Amy Poehler Biography

Amy Poehler: Biography

Amy Poehler (born September 16, 1971 in Burlington, Massachusetts) is an American comedian and actress. She currently stars on Saturday Night Live, where she gives impressions of Sharon Osbourne, Kelly Ripa, Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Nancy Grace and Michael Jackson. She was promoted from featured player to full cast member during her first season on SNL, and is only the third person (the first two were Harry Shearer and Eddie Murphy) to earn this distinction.

Amy Poehler became a Weekend Update
co-anchor at the beginning the 2004-2005 season, where she co-anchored with Tina Fey. Currently, she co-anchors Weekend Update with Seth Meyers, replacing outgoing cast member Tina Fey, who went on to do her own series titled, 30 Rock.

As a 1993 graduate of Boston College, Amy was a key member of America's oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe, My Mother's Fleabag. Poehler has appeared in films such as Wet Hot American Summer, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Envy and Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny.

In the past, Amy has often appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Andy Richter's little sister, and as a recurring character in two episodes of the college "dramedy" Undeclared.

Amy has performed at Second City Chicago and the ImprovOlympic, and is a disciple of longform improv comic innovator, Del Close. She was one of the four players on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade and is a co-owner and a performer of longform improv most Sunday evenings at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, that developed from the Comedy Central series.

Poehler has been married to Will Arnett since August 2003, of the now cancelled FOX comedy series, Arrested Development, and had recurring roles in the series as the wife of Arnett's character GOB. She is set to appear in the film, Shrek the Third as the voice of Snow White in 2007.

Amy and partner Will Arnett welcomed their first child, a boy, Archie Arnett, on October 25, 2008.(edit)
In 2008, Amy was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Saturday Night Live.(edit)
On April 28, 2008, Amy's rep confirmed that she and husband Will Arnett are expecting a baby due in late fall.(edit)
While on Upright Citizens Brigade, Amy once played a young girl in sketch featuring the "Real Unibomber". She now plays the same character on SNL. (edit)
In 2008, Amy starred in Baby Mama, a comedy film also starring her former Saturday Night Live co-star and close friend, Tina Fey.(edit)
In 2007, Amy starred in Blades of Glory which also stars her former Saturday Night Live co-star, Will Ferrell. (edit)
Amy would like to produce and direct as her next step in the business.(edit)
Amy enjoys cooking, and watching the Food Network channel. She often tries out the new recipes at dinner parties for friends and family.(edit)
Amy and Tina Fey are close friends off-screen as well as having worked together in a number of projects for over 15 years.(edit)
Amy enjoyed putting on comedy shows for her friends and family as a child, always thinking that she was meant to make people laugh as a career.(edit)
Amy cites her comedic influences as being: Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, and Lucille Ball, all great performers of Improv humor.(edit)
Amy enjoys spending time with her husband at the beach, shopping, and quiet walks in the country in her free time.(edit)
Amy is a co-owner of the Upright Citizen's Crigade Theatre in New York, and frequently performs Long Form Improv there on Sunday evenings.(edit)
Amy joined Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy to voice the character Snow White in the Shrek sequels.(edit)
Amy appeared on Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Benefit for Autism Education, on October 15, 2006. (edit)
Amy was featured on the cover of Bust magazine in the October 2006 issue.(edit)
Amy starred in both Mean Girls and Envy, which opened on the same day in 2004.(edit)
On SNL, Amy is famous for her many hilarious impressions of celebrities such as Kelly Ripa, Marcia Cross, Avril Lavigne, Madonna, Julia Roberts, and Sharon Osbourne.(edit)
Amy graduated from Boston College in 1993, and was a key member of America's oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe, My Mother's Fleabag. (edit)
Amy is the daughter of Bill and Eileen Poehler.(edit)
Amy's favorite baseball team is the Boston Red Sox.(edit)
Amy is 5'2" (1.57 m).(edit)
In 1993 she moved to Chicago where she studied at the Second City and Improv Olympics along with fellow Alumni: Mike Myers, Tina Fey, Ossie Beck, Adam McKay, and the late Chris Farley.(edit)
She succeeded Jimmy Fallon as Tina Fey's co-anchor of Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch and making it the first all-female team beginning with the 30th season of NBC's Saturday Night Live.(edit)
Amy has been married to Arrested Development star Will Arnett since August 29, 2003.(edit)

Amy: If family violence teaches children that might makes right at home, how will we hope to cure the futile impulse to solve worldly conflicts with force?(edit)
Amy: Housework is the only activity at which men are allowed to be consistently inept because they are thought to be so competent at everything else.(edit)
Amy: America is a nation fundamentally ambivalent about its children, often afraid of its children, and frequently punitive toward its children.(edit)
Amy: Although Freud said happiness is composed of love and work, reality often forces us to choose love or work.(edit)
Amy: (on kids, due to her pregnancy) I'm great with kids. I think I'm still a big giant kid. I understand them and usually we're the same size. I think I understand the way they look up at the world. I get it.(edit)
Amy: I've never watched old repeats of Saturday Night Live because I can't bear it. I mean reruns of older seasons of stuff, because if the scene's funny I'm jealous that I didn't think of it. It's too intimidating. I just can't compare myself. I love it so much I can't even watch it.(edit)
Amy (on her life outside her work): All we do is watch The Wire and go out to dinner with our friends. I wish I could tell you that we had these crazy comedy competitions of hilariousness, but at the end of the day, all I want is a good cry and an hourlong drama. (edit)
Amy (on her new film Blades of Glory): Every time that we�d do something funny (Will) Ferrell would accidentally like hit the camera or lose the film. Hair in the gate, all that crap. We did get to do a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff that I remember being genius, but we got to play around a lot. We improvised a lot of stuff too so that was fun.(edit)
Amy (on her new film Blades of Glory): It was really fun to play the bad guy because as a woman sometimes you don't get to do that. You have to be nice.(edit)
Amy: I had the best time making Mean Girls, that was a fun bunch of ladies. I was given a lot of creative freedom as well, to just go with what felt funny, and I believe that was a huge part of the movie's flow.(edit)
Amy: There's a couple of enemies to improv, and one of them is editing; when you edit on TV it makes it seem like it's not really improv.(edit)
Amy: Improvisation is almost like the retarded cousin in the comedy world. We've been trying forever to get improvisation on TV. It's just like stand-up. It's best when it's just left alone. It doesn't translate always on TV. It's best live.(edit)
Amy: I also think if you're an actor and you can improvise, when you go on an audition and you can improvise you're just a genius. If you can, you know, take a Tide commercial and you can just say one funny line that's not in the commercial they think you're a genius.(edit)