Lainie Kazan Bio
Lainie Kazan (born Lainie Levine on May 15, 1940) is an American actress, singer, and classical composer whose career has spanned Broadway, television, and film for more than six decades. She is best known for her portrayal of Maria Portokalos in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise and for her memorable guest appearances on the sitcom The Nanny, where she played Aunt Frieda. Kazan earned a Tony Award nomination for her work in the musical My Favorite Year and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for her guest role on St. Elsewhere.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Kazan built her reputation through early Broadway work and a popular nightclub act that grew out of her 1970 Playboy spread. She has continued to perform on stage and screen into her eighties, while also teaching acting at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Early Life and Background
Lainie Kazan was born Lainie Levine in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Carole Kazan and Ben Levine. She is of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish descent, with Russian and Turkish family roots, and some of her grandparents lived in Jerusalem before moving to Manchester, England, and eventually settling in Brooklyn. Kazan has described her mother as artistic, neurotic, and fragile, traits that shaped her own early creative sensibilities.
She attended Brooklyn’s Erasmus Hall High School alongside a young Barbra Streisand, the classmate she would later understudy on Broadway. Kazan graduated from Erasmus Hall in 1956 and went on to study theatre at HB Studio in New York. She then completed her studies at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, graduating in 1960. While at Hofstra, she appeared in school musicals written and directed by a classmate named Francis Ford Coppola and performed alongside another aspiring actor, James Caan.
Path to Actress
Kazan made her Broadway debut in 1961 with the musical The Happiest Girl in the World, the first of several stage roles that established her as a versatile singer and actress. The following year, she appeared in another musical, Bravo Giovanni, and in 1964 she understudied Barbra Streisand for the lead role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. When Streisand could not perform due to a throat condition, Kazan took her place in a matinee and evening performance for one day of the show’s run, earning valuable recognition.
Her growing popularity led her to pose for the October 1970 issue of Playboy, a feature later reused in Pocket Playboy #4 in 1974. The exposure helped her headline and operate two Playboy Jazz Clubs, Lainie’s Room West in Los Angeles and Lainie’s Room East in Manhattan, both overseen by Hugh Hefner. She also became a frequent guest on Dean Martin’s variety series, appearing twenty-six times and becoming a familiar face to American television audiences.
Lainie Kazan Career
Early Career (1958–1981)
Kazan’s professional career began in 1958, while she was still completing her studies, and she moved quickly into Broadway and television work. She developed a popular nightclub act that showcased her singing and comic timing, performing in supper clubs across the country. In 1984, she made a guest appearance on the Faerie Tale Theatre episode “Pinocchio” as Sophia the Blue Fairy, expanding her family audience.
Her early television work included recurring appearances on variety shows and guest spots on programs such as The Paper Chase, Columbo, and Touched by an Angel. She also played the mother of Kirstie Alley’s character on Veronica’s Closet. During this period, Kazan laid the foundation for her later breakout in musical comedy and sitcom television.
Breakthrough (1982–Present)
In 1982, Kazan starred in the film My Favorite Year, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination and led to a Tony Award nomination when the property was later adapted as a Broadway musical. She returned to Broadway to recreate her film role in the musical version of My Favorite Year, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1993. Her earlier guest work on the medical drama St. Elsewhere had already brought her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Her most widely recognized work came with the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, where she played Maria Portokalos, the mother of Toula Portokalos, portrayed by Nia Vardalos. The first film in 2002 became a cultural phenomenon, and Kazan reprised the role in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 in 2016 and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 in 2023. She also appeared as Aunt Frieda on the Fran Drescher sitcom The Nanny and joined the cast of Desperate Housewives for season seven in 2010, playing the role of Mrs. Maxine Rosen.
Kazan has also performed in regional productions of A Little Night Music, Man of La Mancha, Gypsy, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Hello, Dolly!, and Fiddler on the Roof. She is a life member of The Actors Studio and completed a stint in The Vagina Monologues. In 2012, she became an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she teaches acting and directs her students in drama-department productions.
Notable Works and Milestones
Kazan’s signature works include the My Big Fat Greek Wedding film series, the sitcom The Nanny, and her Tony-nominated turn in My Favorite Year. Her 1970 Playboy feature inspired the look of Jack Kirby’s superheroine Big Barda, a small but distinctive pop-culture footnote. She has served on the boards of the Young Musicians Foundation, AIDS Project LA, B’nai B’rith, the California Jazz Foundation, and her alma mater, Hofstra University.
Lainie Kazan Award Nominations
Lainie Kazan has been recognized with nominations across film, stage, and television throughout her long career. She received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her guest role on St. Elsewhere. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1993 for her performance in My Favorite Year, and she received a Golden Globe Award nomination in 1982 for her work in the film My Favorite Year.
Lainie Kazan Awards Won
Verified information on specific competitive award wins is not available in the supplied sources. As a result, a complete list of awards won cannot be presented with confidence at this time.
Lainie Kazan Family
Kazan was born to Ben Levine and Carole Kazan, and she has spoken fondly of her mother’s artistic influence on her own creative life. She is of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish heritage, with Russian and Turkish roots on her grandparents’ side. Some of her grandparents lived in Jerusalem before relocating to Manchester, England, and eventually settling in Brooklyn.
Personal Life
Kazan married musical director and arranger Peter H. B. Daniels, whom she met while working on the Broadway musical Funny Girl, where he served as associate orchestra conductor. The couple married after the 1971 birth of their daughter, Jennifer, but the marriage did not endure, and Kazan was single again by 1976. Daniels died in 1989.
In the 1970s, Kazan was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis, an experience that led her to dedicate time to public education about the condition. She later joined the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2012 as an adjunct professor of acting, and she has remained active in philanthropy through several nonprofit boards. In 2016, she was injured in a head-on traffic collision in Sherman Oaks, California, and was hospitalized, and in 2017 she was arrested for shoplifting outside a California supermarket before reaching a plea deal with prosecutors.