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Kate McKinnon

Kate McKinnon Berthold[1] (born January 6, 1984)[2] is an American actress, comedian, impressionist, and writer. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022, where she became known for her character work and celebrity impressions. For her work on the series, she was nominated for ten Primetime Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and nine for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2016 and 2017.

Kate McKinnon

Kate McKinnon Berthold

(1984-01-06) January 6, 1984
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • impressionist
  • writer

2002–present

McKinnon starred in the Logo sketch comedy series The Big Gay Sketch Show (2007–2010), voiced lead roles in the PBS Kids animated series Nature Cat (2015–2024) and the Netflix animated series The Magic School Bus Rides Again (2017–2021), and portrayed Carole Baskin in the Peacock miniseries Joe vs. Carole (2022).[3][1]


McKinnon has also appeared in numerous films, such as Sisters (2015), Office Christmas Party (2016), Rough Night (2017), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), Yesterday (2019), The Bubble (2022), and Barbie (2023).

Early life[edit]

McKinnon was born and raised on Long Island in the town of Sea Cliff, New York,[1][4] to Laura Campbell, a parent educator, and Michael Thomas Berthold, an architect.[5][6] She has a younger sister, comedian Emily Lynne, with whom she has collaborated on the Audible series Heads Will Roll,[7] as well as the digital series Notary Publix.[1][6] Their father died when McKinnon was 18 years old.[1][5]


As a child, McKinnon played several instruments. She started playing the piano when she was five years old, the cello at age 12, and taught herself how to play the guitar at 15.[8]


McKinnon's knack for accents began when she was in fifth grade. She auditioned to be "the queen of reading week" and used an English accent. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she says, "I think the genesis of my entire life, probably, was the smiles I elicited doing this British accent. I've been chasing that dragon ever since."[9]


She graduated from North Shore High School in 2002,[10][3] and from Columbia University in 2006 with a degree in theatre. There she co-founded a comedy group, Tea Party, that focused on musical improv comedy.[1][11] At Columbia, she starred in three Varsity shows: V109 Dial D for Deadline, V110 Off-Broadway and V111 The Sound of Muses.[1][12][13] Her cast and crewmates included future actors Jenny Slate and Grace Parra, directors Tze Chun and Greta Gerwig, and The Onion managing editor Peter Koechley.[14][15][16] She was also a member of Prangstgrüp, a student comedy group which set up and recorded elaborate college pranks.[17]

a Russian woman who voices her opinions on current events, comparing them to the outrageous struggles she faces in her village. She also appeared in a cold open with Beck Bennett as Vladimir Putin reading a prepared statement against her will.

Olya Povlatsky

a heavily intoxicated woman at a bar who meets and hooks up with a heavily intoxicated man or woman, played by the host, at closing time.

Sheila Sovage

The Art of the Encounter and Women in the Workplace co-host with Donna Fingerneck (played by Cecily Strong).

Jodi Cork

Barbara DeDrew, a lesbian volunteer at the cat shelter Whiskers R We.

Deenie, a.k.a. "Somebody's Mom", a middle-aged woman who attempts to recap shows she's been watching, but only knows the characters by self-applied nicknames, such as "Big Boobs" and "Mustache". She is always eating some foul concoction out of Tupperware, such as Brussels sprouts and imitation crab, which generally both revolts and breaks up anchor Colin Jost. The character is based on longtime SNL writer Paula Pell's mother.

Weekend Update

Mrs. Santini, an apartment dweller who writes passive-aggressive notes to her neighbors. Originally performed as Effie Villalopolus on

Comedy Bang! Bang!

Colleen Rafferty, a 27-year-old woman (despite looking middle-aged, implicitly due to her repeated traumas) who appears in panels with two of her friends (played by as a hippie named Sharon, alongside the episode's host). The three friends recount their experience of a shared paranormal event (such as being abducted by aliens, having a near-death experience, discovering that Santa Claus is real, being visited by ghosts, and discovering that time travel is possible). The other two friends always have an idyllic experience, while Rafferty instead goes through a different, traumatic experience during the event and invariably loses her pants.

Cecily Strong

Les Dykawitz, a lesbian cop from the 1970s who works for the Chicago Police Department along with her partner Chubina Fatzarelli (played by ) in "Dyke & Fats".

Aidy Bryant

a senile elderly actress whose harsh experiences with being an actress in old Hollywood (including the issues of equal pay, sexual harassment and abuse, racial diversity in film roles, and actresses getting involved behind the camera as directors and writers) are more outrageous than what modern actresses have gone through.

Debette Goldry

A member of Woodbridge High School's theatre troupe who make their performances obsessively and solely about issues that they know very little about.

social justice

the co-host of the French show "America's Funniest Cats" who appears on the American version of the show along with Joelle LaRue (played by Cecily Strong).

Noelle LeSoup

Shud, a crass who is based on a blobfish, and makes sexual advances on an unfortunate marooned sailor.

mermaid

Dr. Wayne Wenowdis, a strangely accented middle-aged medical doctor, who debuted in 2020, as part of the segment with Colin Jost.[42]

Weekend Update

Madame Vivelda, a fortune teller who predicts people's 2020 experiences.

Personal life[edit]

McKinnon was in a relationship with photographer and actress Jackie Abbott from 2016 to 2019. While presenting Ellen DeGeneres with the Carol Burnett Award at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, McKinnon opened up about being a lesbian and thanked DeGeneres for making it less scary for her to accept her sexual orientation while watching her TV sitcom Ellen.[55] While attending Columbia University, she dated future journalist Bari Weiss.[56]


McKinnon has a cat, Nino Positano—named after a pizza restaurant where he was found—whom she jokingly refers to as her son.[57][58] Nino appeared in a "Whiskers R We" sketch filmed from McKinnon's home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, playing the role of all the cats up for adoption.[59]


She doesn't have any social media accounts, fearing that she will "misrepresent [her] real feelings".[60]

LGBT culture in New York City

List of LGBT people from New York City

Saturday Night Live parodies of Hillary Clinton

at IMDb

Kate McKinnon