See Jane speak

When we call Jane Lynch in Los Angeles on the Fourth of July, she sounds very upbeat. Not only is she just remembering that it’s our country’s 232nd birthday (credit her busy schedule for the forgetfulness), but she’s also just learned that Jesse Helms is dead. We both can’t help but agree that it’s a good thing that the former U.S. senator, who once famously proclaimed that homosexuals are “weak, morally sick wretches,” will no longer fan the flames of homophobia.

It’s fitting that our conversation begins with politics. While Lynch, 48, is best known as the character actor and scene stealer in TV and film cult faves such as Best in Show, The 40 Year Old Virgin and The L Word, the lesbian actor and former Chicagoan is also an activist on behalf of LGBT rights. She has spoken for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) before and will do so again this weekend at its Summer Chic gala at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. She currently has her eye on both change in Washington and marriage equality in California, two elements that likely will feature prominently in her address. “This is just the beginning of gay marriage becoming commonplace,” she says of the May ruling that legalized gay marriage in the Golden State. “I was just at Starbucks the other day, and the barista said, ‘I got married last night.’ He has a ring on his finger and he now has a husband. It’s amazing. Obama in the White House will be such an energetic shot in the arm to this country.”

Lynch cut her teeth in Chicago’s improv scene in the late ’80s and early ’90s at both Second City and the Annoyance. The latter included the juicy role of Carol Brady in its late-night smash Real Live Brady Bunch. “That was one of those moments in time when you’re flaring on all cylinders,” she says. “The audience just kind of got hooked into it. Opening night we had a line around the block. It was really something special.”

But Lynch scored an even bigger break in 2000 by playing gay in the beloved Christopher Guest film Best in Show. He cast her after they’d worked together on a Frosted Flakes commercial. As is customary in Guest’s zany mockumentaries, Lynch played a big part in creating her character, Christy Cummings, an indefatigable dyke dog handler who falls for Jennifer Coolidge’s airy gold digger. (The duo stole the film.) Lynch says the inspiration for Cummings came from growing up in Dolton, a working-class southwest suburb. “It’s kind of this ‘I got to get out of here’ kind of thing,” she says. “I’m this fabulous human being; why don’t people understand me?” (Note: Her character in Guest’s 2003 A Mighty Wind, Laurie Bohner, hails from nearby Calumet City.)

And while Lynch today is an accomplished actor (she just wrapped the pilot for ABC’s Never Better with Damon Wayans, as well as Nora Ephron’s Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep), she readily acknowledges her Chicago roots. “It’s the great theater training of the world,” she says. “It’s kind of like theater boot camp.”

Lynch speaks at HRC’s Summer Chic gala on Saturday 19.