Film & TV
Lin Shaye
born 1943 · actress
Detroit-born horror icon of the Insidious films and Farrelly brothers comedies, sister of New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 82- Detroit years
- 1943–1960s
- Field
- Film & TV
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Lin Shaye was born in Detroit in 1943 into a Jewish family; her father, Max Shaye, ran supermarkets and painted, and her older brother Robert, a Mumford High School graduate, would later found New Line Cinema. She studied art history at the University of Michigan before moving to New York to act Off-Broadway. Her screen career, now more than fifty years long, has two sides. In horror she became a modern scream queen, from a small part in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), distributed by her brother's company, to the psychic Elise Rainier at the center of the Insidious series. In comedy she is a Farrelly brothers regular, unforgettable as the leathery neighbor Magda in There's Something About Mary (1998). In Detroit Rock City (1999), a comedy about teenagers trying to reach a Kiss concert in Detroit, she played the mother waging war on the band.
Highlights
- Elise Rainier in the Insidious films (2010– )
- Magda in There's Something About Mary (1998)
- Played in Detroit Rock City (1999), set around a Kiss concert in Detroit
- Sister of New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye, also Detroit-born
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1960s
University of Michigan
Shaye studied art history here before moving to New York.