You might know Christine Baranski as principled lawyer Diane Lockhart from The Good Fight (and its predecessor The Good Wife). Or, you might know her as glamorous Maryann Thorpe in the '90s sitcom Cybill, Leonard's chilly mom Beverly in The Big Bang Theory, or sassy Tanya in the Mamma Mia! movies. Either way, she's an actress who makes a strong impression – once you're a Christine Baranski fan, you're a fan for life.
Next up is a lead role as snobbish socialite Agnes van Rhijn in The Gilded Age, the new series set in the upper echelons of 1880s New York City, created by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes. Ahead of its premiere Monday (January 24), we're taking a minute to celebrate "the great Christine Baranski" – more on this later – with some things you may not know about her. Enjoy!
1. She isn't quite as posh as you might presume.
"I'm from a blue-collar neighborhood in Buffalo, New York," Baranski told The Guardian recently. "You know, I remember even in high school people would say: ‘You don’t sound like us, you sound English.’ I think I decided early on that I wanted to speak a certain way, and it was a projection on my part. I wanted to go to New York and be a theater actress, and I’m living my image of the kind of woman I wanted to be."
2. After studying drama at New York City's prestigious Juilliard School, she did just that.
In fact, Baranski went on to win two Tony Awards – for her performances in 1984's The Real Thing and 1989's Rumors.
3. She landed her breakthrough role as Maryann in '90s sitcom Cybill kind of against the odds.
Baranski told The New Yorker last year: "I read the script of Cybill, written by Chuck Lorre. It was this witty, Martini-swirling, sophisticated character, and I said, 'I know how to play this role.' But the overriding reason I did it — and I did it with extreme reluctance — was it became clear that a theater career was not going to pay the bills."
"Also, the head of the network didn’t want me," she added. "I think it was the man who preceded Les Moonves who said, 'No one’s interested in Christine Baranski.' Thirteen episodes later, I won an Emmy."
Incidentally, Baranski's career tally of Emmy nominations now stands at an incredibly impressive 15.

5. She's a great admirer of Dame Maggie Smith.
When Baranski was nominated alongside Smith at the 2014 Emmys, she told the LA Times: "I’ve always thought that the greatest kick for me was to be in a category with Maggie Smith. I remember seeing her in a movie theater in Buffalo, N.Y., watching her Desdemona to Laurence Olivier’s Othello. To me she’s a kind of ultimate actress, she can do anything, and she’s simply one of the greatest actresses who’s ever lived, so to be in a category with her is to me the biggest kick of all."
6. She was married to fellow actor Matthew Cowles from 1983 until his passing in 2014.
You may remember Cowles, a prolific character actor, from his roles in shows including All My Children, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the U.S. version of Life on Mars. 
7. She's honest about the impact of becoming more famous than him.
“All successful women know this: you pay a price for being the person who gets more wattage," Baranski told The Guardian. "I remember once, on the red carpet, a photographer actually shouted at him: ‘Get out of the way, you’re standing in her light.’ Matthew was so gracious, saying: ‘Of course, of course.’ But I just cringed inside."
8. She enjoys taking summer courses at Oxford University in England.
Baranski told The Observer in 2018 that one year she took a course on archaeologist T.E. Lawrence –  i.e. "Lawrence of Arabia" – and the next year she took one on Oscar Wilde.
9. Her name will forever be linked to… erm, an intimate part of Michael Sheen's body.
During her 2018 appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the actress discussed the persistent rumor that Sheen refers to his penis as "The Great Christine Baranski." However, Baranski and Sheen have since met – while working together on The Good Fight – and she told EW in 2019 that it was all a big joke started by his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman.
10. She likes to define herself, rather modestly, as a "hard-working actress with a long, versatile career."
"I was in my 60s before I was number one on the call sheet,” Baranski told V magazine last year. "I just continue working and try to be defined by the work that I do. I’m not interested in selling myself or putting myself in quotation marks."
And long may it continue!
Do you have a favorite Christine Baranski role?