
Lin Shaye
Department: Acting
Biography
Lin Shaye (born October 12, 1943) is an American actress. In a career spanning over fifty years, Shaye has appeared in more than a hundred feature films. She is regarded as a scream queen due to her roles in various horror productions, which include the films Alone in the Dark (1982), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Critters (1986) and its sequel Critters 2: The Main Course (1988), Amityville: A New Generation (1993), Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994), Dead End (2003), 2001 Maniacs (2005) and its sequel 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams (2010), Ouija (2014) and its prequel Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Tales of Halloween (2015), Abattoir (2016), The Final Wish (2018), Room for Rent (2019), The Grudge (2019), Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman (2021), and the Insidious film series (2010–2026). Shaye is also well known for her comedic roles in numerous films by the Farrelly brothers, including Dumb and Dumber (1994), Kingpin (1996), There's Something About Mary (1998), Detroit Rock City (1999), Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Stuck on You (2003), and The Three Stooges (2012). Description above from the Wikipedia article Lin Shaye, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For

Snakes on a Plane
2006

A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984

There's Something About Mary
1998

Critters 2
1988

Surf School
2006

Critters
1986

2001 Maniacs
2005

Say It Isn't So
2001

Kingpin
1996

Dead End
2003

Wes Craven's New Nightmare
1994

Amityville: A New Generation
1993

Hate Crime
2005

The Hidden
1987

Detroit Rock City
1999

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
1994

Last Man Standing
1996

Who's Your Daddy?
2004

2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams
2010

Frank and Penelope
2022

Trading Favors
1997

Killer by Nature
2010

Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror
2006

Hoboken Hollow
2006

The Temp
1993

Insidious
2011

The Old World
—

Pines
2022

Next Stop Murder
2010

Contagion
2002

Insidious: Chapter 2
2013

Take Me Home
2011

Carrier
—

FDR: American Badass!
2012

The Election
2007

Three of Hearts
1993

Farewell Mr. Kringle
2010

Chasing Robert
2007

Sedona
2011

Crazy Kind of Love
2013

Big Ass Spider!
2013

Doggie Heaven
2008

3 Days of Normal
2012

All American Christmas Carol
2013

Insidious: The Red Door
2023

A Letter from My Father
2001

The Seeding of Sarah Burns
1979

Down the P.C.H.
2006

The Signal
2014

We Are Gathered Here Today
2022

Living with Chucky
2022

Without Charlie
2001

Chillerama
2011

Drop Dead Sexy
2005

Summer Fantasy
1984

I Was a Teenage Werebear
2011

Life's an Itch
2012

Rosewood Lane
2011

The Almost Guys
2004

Goin' South
1978

Bachelor Party Vegas
2006

The Main Course: The Making of Critters 2
2018

Lost Time
2014

Grace
2014

Noobz
2013

Grow House
2017

The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal
1979

Homo Erectus
2007

Brewster's Millions
1985

Insidious: Chapter 3
2015

Remote
2022

Pickin' and Grinnin'
2010

Ouija
2014

Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves
2015

Tales of Halloween
2015

A Cry for Love
1980

Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter
1994

Director's Cut
2016

Roadside Prophets
1992

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy
2011

The Penthouse
2010

Unbeatable Harold
2006

Boat Trip
2002

Jack Goes Home
2016

The Possession at Gladstone Manor
—

Hester Street
1975

Buster's Mal Heart
2017

Scared to Death
2026

Abattoir
2016

Breakfast with Einstein
1998

Texas Heart
2016

Insidious: The Last Key
2018

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd
2003

Attention Shoppers
2000

Stuntmen
2009

Stillwatch
1987

Ouija: Origin of Evil
2016

Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again
1982

Nature of the Beast
1995

Lucky Stiff
1988

My Demon Lover
1987

Pledge This!
2007

Killer Pad
2008

Dark Moon Rising
2009

The Hillside Strangler
2004

The Black Room
2017

Driftwood
2006

Asylum
2008

A Cinderella Story
2004

Small Town Saturday Night
2010

Slam Dance
1987

Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha
2015

Sketch Artist II: Hands That See
1995

All About the Money
2017

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
1993

Dumb and Dumber
1994

Wish You Were Dead
2002

The Midnight Man
2016

Chronic Town
2008

The Three Stooges
2012

The Grudge
2019

Project: ALF
1996

Herbert West: Reanimator
2018

Mountain Top
2017

Darkness Falls
2020

The Final Wish
2019

In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance
1994

Corrina, Corrina
1994

Stuck on You
2003

My Sister's Keeper
2009

The Long Riders
1980

Cellular
2004

Jewtopia
2012

Goldberg - P.I.
2011

Room for Rent
2019

They Bite!: The Making of Critters
2018

Starz Inside: In the Gutter
2008

Gothic Harvest
2019

Waffle Hut
2012

Los Angeles Overnight
2018

Get Gone
2019

Dreamkatcher
2020

The Voices
2020

Confessions of an Action Star
2005

Me, Myself & Irene
2000

American Cowslip
2009

Trial by Fire
1995

Matchmaker Santa
2012

The Running Man
1987

Max Reload and the Nether Blasters
2020

Alone in the Dark
1982

The Land of the Astronauts
2010

Dead of Nowhere 3D
—

The Horror Crowd
2020

Before Memory
—

The Call
2020

Living Out Loud
1998

Ambition
2019

Born Killers
2005

Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story
2022

Extreme Prejudice
1987

Pump Up the Volume
1990

VideoDome Rent-O-Rama
2010

Brain Smasher... A Love Story
1993

Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman
2021

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
2010

Sex and the Married Woman
1977

A Secret Space
1977

Why Me?
1984

Mistress
1987

Book of Love
1990

Barely Legal
2003

Critters 3
1991

The Last Stand of Ellen Cole
2024

ManFast
2003

Devoted
—

House of Abraham
2025

1000 Women in Horror
2025

The Bench
—

The Accidental Death of Joey by Sue
2010

Insidious: The Bleeding World
2026

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies
2025

Jackson's Hole
—

Mascotland
—

Perversions of Science
1997

Who's the Boss?
1984

My Name Is Earl
2005

Highway to Heaven
1984

Frasier
1993

Becker
1998

ER
1994

Behind the Monsters
2021

EastSiders
2012

My So-Called Life
1994

Eli Roth's History of Horror
2018

Dead Talk Live
2020

The Twilight Zone
1985

Falcon Crest
1981

Cagney & Lacey
1982

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
2020

Crossing Jordan
2001

Eight Is Enough
1977

Life Goes On
1989

Private Practice
2007

Made in Hollywood
2005

Common Side Effects
2025

Arli$$
1996