Jane Krakowski is an American actress and singer. She is known for playing Elaine Vassal on Ally McBeal and Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock, winning Screen Actors Guild Awards for both roles. She also regularly performs on the stage, winning a Tony Award for her performance in Nine, and an Olivier Award for Guys and Dolls in London's West End.
Krakowski was born Jane Krajkowski in Parsippany, New Jersey, the daughter of Barbara, a college theater instructor and producing artistic director for the Women's Theater Company, and Ed Krajkowski, a chemical engineer. She has an older brother. Krakowski's father's family is entirely Polish and comes from Kraków, and although she only knows a few words in Polish, her father and grandparents are fluent. Krakowski was a childhood classmate of astronaut Garrett Reisman.
Krakowski grew up immersed in the local theater scene as a result of her parents' activities, saying in one interview, "Instead of hiring baby sitters, they brought me along with them." She took ballet lessons from age four, but later stopped because she was the wrong body shape, instead moving more towards Broadway dancing. She attended the Professional Children's School in New York City.
