In many cell types, nuclear A-type lamins have been implicated in structural and functional activities, including higher-order genome organization, DNA replication and repair, gene transcription, and signal transduction. However, their role in specialized immune cells remains largely unexplored. Here, we showed that the abundance of A-type lamins is almost negligible in resting naïve T lymphocytes, but that it is substantially increased upon activation of the T cell receptor (TCR), and is an early event that accelerates formation of the immunological synapse between T cells and antigen-presenting cells. We found that lamin-A enhanced the polymerization of F-actin in T cells, a critical step for immunological synapse formation, by physically connecting the nucleus to the plasma membrane through the linker of nucleoskeleton and cytoskeleton (LINC) complex. We also showed that lamin-A played a key role in other membrane, cytoplasmic, and nuclear events related to TCR activation, including receptor-clustering, downstream signaling, and target gene expression. Notably, the presence of lamin-A was associated with enhanced extracellular signal–regulated kinase 1/2 signaling, and pharmacological inhibition of this pathway reduced the extent of lamin-A–dependent T cell activation. Moreover, mice deficient in lamin-A exhibited impaired T cell responses in vivo. These findings underscore the importance of A-type lamins for TCR activation, and identify lamin-A as a previously unappreciated regulator of the immune response.