The Canadian actress started her rise with Second City, and then the Canadian sketch show SCTV. In the 1980s, she appeared in a number of memorable supporting film roles, from After Hours to Heartburn. Then, of course, in 1990 she entered the holiday pantheon with Home Alone, playing a mother desperate to get home to her son. I just watched Home Alone for the first time (I know!) this past holiday season. It was so clear that O’Hara was the blueprint for movie moms, harried by the holiday season and yet full of love and life for those around her. She won her first acting Emmy for her indelible role as Moira Rose on Schitt’s Creek.

In a 2019 interview with the New Yorker, she talked about her rise in comedy and a relatable admission: she said she was bad at auditioning. “When you’re on the job, it’s so collaborative. It’s about everyone,” she said. “When you’re auditioning, it’s only you. It’s so not related to what the job will be, really.”

From sketch comedy to the camaraderie of a TV set, O’Hara was committed to those who were lucky enough to cross her path. “Why work alone if you don’t have to?” she explained in that New Yorker interview.

Through it all, O’Hara was willing to be ridiculous, insane (in the best way), a singular presence onscreen. She described her characters as “insecure delusional.” “I love playing people who have no real sense of the impression they’re making on anyone else,” she told Vulture in 2019. “But the more I say it, the more I realize that’s all of us, and the internet, social networking, is a desperate attempt to try to control what others think of you.”

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com

The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

Stars are speaking out again. After a Golden Globe ceremony that was fairly apolitical, many winners used the stage last night at the Grammys to speak out against ICE and the Trump administration. That included Best New Artist winner Olivia Dean—who continued a streak of only female artists winning that award since 2017. "I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant," Dean said. 

Laura Fernández is Costa Rica's new president. Fernández is a far-right populist, seen as the political heir to outgoing president Rodrigo Chaves. She joins a growing crop of rightwing female world leaders, including Sanae Takaichi in Japan and Giorgia Meloni in Italy. Guardian

The latest from the Epstein files. New emails with Elon Musk and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick show greater connections than either have previously admitted to. Plus, disturbingly, the Justice Department included nude photos of young women (or possibly teenagers) with their faces visible in the files; they've now been taken down. 

China has failed to crack down on secret filming of women and girls. Large groups on Telegram include users across China who secretly film their own wives and girlfriends, or install cameras in public bathrooms and fitting rooms, and upload the content. The government has failed to crack down on the problem—notable in a country known for online surveillance. NYT

ON MY RADAR

I treat pregnant moms. I've never seen so much anxiety The Cut

The return of athlete outrage The Atlantic

Usha Vance's pregnancy becomes a talking point NYT

The bots that women use in a world of unsatisfying men The Atlantic

PARTING WORDS

"I had to make a transition for survival from folk music, which was killed by the British Invasion. ... Then I made an album called For the Roses, because I was pissed off at the music business."

— Joni Mitchell, accepting her award for Best Historical Album at the Grammys