Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. McCarthy was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she has been featured multiple times in annual rankings of the highest-paid actresses in the world. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her #22 in its list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century.
McCarthy has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, her first for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for playing Molly Flynn on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly (2010–2016) followed by her win for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for hosting Saturday Night Live (2017). She has also taken supporting roles in the comedy-drama series Gilmore Girls (2000–2007) and the sitcom Samantha Who? (2007–2009), a leading role in the miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers (2021), and a guest role in the comedy series Only Murders in the Building (2024).
On film, she has received two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress playing a comedic bridesmaid in the comedy Bridesmaids (2011) and Best Actress for her portrayal of writer Lee Israel in the biographical film Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). She has also starred in a string of commercially successful comedies such as Identity Thief (2013), The Heat (2013), Tammy (2014), St. Vincent (2014), Spy (2015), The Boss (2016), Ghostbusters (2016) and Life of the Party (2018). She played Ursula in the musical fantasy film The Little Mermaid (2023).
McCarthy and her husband Ben Falcone are the founders of the production company On the Day Productions, under which they have collaborated on several comedy films including Super Intelligence (2020), and Thunder Force (2021). In 2015, she launched her own clothing line for plus-sized women, named Melissa McCarthy Seven7, and she received a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Early life and education McCarthy was born on August 26, 1970, in Plainfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Her parents are Sandra and Michael McCarthy."Melissa Mccarthy: Her Moment to Shine" March 21, 2011, People"Bob Newhart just can't stand still" September 19, 2002, Herald News She is a cousin of actress and model Jenny McCarthy."Melissa McCarthy Is Having Her Moment" September 28, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter McCarthy was raised on a farm in a Catholic family. She is of mostly Irish descent, although she also has some German and English ancestry."'Mike and Molly's' Melissa McCarthy Finds Super-Sized Success" March 22, 2011, LifeScript.com Some of her forebears were from County Cork. She graduated from St. Francis Academy (now Joliet Catholic Academy) in Joliet, Illinois,"From JCA to CBS: Emmy winner got acting bug at Joliet school" September 21, 2011, The Herald News and attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Her career started with stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, and later in New York City. McCarthy is an alumna of The Groundlings, an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, California. She also performed in New York City as a drag queen under the moniker Miss Y, including at the Wigstock festival.
Career
1997–2010: Early work and Gilmore Girls McCarthy made her first television appearance in an episode of the NBC comedy series Jenny, opposite her cousin Jenny McCarthy. She made her feature film debut in a minor role in the 1999 comedy Go, and later had roles in the films Drowning Mona, Disney's The Kid, Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Third Wheel and The Life of David Gale. She also worked in three episodes of Kim Possible, voicing DNAmy. In 2000, McCarthy was cast as Sookie St. James, the upbeat and klutzy best friend of Lorelai Gilmore, on The WB television series Gilmore Girls. Throughout the series, Sookie is Lorelai's business partner and cheerleader. On April 7, 2016, McCarthy announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that she would be returning for the show's revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, on Netflix. The series was released November 25, 2016 and McCarthy appeared in one of its four episodes.
In 2007, she starred opposite Ryan Reynolds in the science fantasy psychological thriller The Nines, written and directed by John August. She later starred in the independent comedies The Captain, Just Add Water, and Pretty Ugly People. Also in 2007, McCarthy starred as Dena Stevens on the ABC sitcom Samantha Who? McCarthy played Samantha's socially awkward childhood best friend, whom Samantha hasn't seen since seventh grade. When Samantha wakes from her coma, Dena convinces Samantha that they have always been best friends. While Andrea eventually forces her to reveal the truth, Samantha still remains friends with Dena. She guest starred in Rita Rocks and Private Practice. In 2010, McCarthy played supporting roles in films The Back-up Plan and Life as We Know It.
2011–2017: Sitcom and film stardom
In 2010, McCarthy was cast in a leading role on the CBS sitcom Mike & Molly. Television critic Lucy Mangan from the Guardian commended McCarthy and her co-star Billy Gardell on some “unfeasibly delicate and charming work”, while decrying the show itself for hanging every one of its gags on the subject of their weight. In 2011, McCarthy had a breakout performance in the comedy film Bridesmaids alongside Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper. She received wide critical acclaim and press coverage for her performance. McCarthy received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. She received BAFTA, Critics' Choice and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, as well as won Boston Society of Film Critics Award, New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Supporting Actress, Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Comedic Actress, and MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. One of McCarthy's most memorable scenes in Bridesmaids was improvised, according to director Paul Feig. In fall 2011, after achieving fame from Bridesmaids, she received her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on Mike & Molly.
In June 2011, she hosted the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards. She was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 others. McCarthy hosted Saturday Night Live on October 1, 2011, April 6, 2013, February 1, 2014, February 13, 2016, May 12, 2017 and December 6, 2025. She was nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her appearances on the television show from 2011 to 2017, winning in 2017. In 2011, McCarthy produced a CBS pilot which starred her husband, Ben Falcone. After her Bridesmaids breakout, McCarthy had supporting roles in the comedy films This Is 40 (2012), the spinoff to Judd Apatow's film Knocked Up, and The Hangover Part III (2013).
In 2013, McCarthy co-starred in the crime comedy Identity Thief with Jason Bateman. Identity Thief, her star vehicle, opened at No. 1 at the box office, and grossed $174 million worldwide despite negative reviews. R. Kurt Osenlund of Slant Magazine praised McCarthy's performance, writing that she "gives a performance leagues better than anything to be expected in a mainstream, early-in-the-year release, padding a typically sketched character with layers of hilarity and pathos. McCarthy owns 'Identity Thief' with a turn of limitless surprise, making an otherwise adequate comedy soar as a star vehicle. She is riveting in simply-penned moments of remorse and confession, adding tearful depth to her ace timing and formidable physical comedy." Peter Debruge of Variety magazine praised McCarthy but criticized the script, saying "Melissa McCarthy proves she’s got what it takes to carry a feature, however meager the underlying material." She received People's Choice and MTV Movie Awards nomination for her performance. Later in 2013, McCarthy co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the buddy cop comedy The Heat. The film was released in the United States and Canada on June 28, 2013, to both critical and commercial success. With McCarthy being called "box office gold," The Heat grossed $229 million worldwide. She won American Comedy Award for Best Comedy Actress - Film, and well as received nominations an Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy and MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.
In 2013, McCarthy founded the production company On the Day Productions with her husband Ben Falcone. Tammy was the company's first project. The film cost $20 million. McCarthy co-wrote the script for the road comedy film, which was released in 2014. McCarthy's character loses her job and her car, and then learns that her husband has been unfaithful. To get away, she is forced to rely on her alcoholic grandmother (Susan Sarandon) for transportation as they embark on a journey of self-discovery. Although a box office success, grossing over $100 million from a $20 million budget, it received highly negative reviews from critics with McCarthy received Razzie nomination for Worst Actress. On Rotten Tomatoes, the site's critical consensus reads, "Melissa McCarthy remains an engaging screen presence, but her efforts aren't enough to keep the jumbled Tammy on track." Later in 2014, McCarthy played the female lead, opposite Bill Murray, in the comedy-drama film St. Vincent, directed and written by Theodore Melfi. The film received positive reviews from critics and her performance as an overworked single mom was noted. At the 20th Critics' Choice Awards, she received Best Actress in a Comedy Movie nomination.
In May 2015, McCarthy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In August 2015, Forbes ranked her as the third highest-paid actress of 2015, with earnings of $23 million. Also in 2015, McCarthy played the lead in frequent collaborator Paul Feig's spy comedy Spy, a role that earned McCarthy her first Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $235 million worldwide against a $65 million budget. McCarthy's performance was praised by critics. Richard Roeper of The Chicago Sun Times called her "as funny and as winning as anyone in the movies these days". Tom Russo of The Boston Globe credited the film's success to McCarthy, writing, "part of what makes the action comedy such a loopy blast is the identity shifts she pulls on the audience." Bill Goodykoontz of Arizona Republic called the film McCarthy's return to form, writing "Finally, after the promise shown in Bridesmaids, but sold short since by weak scripts in films like Tammy and Identity Thief, Melissa McCarthy gets a movie vehicle worthy of her talents."
In 2016, McCarthy starred in the comedy film The Boss, a film based on a character which McCarthy had created in the Los Angeles Groundlings – a wealthy businesswoman "who goes to jail for insider trading, and struggles to reinvent herself as America's new sweetheart when she's released". Although it received generally negative reviews from critics, it grossed over $78 million worldwide on a budget of $29 million. Also that year, she played an author and scientist in the all-female reboot of Ghostbusters, directed by Paul Feig. The film grossed $229.1 million worldwide against its $144 million budget, making it a box office bomb with losses of over $70 million following theaters taking their revenue cut. At the 43rd People's Choice Awards, McCarthy won Award for Favorite Comedic Movie Actress.