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.

Filmography

• 2026Insidious: Out of the Further — Elise Rainier
• 2026Scared to Death — Max, Executive Producer
• Common Side Effects — Sonia (voice)
• 2025House of Abraham — Executive Producer
• 2024The Last Stand of Ellen Cole — Ellen, Executive Producer
• 2023Insidious: The Red Door — Elise Rainier
• 2022Frank and Penelope — Ophelia
• 2022Pines — Julie (voice)
• 2022Remote — Kane
• 2022The Quarry: Movie Mode — Constance Hackett
• 2022We Are Gathered Here Today — Jean Cole
• 2021Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman — Mrs. Bundy
• 2020Darkness Falls — Angela Anderson
• 2020Dreamkatcher — Ruth, Executive Producer
• 2020Max Reload and the Nether Blasters — Mrs. Wylder
• Penny Dreadful: City of Angels — Dottie Minter
• 2020The Call — Edith Cranston
• 2020The Voices — The Vagabond
• 2019Ambition — Lady Bum
• 2019Get Gone — Mama
• 2019Gothic Harvest — Griselda
• 2019Room for Rent — Joyce, Co-Producer
• 2019The Final Wish — Kate Hammond
• 2019The Grudge — Faith Matheson
• 2018Herbert West: Reanimator — Meredith
• 2018Insidious: The Last Key — Elise Rainier
• 2018Los Angeles Overnight — Cousins
• 2017All About the Money — Mrs. Womack
• 2017Buster's Mal Heart — Pauline
• 2017Grow House — Mrs. Gilliam
• 2017Mountain Top — Muriel Miller
• 2017The Black Room — Miss Black
• 2016Abattoir — Allie
• 2016Director's Cut — Captain Wheeler
• 2016Jack Goes Home — Teresa
• 2016Ouija: Origin of Evil — Old Paulina Zander
• 2016Texas Heart — Mrs. Smith
• 2016The Midnight Man — Anna
• 2015Don Quixote: The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha — The Grand Lady
• 2015Helen Keller vs. Nightwolves — Helen Keller
• 2015Insidious: Chapter 3 — Elise Rainier
• 2015Tales of Halloween — Lynn's Mother
• 2014Grace — Helen
• 2014Lost Time — Mysterious Woman
• 2014Ouija — Paulina Zander
• 2014The Signal — Mirabelle
• 2013All American Christmas Carol — Barbara Belnap
• 2013Big Ass Spider! — Mrs. Jefferson
• 2013Crazy Kind of Love — Denise Mack
• 2013Insidious: Chapter 2 — Elise Rainier
• Insidious: Spectral Sightings — Elise
• 2013Noobz — Mrs. Theodore
• 20123 Days of Normal — May
• EastSiders — Diane
• 2012FDR: American Badass! — Eleanor Roosevelt
• 2012Jewtopia — Dr. Sutton
• 2012Life's an Itch — Gloria
• 2012Matchmaker Santa — Debbie
• 2012The Three Stooges — Nurse Crotchet
• 2012Waffle Hut — Jerrie Wolf
• 2011A Good Old Fashioned Orgy — Dody
• 2011Chillerama — Baglady / Nurse Maleva
• 2011Goldberg - P.I. — Violet
• 2011I Was a Teenage Werebear
• 2011Insidious — Elise Rainier
• 2011Rosewood Lane — Mrs. Hawthorne
• 2011Sedona — Claire
• 2011Take Me Home — Jill
• 20102001 Maniacs: Field of Screams — Granny Boone
• 2010Farewell Mr. Kringle — Zelda
• 2010Killer by Nature — Leona
• 2010Next Stop Murder — Detective Reeson
• 2010Pickin' and Grinnin' — Bonnie Johnson
• 2010Small Town Saturday Night — Phyllis Ryan
• 2010The Accidental Death of Joey by Sue — Mrs. Rawlings
• 2010The Land of the Astronauts
• 2010The Penthouse — Frances
• 2010VideoDome Rent-O-Rama — The Lush
• 2009American Cowslip — Lou Anne
• 2009Dark Moon Rising — Sunny
• 2009My Sister's Keeper — Nurse Adele
• 2009Stuntmen — Bumble Jackson
• 2008Asylum — String's Mother
• 2008Chronic Town — Nurse
• 2008Doggie Heaven — Woman
• 2008Killer Pad — Marge
• 2007Chasing Robert — Martha the Bookie
• 2007Homo Erectus — Museum Guide
• 2007Pledge This! — Miss Prin
• Private Practice — Mrs. Taylor
• 2007The Election — The Wife
• 2006Bachelor Party Vegas — Cassandra
• 2006Down the P.C.H. — Wendy O'Hara
• 2006Driftwood — Nancy Forrester
• 2006Hoboken Hollow — Mrs. Brodrick
• 2006Snakes on a Plane — Grace
• 2006Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror — Clara
• 2006Surf School — Larry's Mom
• 2006Unbeatable Harold — Jeannie
• 20052001 Maniacs — Granny Boone
• 2005Born Killers — Willow
• 2005Confessions of an Action Star — Samantha Jones
• 2005Drop Dead Sexy — Ma Muzzy
• 2005Hate Crime — Kathleen Slansky
• My Name Is Earl — Paul's Mom
• 2004A Cinderella Story — Mrs. Wells
• 2004Cellular — Exotic Car Driver
• 2004The Almost Guys — Repo Boss
• 2004The Hillside Strangler — Jenny Buono
• 2004Who's Your Daddy? — Ms. Harding
• 2003Barely Legal — Tequlia
• 2003Dead End — Laura Harrington
• 2003Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd — Margie
• 2003ManFast — Marge
• 2003Stuck on You — Makeup Babe
• 2002Boat Trip — Sonya the Coach
• 2002Contagion — Laura Crowley
• 2002Wish You Were Dead — Jinny Macintosh
• 2001A Letter from My Father — Elise
• Crossing Jordan — Leather Lauren
• 2001Say It Isn't So — Nurse Bautista
• 2001Without Charlie
• 2000Attention Shoppers — Libby
• 2000Me, Myself & Irene — Mrs. Caleron
• 1999Detroit Rock City — Mrs. Bruce
• Becker — Mrs. Cooper
• 1998Breakfast with Einstein — Miss Desmond
• 1998Living Out Loud — Lisa's Nurse
• 1998There's Something About Mary — Magda
• Perversions of Science — Nurse
• 1997Trading Favors — Darla
• Arli$$ — Shurja
• 1996Kingpin — Landlady
• 1996Last Man Standing — The Madame
• 1996Project: ALF — Waitress
• 1995Nature of the Beast — Carol Powell
• 1995Sketch Artist II: Hands That See — Bonnie
• 1995Trial by Fire — Phyliis Cardell
• 1994Corrina, Corrina — Repeat Nanny
• 1994Dumb and Dumber — Mrs. Neugeboren
• ER — Margaret
• 1994Even Cowgirls Get the Blues — Rubber Rose Maid
• 1994Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter — Inmate
• 1994In the Line of Duty: The Price of Vengeance — Foreman #2
• My So-Called Life — Parent #2
• 1994Wes Craven's New Nightmare — Nurse with Pills
• 1993Amityville: A New Generation — Nurse Turner
• 1993Brain Smasher... A Love Story — Make up Artist
• Frasier — Anne
• 1993National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 — Witness
• 1993The Hidden II — Carol Miller (archive footage)
• 1993The Temp — Rosemary
• 1993Three of Hearts — Operator
• 1992Roadside Prophets — Celeste
• 1991Critters 3 — Sal (archive footage)
• 1990Book of Love — Mrs. Flynn
• 1990Pump Up the Volume — PTA Parent #3
• Life Goes On — Parent #2
• 1988Critters 2 — Sal
• 1988Lucky Stiff — Bratty Kid's Mom
• 1987Extreme Prejudice — Employment Office Clerk
• 1987Mistress — Woman Customer
• 1987My Demon Lover — Anemic Counter Girl
• 1987Slam Dance — Librarian
• 1987Stillwatch
• 1987The Hidden — Carol Miller
• 1987The Running Man — Propaganda Officer
• 1986Critters — Sally
• 1985Brewster's Millions — Journalist at Rally
• The Twilight Zone — Kate Simmons (segment "Chameleon")
• 1984A Nightmare on Elm Street — Teacher
• Highway to Heaven — Lila Barnes
• 1984Summer Fantasy — Woman on Beach
• Who's the Boss? — Mrs. Padnick
• 1984Why Me?
• 1982Alone in the Dark — Receptionist at Haven
• Cagney & Lacey — Secretary
• 1982Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again — Nurse with Telegram
• Falcon Crest — Smoking Female Prisoner
• 1980A Cry for Love
• 1980The Long Riders — Kate
• 1979The Seeding of Sarah Burns — 2nd Nurse
• 1979The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal — Freida
• 1978Goin' South — Parasol Lady
• 1977A Secret Space — Amy
• Eight Is Enough — Band Member
• 1977Sex and the Married Woman — Sandra
• 1975Hester Street — Whore
• Before Memory
• Carrier — Joan Pierson
• Dead of Nowhere 3D — Meemaw
• Devoted — Aunt Dottie
• Jackson's Hole — Netter
• Mascotland
• The Bench
• The Old World — The Aunt (voice)
• The Possession at Gladstone Manor — Nurse

Appearances as themselves (16)

• 20251000 Women in Horror — Self
• 2022Hollywood Dreams & Nightmares: The Robert Englund Story — Self
• 2022Living with Chucky — Self
• Behind the Monsters — Self
• Dead Talk Live — Self - Guest
• 2020The Horror Crowd — Self
• Eli Roth's History of Horror — Self
• 2018The Main Course: The Making of Critters 2 — Self
• 2018They Bite!: The Making of Critters — Self
• 2010Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy — Self
• 2008Starz Inside: In the Gutter — Self
• 2007Snakes on a Plane: Meet the Reptiles — Self
• 2007Snakes on a Set: Behind the Scenes — Self
• 2007The Snake Pit: On the Set of 'Snakes on a Plane' — Self
• 2006Pure Venom: The Making of Snakes on a Plane — Self
• Made in Hollywood — Self