Jayne Atkinson was born in Bournemouth, Hampshire (now Dorset, England), but her family moved to the United States when she was 9 years old. She grew up in Hollywood, Fla. and graduated from Pine Crest School where she was elected Homecoming Queen in 1976. She attended Northwestern University (BA Communications, 1981), where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega and a sorority sister of Laura Innes; and the Yale Drama School.

After working in regional theatres, Atkinson appeared off-Broadway in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Bloody Poetry in 1987. She made her Broadway debut the same year in a revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Subsequently, she landed title roles in more stage productions, which include Henry VIII, Tru, and The Art of Success. She earned a Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Skriker in 1996. Atkinson's work in the Roundabout Theatre Company's 1999 production of The Rainmaker earned her a Tony Award nomination, and her performance in the 2003 play Enchanted April earned her an Outer Critics Circle Award, another Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk nomination. In 2009, she starred as Ruth Condomine in a Broadway revival of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, which co-starred Rupert Everett, Christine Ebersole, and Angela Lansbury, who won her record-breaking 5th Tony Award for her role as Madame Arcati.

She has appeared in such films as Free Willy, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, 12 and Holding, Blank Check, The Village and Syriana.

Her television acting credits include A Year in the Life, Parenthood, The X-Files, Law & Order, The Practice, Criminal Minds and 24, opposite Kiefer Sutherland and James Morrison. Her performance in the made-for-TV movie Our Town garnered her a Satellite Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Atkinson is married to actor Michel Gill, with whom she has one son. They met when they appeared together in a 1989 production of The Heiress at the Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut.