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HERE ARE ACTORS who play certain types of characters with such

frequency that it can seem as though they must be portraying a ver-

sion of themselves. Jack Nicholson as the charming rascal; Owen

Wilson as the lovable blond surfer goof. Melissa McCarthy as the

loud, brash, foulmouthed woman who doesn’t give a whit what any-

one thinks of her. She’s been Detective Shannon Mullins, the prickly,

street-savvy Boston cop in The Heat, an active volcano of insults who follows no

rules but her own. And Tammy, the downtrodden antihero in the road-trip comedy

of the same name, who holds up a fast-food joint with a greasy paper bag on her

head. And Susan Cooper, the unsung CIA agent in the Bond spoof Spy, who goes

undercover to avenge a colleague, unleashing not only her pent-up brilliance but a

lifetime of repressed profanities.

McCarthy’s characters are extreme while never feeling outright implausible;

they often enact the satisfying fantasy of a woman who gives full vent to her id.

So it is surprising and even a little disarming to meet McCarthy in person and find

someone very different from the characters she plays. You don’t seriously expect to

encounter one of her trash-talking, hard-drinking heroines. But perhaps because

McCa r t hy is such a n ex h i la rat i n gly gi f ted comed ia n—who ca n forget her a s t he no-

nonsense Megan in Bridesmaids, bragging about making a “man salad” and coming

on to an air marshal midflight?—you half-expect her to exhibit some of that anar-

chic wildness in person. Instead, the actual McCarthy, with her striking dimples

and seawater-green eyes, is softer and gentler than her movie counterparts would

suggest. “I’m certainly much more audacious as other people,” McCarthy says of

her on-screen personas, as she settles into the backseat of a black SUV en route to

a bar near her Los Angeles home. “You get to scream at people or say insane things

and not think twice about it. Whereas I would never do that in my real life.”

In real life, McCarthy is polite, poised and neatly self-contained. As she talks,

it’s clear that she’s not the sort of relentlessly “on” comedian who alters the eco-

system of any room she enters. “She’s shockingly normal and down-to-earth,”

says Elisabeth Moss, who, along with Tiffany Haddish, stars with McCarthy in The

Kitchen, a drama about a trio of women who take over the Irish mob in ’70s-era

Hell’s Kitchen, out in theaters in August. “I feel like that’s said of so many famous

people. But Melissa actually is, like, in her core.”

McCarthy’s in-person humor is subtle, arising from the odd intonation, the

unexpected word choice, the kooky voices she does or the charmingly quirky anec-

dotes she tells. She’s drily funny, and we spend much of our time together laughing.

Yet in her flowing white pants, black-and-brown print silk blouse and tan leather

Birkenstocks, she looks less like a beloved Hollywood comedian and more like a

chic suburban mom dressed for the morning carpool line or a creative executive on

her way to a breakfast meeting.

An executive is exactly what she is. At 48, McCarthy has made more than 25 mov-

ies (five of which she’s produced) and starred in two hit television shows, Gilmore

Girls and Mike & Molly. She has been nominated for eight Emmys (she won in 2011, for

Mike & Molly, and in 2017, for hosting Saturday Night Live); two Golden Globes (for

Spy and Can You Ever Forgive Me?); and two Oscars, including a best actress nomi-

nation for her dramatic role in last year’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? (t he ot her wa s

BY AMANDA FORTINI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAN MARTENSEN

STYLING BY ELISSA SANTISI

Melissa McCarthy has played

some of Hollywood’s most

memorable characters. From

comedy to drama, the award-

winning actor and creative

executive can handle anything.

SHE’S

FUNNY

THAT

WAY

CHARACTER STUDY

“She can do drama and

she can do physical

comedy—there’s such a

breadth to what she can

do,” says Ben Falcone,

McCarthy’s husband and

frequent collaborator.

Ralph Lauren turtleneck,

Lafayette 148 New York

pants, Gucci sneakers and

McCarthy’s own rings.