The Untold Truth Of Kathryn Hahn

What comes to your mind when you hear Kathryn Hahn's name? Do you think of her as the politically savvy campaign manager Jennifer Barkley from Parks and Recreation? Or do you immediately flash to scenes of her quirky Bad Moms character indulging in wild behavior that some parents could only dread (or dream of)? There's also a chance you've fallen in love with her all over again thanks to her role as Agnes in Marvel's WandaVision. The fact that Hahn always seems to be a fan-favorite who delivers memorable performances might be, in part, because of the fact that she adores what she does. And apparently she's always been that way.

Hahn confirmed that while talking to NPR's Fresh Air, saying that when it comes to performing, she's always "loved the ensemble," "loved the feeling right before — as awful as it was," and "loved the feeling after." She explained that being on stage is like being "in communion with the audience," and noted, "Even at [a] very young age, I loved the feeling of something, like, heightened and holy — that's what it felt like."

While that kind of connection makes it totally understandable why anyone would be a massive fan of what Hahn does as a famous Hollywood figure, there's so much more to the actor than just the work that she does on screen. For instance, check out these untold truths about the popular star that prove that she's just as intriguing off-screen as she is on-screen.

Kathryn Hahn may be a star in Hollywood and beyond these days, but she certainly wasn't raised in sunny California. Instead, Hahn was born on July 23, 1973, according to her IMDb bio, in Westchester, which is a neighborhood west of downtown Chicago. However, she wasn't raised in the Prairie State. Instead, the woman who was destined to be a star grew up in Cleveland, Ohio.

Hahn talked to Rolling Stone about her upbringing in 2015, saying, "I come from a very funny family; it was a tough dining room table." However, she also explained how she was influenced by where she was raised. "[J]ust growing up in Ohio, that's really the best comedy training ever. You can keep your Groundlings or your Second City, people. I got Catholic school in Cleveland Heights, b****!"

Of course, Hahn isn't the only famous face who originally hailed from Ohio. According to Cleveland Magazine, "A proud Clevelander, Hahn worked with fellow North Coast native Molly Shannon in [the 2018 film] Private Life." The Ohio-focused outlet also noted that the pair of stars "gave a proud shout-out to The Land when they appeared on Good Morning America," and while talking to Cleveland Magazine, she apparently "sign[ed] off from [the] interview with a warm request," saying, "Give that city a big hug from me!" Clearly, Hahn has never lost the love she has for the place where she grew up.

Kathryn Hahn may not have been a child star, but she was a child actor. According to Cleveland Magazine, along with "scoring her first on-screen gig ... on WKYC's Hickory Hideout" — a children's show that featured a young Hahn looking adorable with '80s-appropriate poofy bangs (see the image above) — she spent part of her time as "a Cleveland Play House Curtain Puller, acting in youth productions with Case Western Reserve University graduate students." While that may make it sound like she was responsible for literally pulling the rope for the stage curtains, that's not quite the case. The theater's history page explains that Curtain Puller was actually the name of what had earlier been called The Play House Children's Theatre. "Believed to be the first of its kind in America," it's a "program [that] provides free theatre education to Cleveland youngsters." 

Aa Cleveland Magazine wrote, Hahn's "[d]ays at the theater were punctuated by treks across the street to Burger King for a chicken sandwich or 'healthy snacks' like a Snickers bar shared in the backstage dark," which seem like extremely simple pleasures, but helped to create fond memories for the star and put her on her path to her chosen career. "That was a pretty magical thing and really cemented something clearly for me as a performer," she told the magazine. "That's my idea of a holy space. Where I fell in love with theater is Cleveland Play House, in the backstage area.'"

Plenty of stars took less-than-enviable jobs before they got famous. Many of those people also worked in restaurants. Kathryn Hahn fits in both of those categories. "The summer after I graduated from undergrad ... I got a job as a waitress at the only Middle Eastern restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio called Aladdin's," Hahn told The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. To say that the restaurant wasn't exactly serving top-notch food is an understatement. In fact, Hahn admitted that she would have to "skim the top of the hummus and the baba ganoush every morning because it would" end up with a "gelatinous layer on the top." Um, ew!

However, that wasn't the nastiest thing that Hahn had to do at a former job. While working as a camp counselor, one child did something more than just go for a casual swim. "This girl, Candy, crapped in the pool while I was under her watch, and I had to skim it out," Hahn recalled. She even went over how it happened, saying, "I could see her grimace, and her face was like— and I knew she was going to take a crap, and I was like, 'Oh, no, is she going to do it?'" Indeed, she did. Hahn added, "So that was a pretty crappy summer job. Skimming children's feces off of a public pool surface." Skimming the top of hummus sounded gross enough, but skimming poop out of a pool is beyond horrible.

Like other studious stars such as Connie Britton, John Legend, and Angela Bassett, Kathryn Hahn went to an Ivy League school. While she first earned a Bachelor's degree in Theatre from Northwestern University, per IMDb, "one [of] her favorite experiences was getting her [Master of Fine Arts] from Yale," CBSN Los Angeles explained. 

Indeed, Hahn told CBSN Los Angeles that she "didn't go" to Yale "right after undergrad," but instead spent "a couple of years flailing around New York City" and "working at a hair salon as a receptionist." While talking about the salon, she recalled that it was a "fancy" place and "was a really awesome gig." At the same time, she "was trying to act" and admitted that "it was really hard."

When Hahn found out she's been accepted to Yale, she said, "I was not young, but I was so excited to just act." Regarding her time at the Yale School of Drama, she told The Hollywood Reporter, "It was the best, because I just got to act for three years." Granted, it was also a costly experience. But according to Vanity Fair, Hahn was able to get those student loans squared away relatively quickly "thanks to a recurring role as a grief counselor on the medical drama Crossing Jordan." Thank goodness Hahn became a well-paid star otherwise she still might be paying off those loans.

Hollywood is made up of people of all religions and faiths. As for Kathryn Hahn, Vulture noted that she was "raised Catholic ..., but [has] played many characters who are Jewish." The outlet asked the star if the characters she's played have "inspired" her "to reevaluate" her "relationship with spirituality." Hahn admitted, "Oh, so much."

Recalling that she was sent "to Catholic school for the cheapest private education," she also explained that, in her opinion, "There is something about having a direct line to God — your own individual relationship, whatever that means." While she may not be clear on the exact nature of connecting to a higher power, she did explain an experience that had "been pretty profound." While preparing for her role as Raquel Fein in Transparent, she said she "worked and [is] still in contact with a rabbi named Susan Goldberg, who is an incredible human in mind, spirit, and energy." Hahn told Vulture, "She was such a help."

As for the role that religion plays in Hahn's personal life, she explained, "My husband is Jewish and our kids go to a secular school. But we have a little after-school Hebrew class with the local rabbinical students." She also noted that her "son is kind wrestling with it and trying to figure it out now." Hopefully, his mom will have some insight to help him along his way.

Like many other talented performers that we often see on the silver screen— we're looking at (or, in this case, hearing) you Will Smith, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell — Kathryn Hahn has voiced a fair share of animated characters. Pop on the 2014 American Dad! episode called "Honey, I'm Homeland," and, according to IMDb, you'll hear Hahn as Luli. While that was a one-time gig, she was the voice of Tracy on Chozen for 10 episodes and is Central Park's Paige Hunter.

Hahn told ScreenRant that when she took the latter role, "It was kind of a leap of faith, but not really, because I knew, with that kind of team involved, it was going to be something special." That team includes Bob's Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, who she had worked with on his original hit show. Yes, that's right, Hahn is the voice of Louise's boring schoolmate, Jessica, who turns up for the young Belcher's surprise slumber party and has a secret that she tries to keep from everyone. The same character turns up on "Three Girls and a Little Wharfy."

Of course, animated projects aren't just limited to shows. There are also plenty of animated films and Hahn has scored roles in some of them as well. Watch (or re-watch) 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and listen for Hahn as Doc Ock. She's also the voice of Ericka in Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation which came out that same year.

You surely know that Kathryn Hahn can act, but did you know that she can also sing? While it's unclear if she has any aspirations to be the next big pop star (FYI: we would totally buy her albums and go to every world tour if she decided to go for it), she is perfectly willing and able to use her singing skills on the screen and on the stage. For instance, she played Gloria in the Broadway musical Boeing-Boeing, according to IBDB, alongside other stars that you know from on-screen roles like Christine Baranski, Bradley Whitford, and Gina Gershon as well as Mark Rylance and Mary McCormack.

Of course, anyone who has seen 2008's Step Brothers knows that Hahn rocked out (in a way) to Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" with Adam Scott. Granted, his character was pretty darn critical of her performance.

Beyond that, Hahn gets to use her pipes on Central Park. In fact, when asked by CBR.com about what drew her to the opportunity, she admitted, "The music, first and foremost. That was a thrilling aspect for me and something that I'd never really done before on this level." She added that it "was hearkened back to [her] days of doing like high school musicals, and that thrill and feeling, it's something that I'd always wanted to explore and never really had gotten a chance to. And why not start it at 45?" Indeed, why not?!

While Kathryn Hahn has been in the acting scene since she was a kid, she's scored some of her biggest jobs as she's gotten older and after becoming a mother. She opened up to NPR's Fresh Air about her early gigs, saying, "When I started to see the roles that were available to me, what I was being seen for, I definitely thought ... 'This is just such a small part of me that's being seen. I wish somebody could see more of what I can offer.'" That opportunity did eventually pop up, which has thrilled Hahn. "I'm just so buoyed and galvanized that the juiciest part of [my career] has been post-kids. ... I never anticipated that. So that's terribly exciting."

The star also talked to Vanity Fair about landing her biggest and most challenging roles when she was older. "I've finally been able to arrive at the parts that I don't know if I would have been able to handle in my 20s," she said. "It's a big surprise to me that I feel more creatively fulfilled since having two children than I have in any other point in my life. I just had always been told that it would be the other way: 'Once you have kids, it's downhill' or 'After 40, it's downhill.'" Hahn explained that kind of opinion is "nonsense noise you hear from the outside." Instead, she's "found the opposite to be completely, completely true."

Kathryn Hahn hasn't only had to deal with people telling her that her career would go downhill after 40, she also had to deal with an age-related issue in her mid-30s. It arrived when, as Vanity Fair wrote, "a doctor's description of her cut through the 35-year-old's reverie like train whistle."

"I was called a 'geriatric mother' by a very expensive doctor, and I was like, 'A what?'" Hahn recalled to the magazine. She continued, "I remember finding out I was pregnant, going to Starbucks, and being like, 'Oh, you better make it a decaf,' and then bursting into tears, because I felt so young.'" Granted, it's not unusual for women — including stars like Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, and Meghan Markle — to have children after they turn 35. 

As for Hahn, she is now the mother of two, and told Time in 2016, "There are definitely nights where we're all cuddling and they ask me to sing a song — I am dreading the day when they outgrow that — and they're getting along and it feels peaceful and I just want to blow up and die with gratitude and love." That sounds like a good mom to us.

Kathryn Hahn not only uses her fame to bring in the big roles for herself — she also uses her influence to support worthy causes. For instance, as Cleveland Magazine 
noted, she went to her hometown in 2018 and "knocked on doors" on behalf of Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio. The star explained why she wanted to be involved with the effort, saying, "I knew that there were candidates that were really threatening women's reproductive rights in pretty major ways, especially in Ohio. I found canvassing to be something valuable and active to do, rather than twiddle my thumbs and hope over here in California."

On top of that, Look to the Stars notes that Hahn has been involved with Shane's Inspiration, which is "the global leader in creating inclusive playgrounds and educational programs for children with disabilities." She also showed her support for the ACLU by wearing a blue ribbon while attending the Emmy Awards ceremony in 2017. Hahn and other celebrities like The Handmaid's Tale star Elisabeth Moss and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi sported the ribbons in order "to urge Congress to pass a 'clean' Dream Act and to show that they stand with Dreamers," according to Elle. A ribbon on the red carpet certainly makes a statement and one that proves that Hahn is a caring person.

Kathryn Hahn may have fame, but her fortune might not be as big as you thought. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Hahn only has $2 million. While she's not always the savviest when it comes to money matters — i.e. she "gave her son $20 after he reminded her the tooth fairy hadn't come yet," according to People — she is aware of the realities around what she's paid.

When Hahn and Bad Moms costars, Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell, sat down with the Los Angeles Times in 2017, the three discussed the intricacies of what they make. "You think you have the power, but you never do," Bell explained while talking about being able (or not being able) to determine how much a star gets paid for a project. She added, "The studio does." And a studio needs to consider a few things when it comes to how much it will pay its stars, such as how bankable they are, how much money a project is likely to make, and what deals have already been established. "I think that people need to realize you have deals set in place from previous negotiations," Kunis noted. "Let me tell ya, [Bell's] Frozen franchise is gonna pay off her cachet more than this franchise."

Talk about a peek be-Hahn the curtain.