Lin Shaye
October 12, 1943 (81 years old) in Detroit, Michigan, USA
Lin Shaye (born October 12, 1943) is an American actress. She is best known for her work in horror franchises, including Nightmare on Elm Street, Ouija, and Insidious. Shaye attended the University of Michigan, where she was an Art History major, although acting in as many University productions as possible, including "Bye Bye Birdie" and "On The Town". After U of M, she attended Columbia University School of the Arts, and acquired a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting. She stayed in New York upon graduation and worked in numerous off- and off-off- Broadway productions, as well as Lincoln Center and Broadway.
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · Common Side Effects as Sonia (voice)
- 2024 · The Last Stand of Ellen Cole as Ellen
- 2023 · Insidious: The Red Door as Elise Rainier
- 2022 · Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story as Self
- 2022 · We Are Gathered Here Today as Jean Cole
- 2020 · Darkness Falls as Angela Anderson
- 2018 · Los Angeles Overnight as Cousins
- 2017 · All About the Money as Mrs. Womack
- 2017 · Buster's Mal Heart as Pauline
- 2017 · Grow House as Mrs. Gilliam
- 2016 · Abattoir as Allie
- 2016 · Director's Cut as Captain Wheeler
- 2016 · Jack Goes Home as Teresa
- 2015 · Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha as The Grand Lady
- 2013 · All American Christmas Carol as Barbara Belnap
- 2013 · Big Ass Spider! as Mrs. Jefferson
- 2013 · Crazy Kind of Love as Denise Mack
- 2012 · Life's an Itch as Gloria
- 2012 · Matchmaker Santa as Debbie
- 2011 · Rosewood Lane as Mrs. Hawthorne
- 2010 · Next Stop Murder as Detective Reeson
- 2010 · 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams as Granny Boone
- 2010 · Small Town Saturday Night as Phyllis Ryan
- 2010 · The Penthouse as Frances
- 2008 · Starz Inside: In the Gutter as Self
- 2008 · Killer Pad as Marge
- 2006 · Surf School as Larry's Mom
- 2006 · Surf School as Larry's mom
- 2006 · Bachelor Party Vegas as Cassandra
- 2006 · Hoboken Hollow as Mrs. Brodrick
- 2005 · Confessions of an Action Star as Samantha Jones
- 2005 · Born Killers as Willow
- 2004 · The Hillside Strangler as Jenny Buono
- 2002 · Wish You Were Dead as Jinny Macintosh
- 2002 · Contagion as Laura Crowley
- 1998 · Breakfast with Einstein as Miss Desmond
- 1997 · Trading Favors as Darla
- 1996 · Project: ALF as Waitress
- 1995 · Trial by Fire as Phyliis Cardell
- 1995 · Sketch Artist II: Hands That See as Bonnie
- 1994 · Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter as Inmate
- 1994 · Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as Rubber Rose Maid
- 1993 · Three of Hearts as Operator
- 1992 · Roadside Prophets as Celeste
- 1990 · Book of Love as Mrs. Flynn
- 1988 · Lucky Stiff as Bratty Kid's Mom
- 1987 · Slam Dance as Librarian
- 1987 · Extreme Prejudice as Employment Office Clerk
- 1987 · My Demon Lover as Anemic Counter Girl
- 1984 · Why Me? as
- 1982 · Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again as Nurse with Telegram
- Future · Devoted as Aunt Dottie
- 2025 · House of Abraham as
- 2024 · Scared to Death as Max
- 2022 · Remote as Kane
- 2022 · Living with Chucky as Self
- 2022 · Frank and Penelope as Ophelia
- 2022 · Pines as Julie (voice)
- 2021 · Behind the Monsters as Self
- 2021 · Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman as Mrs. Bundy
- 2020 · The Call as Edith Cranston
- 2020 · The Horror Crowd as Herself
- 2020 · Max Reload and the Nether Blasters as Mrs. Wylder
- 2020 · The Voices as The Vagabond
- 2020 · Dreamkatcher as Ruth
- 2020 · Penny Dreadful: City of Angels as Dottie Minter
- 2020 · Dead Talk Live as Self - Guest
- 2019 · The Grudge as Faith Matheson
- 2019 · Gothic Harvest as Griselda
- 2019 · Ambition as Lady Bum
- 2019 · Get Gone as Mama
- 2019 · Room for Rent as Joyce
- 2019 · The Final Wish as Kate Hammond
- 2018 · Herbert West: Reanimator as Meredith
- 2018 · They Bite!: The Making of Critters as Self
- 2018 · The Main Course: The Making of Critters 2 as Self
- 2018 · Eli Roth's History of Horror as Self
- 2018 · Insidious: The Last Key as Élise Rainier
- 2017 · The Black Room as Miss Black
- 2017 · Mountain Top as Muriel Miller
- 2016 · Ouija: Origin of Evil as Old Paulina Zander
- 2016 · The Midnight Man as Anna
- 2016 · Texas Heart as Mrs. Smith
- 2015 · Tales of Halloween as Lynn's Mother
- 2015 · Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves as Helen Keller
- 2015 · Insidious: Chapter 3 as Elise Rainier
- 2014 · Grace as Helen
- 2014 · Ouija as Paulina Zander
- 2014 · Lost Time as Mysterious Woman
- 2014 · The Signal as Mirabelle
- 2013 · Insidious: Chapter 2 as Elise Rainier
- 2013 · Noobz as Mrs. Theodore
- 2012 · EastSiders as Diane
- 2012 · FDR: American Badass! as Eleanor Roosevelt
- 2012 · 3 Days of Normal as May
- 2012 · Jewtopia as Dr. Sutton
- 2012 · The Three Stooges as Nurse Crotchet
- 2012 · Waffle Hut as Jerrie Wolf
- 2011 · Chillerama as Baglady / Nurse Maleva
- 2011 · A Good Old Fashioned Orgy as Dody
- 2011 · I Was a Teenage Werebear as
- 2011 · Insidious as Elise Rainier
- 2011 · Take Me Home as Jill
- 2011 · Sedona as Claire
- 2011 · Goldberg - P.I. as Violet
- 2010 · Farewell Mr. Kringle as Zelda
- 2010 · Black Limousine as
- 2010 · Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy as Self
- 2010 · Pickin' and Grinnin' as Bonnie Johnson
- 2010 · Killer by Nature as Leona
- 2010 · VideoDome Rent-O-Rama as The Lush
- 2009 · Dark Moon Rising as Sunny
- 2009 · Stuntmen as Bumble Jackson
- 2009 · American Cowslip as Lou Anne
- 2009 · My Sister's Keeper as Nurse Adele
- 2008 · Doggie Heaven as Woman
- 2008 · Chronic Town as Nurse
- 2008 · Asylum as String's Mother
- 2007 · Private Practice as Mrs. Taylor
- 2007 · Chasing Robert as Martha the Bookie
- 2007 · The Election as The Wife
- 2007 · Homo Erectus as Museum Guide
- 2007 · Pledge This! as Miss Prin
- 2006 · Driftwood as Nancy Forrester
- 2006 · Down the P.C.H. as Wendy O'Hara
- 2006 · Snakes on a Plane as Grace
- 2006 · Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror as Clara
- 2006 · Unbeatable Harold as Jeannie
- 2005 · Made in Hollywood as Self
- 2005 · My Name Is Earl as Paul's Mom
- 2005 · 2001 Maniacs as Granny Boone
- 2005 · Drop Dead Sexy as Ma Muzzy
- 2005 · Hate Crime as Kathleen Slansky
- 2004 · Cellular as Exotic Car Driver
- 2004 · A Cinderella Story as Mrs. Wells
- 2004 · The Almost Guys as Repo Boss
- 2004 · Who's Your Daddy? as Ms. Harding
- 2003 · Dead End as Laura Harrington
- 2003 · Stuck on You as Makeup Babe
- 2003 · Barely Legal as Tequlia
- 2003 · Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd as Margie
- 2003 · ManFast as Marge
- 2002 · Boat Trip as Sonya the Coach
- 2001 · A Letter from My Father as Elise
- 2001 · Crossing Jordan as Leather Lauren
- 2001 · Say It Isn't So as Nurse Bautista
- 2001 · Without Charlie as
- 2000 · Attention Shoppers as Libby
- 2000 · Me, Myself & Irene as Mrs. Caleron
- 1999 · Detroit Rock City as Mrs. Bruce
- 1998 · Becker as Mrs. Cooper
- 1998 · Living Out Loud as Lisa's Nurse
- 1998 · There's Something About Mary as Magda
- 1997 · Perversions of Science as Nurse
- 1996 · Last Man Standing as The Madame
- 1996 · Kingpin as Landlady
- 1995 · Nature of the Beast as Carol Powell
- 1994 · Dumb and Dumber as Mrs. Neugeboren
- 1994 · New Nightmare as Nurse with Pills
- 1994 · ER as Margaret
- 1994 · My So-Called Life as Parent #2
- 1994 · Corrina, Corrina as Repeat Nanny
- 1994 · In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance as Foreman #2
- 1993 · Brain Smasher... A Love Story as Make up Artist
- 1993 · Amityville: A New Generation as Nurse Turner
- 1993 · Frasier as Anne
- 1993 · The Temp as Rosemary
- 1993 · National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 as Witness
- 1991 · Critters 3 as Sal (archive footage)
- 1990 · Pump Up the Volume as PTA Parent #3
- 1989 · Life Goes On as Parent #2
- 1988 · Critters 2 as Sal
- 1987 · The Running Man as Propaganda Officer
- 1987 · The Hidden as Carol Miller
- 1987 · Stillwatch as
- 1986 · Critters as Sally
- 1985 · The Twilight Zone as Kate Simmons (segment "Chameleon")
- 1985 · Brewster's Millions as Journalist at Rally
- 1984 · A Nightmare on Elm Street as Teacher
- 1984 · Who's the Boss? as Mrs. Padnick
- 1984 · Highway to Heaven as Lila Barnes
- 1984 · Summer Fantasy as Woman on Beach
- 1982 · Alone in the Dark as Receptionist at Haven
- 1982 · Cagney & Lacey as Secretary
- 1981 · Falcon Crest as Smoking Female Prisoner
- 1980 · A Cry for Love as
- 1980 · The Long Riders as Kate
- 1979 · The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal as Freida
- 1978 · Goin' South as Parasol Lady
- 1977 · Eight Is Enough as Band Member
- Future · Carrier as Joan Pierson
- 1979 · The Seeding of Sarah Burns as 2nd Nurse
- Future · Dead of Nowhere 3D as Meemaw
- 1987 · Mistress as Woman Customer
- 1977 · Sex and the Married Woman as Sandra
- Future · Before Memory as
- Future · The Possession at Gladstone Manor as Nurse
- 1977 · A Secret Space as Amy
- 1975 · Hester Street as Whore
- Future · The Old World as The Aunt (voice)