Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer

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Born: May 15, 1940
Age in 2026: 86
Zodiac sign: Taurus
Birth year: 1940

About Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan (born Lainie Levine; May 15, 1940) is an American actress, singer and classical composer. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in My Favorite Year (1982). Kazan played Maria Portokalos in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise. She also played Aunt Freida on The Nanny. == Early life == Kazan was born Lainie Levine in Brooklyn, the daughter of Carole (née Kazan) and Ben Levine. She is of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish descent, with Russian and Turkish roots. Some of her grandparents lived in Jerusalem before moving to Manchester, England, and settling in Brooklyn. Kazan has described her mother as "neurotic, fragile and artistic." Kazan attended Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School with Barbra Streisand, for whom she would later understudy.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Overseen by Hugh Hefner, the clubs were named Lainie's Room West and Lainie's Room East, each on opposite coasts, with the first one located in Los Angeles and the other in Manhattan.
Following the first film in the franchise, Kazan was featured in My Big Fat Greek Life, a short-lived series based on the film series.
Beginning in 2012, Kazan became an adjunct professor at UCLA, teaching acting classes and directing her students in drama-department productions.

Lainie Kazan timeline

1982She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in My Favorite Year (1982).
1993She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year.
2012Beginning in 2012, Kazan became an adjunct professor at UCLA, teaching acting classes and directing her students in drama-department productions.

The world when Lainie Kazan was born

Lainie Kazan was born in 1940. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1940

#1 song"In the Mood" – Glenn Miller
Top movieRebecca
Best-selling bookFor Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentFirst televised college basketball game
Top headlineWinston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister
Technology milestoneFirst McDonald's restaurant opens
Defining fadSwing music hits its peak
Notable inventionJeep (military vehicle)
World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championCincinnati Reds (World Series)
U.S. population132.2M

1940 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Lainie Kazan's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1940	2026
Gas	$0.18	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,300	$435,000
Average income	$3,100	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	132.2M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, MusicBrainz. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.