Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler
Poehler at the premiere of Baby Mama (April 2008)
Born	Amy Meredith Poehler
Occupation	actress
Years active	1996—present
Spouse	Will Arnett

Amy Meredith Poehler (born September 16 1971) is an Emmy Award-nominated American comedienne and actress. She is a cast member and parody news anchor on the NBC television program Saturday Night Live. In 2008, Poehler starred in the film Baby Mama.

Early life

Poehler was born in Burlington, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eileen, a teacher, and Bill Poehler. She has a younger brother, Gregory, who was a copyright lawyer in New York before moving to Stockholm, Sweden with his wife. A 1993 graduate of Boston College, Poehler was a key member of America's oldest collegiate improv comedy troupe, My Mother's Fleabag.

After graduating from college, Poehler moved to Chicago where she studied improv at Second City alongside friend and future co-star Tina Fey. She also studied with Del Close at ImprovOlympic, going on to become part of the touring company as well as teaching classes at iO.

Career

Upright Citizens Brigade

During her time at Second City, Poehler studied with Matt Besser, part of the Upright Citizens Brigade. While the group initially consisted of many members (including Horatio Sanz, Adam McKay, and Neil Flynn), Poehler quickly became part of the group along with Matt Walsh. The two, along with Besser and Ian Roberts, performed sketch and improv around Chicago before moving to New York in 1996.

In 1998, Comedy Central debuted the Upright Citizens Brigade 's half hour TV show. During the show's second season, the group opened an Improv theatre and training center in New York City at 161 W. 22nd Street, occupying the space of a former strip club. The UCB theatre held shows seven nights a week in addition to offering classes in sketch comedy writing and improv.

Comedy Central cancelled the Upright Citizens Brigade program after its third season, though the UCB theatre continues to operate.

Saturday Night Live

Poehler joined the cast of SNL during the 2001-2002 season, her first episode being the first one produced after the 9/11 attacks with host Reese Witherspoon and Rudy Giuliani as a special guest. Poehler was promoted from featured player to full cast member in just her first season on the show, making her only the third person to have ever earned this distinction (after Harry Shearer and Eddie Murphy).

Beginning with the 2004-05 season, she co-anchored "Weekend Update" with Tina Fey, replacing the newly departed Jimmy Fallon. In a TV Guide interview, Fey said that with Poehler co-anchoring, there now is "double the sexual tension." When Fey left after the 2005-06 season to devote time to the sitcom she created, 30 Rock, Seth Meyers joined Poehler at the anchor desk. Poehler is currently nominated for an Emmy as "Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy", being the first SNL cast member recognized in this category. On September 13, 2008, the SNL season premiere opened with Fey and Poehler as Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton doing a "joint political campaign spot", during which Fey as Palin said "Don't call me a MILF" and Poehler as Clinton said "Don't call me a flerg".

Poehler has confirmed she will not be back for the full 2008 - 2009 season of SNL, although she will remain "through the [U.S. Presidential] election." Variety.com reported on July 15, 2008, that she was in final negotiations to star in The Office spinoff series by writers Greg Daniels and Mike Schur set to air on Thursdays after The Office starting January 2009 on NBC.

Only July 21, NBC officially announced Poehler's new Greg Daniels series, saying the project will not be a direct spin-off of "The Office" after all, though such a spin-off is still planned.

Other projects

Poehler has appeared in films such as Wet Hot American Summer, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny, Blades of Glory, Envy, Shrek The Third and Mr. Woodcock. In the past, she often appeared in various comedy segments on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, often playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's little sister Stacy, and as a recurring character in two episodes of the college dramedy Undeclared. She appears in the film Southland Tales, which premiered on May 21, 2006 at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, she appeared in Horton Hears a Who! and Baby Mama, and will star in Spring Breakdown and Hamlet 2. She has also co-created an animated series for Nickelodeon called The Mighty B! about Bessie Higgenbottom, a "sweet, merit-badge-obsessed girl scout," to which she lends her vocal talents.

Poehler appeared on the cover of the April 20, 2008 issue of Page Six Magazine.

Personal life

Poehler is married to Will Arnett, of the FOX comedy Arrested Development, and had a recurring role in the series as the nameless wife of Arnett's character George Oscar "G.O.B." Bluth II. Poehler and Arnett also played a quasi-incestuous brother-sister ice skating team in the 2007 film Blades of Glory. They live in New York City.

Pregnancy

On April 28 2008 People announced that the couple are expecting their first child together, due in October 2008.

Selected filmography

• Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil (2010) as Gretel
• A Snow White Boxer Movie (in the beginning of 2009) as Snow White
• The Mighty B! (2008) as Bessie Higgenbottom
• Spring Breakdown (2008) as Gayle
• Baby Mama (2008) as Angie Ostrowski
• Horton Hears a Who! (2008) as Sally Mcdodd
• Hamlet 2 (2008) as Cricket Feldstein
• Mr. Woodcock (2007) as Maggie Hoffman
• Shrek the Third (2007) as Snow White
• Blades of Glory (2007) as Fairchild Van Waldenberg
• The Ex (2007) as Carol Lane
• Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006) as Truck Stop Waitress
• Southland Tales (2006) as Veronica Mung / Dream
• Envy (2004) as Natalie Vanderpark
• Mean Girls (2004) as Mrs. George
• The Devil and Daniel Webster (2004) as Molly Gilchrest
• Wet Hot American Summer (2001) as Susie
• Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) as Ruth

Recurring characters on SNL

• Amanda ("Carol")
• Amber ("The One-Legged Hypoglycemic")
• Cocktail Waitress (Rialto Grande)
• Dorothy Winkster (The Lundford Twins Feel Good Variety Hour)
• Kaitlin (Kaitlin & Rick)
• Netti Bo Dance (Appalachian Emergency Room)
• Sally Needler (The Needlers)
• Zoe Anderton (Spy Glass)
• White Trash Wife (America Undercover)

Celebrity impersonations

Poehler's celebrity characters include Dakota Fanning, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Sharon Osbourne, Britney Spears, Paula Abdul, Hilary Duff, Kelly Ripa, Ann Coulter, Madonna, Avril Lavigne, Sharon Stone, Nancy Grace, Michael Jackson, Christian Siriano, Mr. Six, and Dennis Kucinich.

External links

• Amy-Poehler.net
• Amy Poehler at IMDb

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