As Sue Sylvester on Ryan Murphy's TV hit Glee, Jane Lynch has won legions of fans for her wickedly funny portrayal of McKinley High's cheerleading coach.
But off-screen, the 51-year-old's story is just as compelling, if not more.
Now the star, with her wife, Lara Embry, has written an autobiography, charting her life from her teenage years in the Midwest, her battle with alcohol abuse and coming to terms with her sexuality.
In a new interview with Vogue, to mark the release of Happy Accidents, Lynch admitted that growing up in Dolton, Illinois, she 'never felt quite right'.
She told Hamish Bowles how it was at the age of 12, when a friend had been gossiping about seeing two men walking hand-in-hand on a trip to Florida, that she was 'the girl version of that'.
She explained: 'When I grew up, just like in Glee, you had to be what they considered "normal" or you got a Slushee in your face.
'I didn't want to be too tall. I didn't want to be too loud. I didn't want to be gay.'
Lynch describes her childhood as 'pure Americana' - her father worked in a bank and her mother was a homemaker.
From an early age she was a tomboy and loved playing baseball, and told how she loved dressing up in her father's Sixties wardrobe.
'I adore Mad Men,' she said. 'I want to come back as Jon Hamm in my next life!'
The actress now lives in Lauren Canyon with Embry, 42, a clinical psychologist, who has an eight-year-old daughter, Haden, from a previous relationship.
The couple told the magazine that it was love at first sight when they met in 2009 at the National Center for Lesbian Rights gala.
Embry recalled: 'I saw Jane walking in the lobby and I though, I'm supposed to follow her. It was like I'd been picked up in a fishing net. I was supposed to go that way - and she was actually going the wrong way!'
They have now been married a year, and Lynch, who jokes that she 'never even heard her own biological clock ticking', is a dedicated parent to Haden.
The youngster, in turn, aspires to her new stepmother's comic talent, and regularly helps her rehearse her Glee lines.
Embry related one instance in which her daughter had been comparing herself to her mother and stepmother.
'Haden said, "Yeah, yeah, Mom. I look like you, but I’m funny like Jane."'
But off-screen, the 51-year-old's story is just as compelling, if not more.
Now the star, with her wife, Lara Embry, has written an autobiography, charting her life from her teenage years in the Midwest, her battle with alcohol abuse and coming to terms with her sexuality.
In a new interview with Vogue, to mark the release of Happy Accidents, Lynch admitted that growing up in Dolton, Illinois, she 'never felt quite right'.
She told Hamish Bowles how it was at the age of 12, when a friend had been gossiping about seeing two men walking hand-in-hand on a trip to Florida, that she was 'the girl version of that'.
She explained: 'When I grew up, just like in Glee, you had to be what they considered "normal" or you got a Slushee in your face.
'I didn't want to be too tall. I didn't want to be too loud. I didn't want to be gay.'
Lynch describes her childhood as 'pure Americana' - her father worked in a bank and her mother was a homemaker.
'I adore Mad Men,' she said. 'I want to come back as Jon Hamm in my next life!'
The actress now lives in Lauren Canyon with Embry, 42, a clinical psychologist, who has an eight-year-old daughter, Haden, from a previous relationship.
The couple told the magazine that it was love at first sight when they met in 2009 at the National Center for Lesbian Rights gala.
Embry recalled: 'I saw Jane walking in the lobby and I though, I'm supposed to follow her. It was like I'd been picked up in a fishing net. I was supposed to go that way - and she was actually going the wrong way!'
They have now been married a year, and Lynch, who jokes that she 'never even heard her own biological clock ticking', is a dedicated parent to Haden.
The youngster, in turn, aspires to her new stepmother's comic talent, and regularly helps her rehearse her Glee lines.
Embry related one instance in which her daughter had been comparing herself to her mother and stepmother.
'Haden said, "Yeah, yeah, Mom. I look like you, but I’m funny like Jane."'
