Kristen Wiig
Kristen Wiig | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kristen Carroll Wiig |
| Website | http://kristenwiig.com/ |
Kristen Carroll Wiig (IPA: [wɪg], Template:EnPR2, pronounced like "wig";[3] born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedienne, and impressionist, whose most visible work is as a cast member of Saturday Night Live (SNL). She is a member of The Groundlings,[2][4] and also appeared in the first season of Spike TV's The Joe Schmo Show.
Biography
Personal life
Wiig was born in Canandaigua, New York. At the age of three her family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, afterwards moving to Rochester, New York, where she remained until the end of high school.[3] She graduated from Brighton High School in 1991 and attended the University of Arizona with a major in art. She was hired as a graphic artist by a plastic surgery clinic (showing clientele what they would look like after surgery), but left for Los Angeles before ever starting the job to pursue an acting whim. In Los Angeles she joined The Groundlings, working "odd jobs" while living on Rochester Avenue.[3]
SNL sketch work
Wiig debuted after the start of SNL's 31st season on November 12, 2005.[4] In Wiig's first sketch, she played the wife of Jason Sudeikis; the two accidentally pick up an escaped murderer (Jason Lee), unwittingly giving the murderer carte blanche to break into their home and violate their blind niece.
Since then, Wiig has had such roles as:
- Judy Grimes, the nervous, just kidding, Travel reporter.
- An unfocused Target employee known as "The Target Lady".
- The female half of the "Two Assholes" (with Jason Sudeikis as the male half)
- Jean, the Introvert (with Will Forte as Neil and several hosts [Lindsay Lohan, Annette Bening, and Rainn Wilson] as the third introvert).
- Catherine, Dakota Fanning's mother in "The Dakota Fanning Show"
- Aunt Linda, Amy Poehler's fictitious irritable aunt who bashes the latest films for trivial flaws
- Denise, an odd girl with an abnormally large forehead and deformed baby-sized hands from a sister act on a Lawrence Welk Show skit.
- Michelle Dison, a divorced reporter who makes inappropriate romantic overtures to her female interviewees (Jaime Pressly and Scarlett Johansson)
- Penelope, a habitual braggart/compulsive liar who tells elaborate stories to one-up those around her. At the end of the skit Penelope usually does something she says she can do, such as turn invisible and grow a foot-long beard, making you wonder if she is really telling the truth about everything else. She usually ends her sentence saying "...so...".
- A woman who sits on her porch swing and reveals strange things she's done over the day with another person (played by the host). The character is known as "The Porch Sitter"
- Sue, a woman who is overly excited about surprises (like parties and engagements).
- Stacia, a twitchy and awkward teen who disrupts her parents' dinner parties and frequently uses the phrase "I said WE!"
- Jacqueline Seka, co-host of The Cougar Den.
Wiig's celebrity impersonations include:
- Megan Mullally
- Drew Barrymore
- Judy Garland (while strung out on drugs)
- Jessica Simpson
- Ashley Ferl (the audience member who cried during Sanjaya Malakar's performance on American Idol)
- Nancy Pelosi (with her "San Francisco Values" and her famous safe-word "Palomino!")
- Sandra Day O'Connor
- Lynne Cheney
- Katharine Hepburn
- Jane Pauley
- Jenna Fischer (in character as Pam Beesly)
- Jennifer Tilly
- Björk
- Maggie Smith (in character as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films)
- Felicity Huffman
- Beverly Jeanne (Solid Gold dancer)
- Elizabeth Kucinich
- Suze Orman
- Silda Spitzer
- Ros Gentle (Monex Gold spokeswoman)
- Campbell Brown
- Peyton Turner (from Rock of Love 2)
- Jamie Lee Curtis
- Padma Lakshmi
- Gayle Quinnell a.k.a. "Crazy McCain rally lady".
Wiig survived an SNL budget cut,[5] becoming a full member of the repertory cast at the beginning of the show's 32nd season.
She also played the love interest of Justin Timberlake in the popular SNL Digital Short "Dick in a Box".
Other work
Wiig appears in the 2007 films The Brothers Solomon, Meet Bill, Knocked Up, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. In The Brothers Solomon she teams up with Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte, joins Bill Hader in Knocked Up, and also joins Jason Sudeikis in Meet Bill. Kristen was also a regular performer in The Perks, a featured show at the Empty Stage Comedy Theatre whose run ended in 2000.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Life, Death, and Mini-Golf | Debbie | |
| 2006 | The Enigma with a Stigma | Tux Shop Employee | |
| Unaccompanied Minors | Carole Malone | ||
| 2007 | Knocked Up | Jill | |
| Meet Bill | Jane Whitman | ||
| The Brothers Solomon | Janine | ||
| Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story | Edith Cox | ||
| 2008 | Semi-Pro | Bear Handler | |
| Forgetting Sarah Marshall | Yoga Instructor | ||
| Pretty Bird | Mandy | ||
| Ghost Town | Surgeon | ||
| 2009 | Adventureland | Paulette | awaiting release |
| Whip It! | Malice in Wonderland | filming | |
| Extract | TBA | filming |
References
- ^ Kristen Wiig at IMDb
- ^ a b Official website
- ^ a b c Interview with Letterman
- ^ a b They're live on SNL, a December 2005 USA Today article
- ^ That '70s Show: Saturday Night Live in the post-Tina Fey, YouTube unknown from The Village Voice
External links
- Kristen Wiig at IMDb