jane lynch (born july 14, 1960) is an american comedian and actress. since 2009, she has played sue sylvester in the fox musical-comedy series "glee" for which she has won an emmy award and a golden globe award. she has also acted in comedy movies such as "best in show", "the 40-year-old virgin" and "role models", as well as television shows as lawyer joyce wischina in "the l word", dr. linda freeman in "two and a half men" and diana reid on "criminal minds". she has appeared on "icarly" as sam's mother. she was also a regular on the comedy-drama series "party down" as constance carmell; the role got good reviews.