Melanie Lynskey filmography

New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey made her professional debut at the age of 16 when she starred as murderess Pauline Parker in Heavenly Creatures (1994), a crime drama directed by Peter Jackson and co-starring Kate Winslet. Following a three-year hiatus, she resumed her career with a supporting role—as Drew Barrymore's stepsister—in the big-budget romance Ever After (1998), and spent the next few years appearing in a variety of international productions, such as Detroit Rock City, But I'm a Cheerleader, The Cherry Orchard (all 1999), Coyote Ugly (2000), Snakeskin (2001), Shooters, Abandon and Sweet Home Alabama (all 2002).

Lynskey at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

Between 2003 and 2015, Lynskey appeared as Rose—the devious love interest of Charlie Harper (played by Charlie Sheen)—on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. During this time she also had supporting roles in the biographical drama Shattered Glass (2003), Clint Eastwood's war epic Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Sam Mendes's Away We Go, Jason Reitman's Up in the Air alongside George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! opposite Matt Damon, Leaves of Grass alongside Edward Norton (all 2009), Thomas McCarthy's Win Win (2011), and the film version of Stephen Chbosky's novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), in which she played the main character's sexually abusive aunt.

Lynskey's portrayal of depressed divorcee Amy Minsky in the 2012 drama Hello I Must Be Going—a turning point in her career[1]—led to a string of prominent parts in films such as The Big Ask (2013), Happy Christmas, Goodbye to All That, We'll Never Have Paris (all 2014), The Intervention (2016), And Then I Go (2017), the acclaimed[2] thriller I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)—where she played Ruth, a disgruntled vigilante—and Sadie (2018). These roles helped establish her as a key figure on the American independent film scene.[3]

In 2015, Lynskey's portrayal of Michelle Pierson on HBO's Togetherness (2015–2016) earned her a nomination for a Critics' Choice Television Award. She then starred as Zara Skelton in the Australian drama series Sunshine (2017) and as Molly Strand on the first season of Hulu's Castle Rock (2018), had major roles in the miniseries' Mrs. America (2020) and Candy (2022), and co-starred as Leonardo DiCaprio's wife in the 2021 political satire Don't Look Up. Lynskey's transition to mainstream success was solidified by her starring role as Shauna on the Showtime mystery-thriller series Yellowjackets (2021–present),[4] for which she won the 2022 Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress that same year. In 2023, she guest-starred as Kathleen on the post-apocalyptic HBO drama The Last of Us.