2013	Super Fun Night	Jane Spencer	1 episode
2013	Getting On	Phyllis Marmatan	3 episodes
2013-2015	Bob's Burgers	Millie	2 episodes
2013-2014	Raising Hope	Maxine	2 episodes
2014	Bambi Cottages	Cathleen Burke	TV movie
2014	The Spoils of Babylon	Meredith Sennheiser	2 episodes, TV Mini-Series
2014	Benched	Judge Conner	1 episode
2014-2015	The Millers	Miss Pam	2 episodes
2015	Mulaney	Markie	1 episode
2015	The Spoils Before Dying	Tricksy	2 episodes, TV Mini-Series
2015	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Gail Dana Starfield	7 episodes
2016	Animals.	Olivia (voice)	1 episode, post-production
2016	Divorce	Diane	5 episodes, post-production

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Web Therapy	Kirsten Noble	3 episodes
2013	Ghost Ghirls	Joy Button	3 episodes, streaming on Yahoo! Screen

Saturday Night Live characters

Original characters

• Mary Katherine Gallagher, Shannon's best known character. An odd, outcast student at a Catholic school who enjoyed performing in the choir and school plays. Shannon starred in a 1999 feature film based on the character.
• Sally O'Malley, a proud 50-year-old dancer with a bouffant hairdo, who wore tight red pants and proclaimed how much she loved to "kick, stretch and kick!"
• Circe Nightshade, co-host of "Goth Talk" (with Chris Kattan).
• Miss Colleen, co-host of "Dog Show" (with Will Ferrell).
• Elizabeth, one of the "Southern Gals".
• Helen Madden, an overly exuberant self-proclaimed "Joyologist", who appeared on talk shows with the trademark catchphrase "I love it, I love it, I love it!"
• Veronica Kilvere, an airhead fashion model who hosts the "Veronica & Co." talk show.
• Janette Blow, wife of Joe Blow (played by Colin Quinn) on "The Local News" public-access television cable TV talk show.
• Terri Rialto, co-host of the NPR radio show "Delicious Dish" (with Ana Gasteyer).
• Margaret Healy, a woman who enjoys doing lots of voices and accents.
• Jeannie Darcy, an unfunny mullet-haired stand-up comedian, who ended almost every joke with the phrase "Don't get me started, don't even get me started!"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]