Ana Gasteyer

Ana Gasteyer is an American actress, comedian, and singer born on May 4, 1967, in Washington, D.C. Her father, Phil Gasteyer, was a lobbyist who later became the mayor of Corrales, New Mexico, and her mother, Mariana, is an artist of Romanian and Greek descent. Gasteyer grew up on Capitol Hill, three blocks from the Capitol, and attended Sidwell Friends School. As a child, she was friends with Amy Carter, daughter of President Jimmy Carter, a bond formed through a shared interest in violin. She has described spending the night at the White House, watching Star Wars with the Sadat family, and witnessing President Carter's reaction to Dan Aykroyd's portrayal of him on Saturday Night Live. Gasteyer enrolled as a music major at Northwestern University and graduated from its School of Communication in 1989.

Early in her career, Gasteyer built her comedic foundation with the Los Angeles improv and sketch comedy group The Groundlings. She appeared in small roles on television series including Seinfeld, Party of Five, Frasier, Hope & Gloria, and NYPD Blue before joining the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live in 1996. Over six seasons, she developed a roster of recurring original characters, among them high school music teacher Bobbie Mohan-Culp, NPR Delicious Dish co-host Margaret Jo McCullen, and Lilith Fair folk singer Cinder Calhoun. She also performed impressions of figures including Martha Stewart and Celine Dion. In 2000, she and Chris Parnell auditioned to succeed Colin Quinn as co-anchors of the Weekend Update segment, a position that ultimately went to Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon. Gasteyer departed SNL after six seasons in 2002 and returned for special Mother's Day episodes in May 2010 and May 2012.

Following her time on SNL, Gasteyer expanded her work across film, television, and stage. In 2004, she played the mother of protagonist Cady Heron in the feature film Mean Girls, written by former SNL castmate Tina Fey and also featuring Tim Meadows and Amy Poehler. The following year, she appeared in the 2005 Showtime musical film Reefer Madness as Mae, the girlfriend of Jack and owner of the Reefer Den. On television, she co-starred as Sheila Shay on ABC's Suburgatory from 2011 to 2014, had a starring role on TBS's People of Earth from 2016 to 2017, and played Katherine Hastings in NBC's American Auto, which premiered in the 2021–2022 broadcast season. She also appeared in season eight of Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's girlfriend and competed as "Tree" on the second season of The Masked Singer. In 2014, she released I'm Hip, an album of jazz standards, followed by the holiday album Sugar & Booze in 2019, which was accompanied by an Audible Original comedy piece featuring Maya Rudolph, Oscar Nunez, and Patti LuPone.

Gasteyer's stage career has been equally active. On June 24, 2005, she originated the role of Elphaba in the Chicago sit-down production of Wicked, opposite Kate Reinders as Glinda. The production opened July 13, 2005, and she received a Jefferson Award nomination for the performance, playing her final show on January 22, 2006. She later reprised the role in the Broadway production from October 10, 2006, through January 7, 2007, replacing Eden Espinosa. Also in 2006, Gasteyer starred on Broadway as Mrs. Peachum in a revival of The Threepenny Opera alongside Jim Dale, Alan Cumming, and Cyndi Lauper, a production that ran from March 24 through June 25. In 2007, she joined the cast of the new musical Writing Arthur at the TheatreWorks New Works Festival in California, and later that year performed in Stephen Sondheim's Passion at Chicago Shakespeare Theater from October 2 through November 11. She was originally cast in the 2008 Encores! Summer Series production of Damn Yankees but was replaced due to injury during rehearsals.

Gasteyer continued her stage work with a range of productions in subsequent years. She starred as Kitty Dean in the Broadway play The Royal Family at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, which began performances on September 15, 2009, opened officially on October 8, and closed December 13, 2009. That same year she played Frisco Kate Fothergill in the City Center Encores! production of Girl Crazy, running November 19 to 22. In 2015, she appeared as Mimi Schwinn in the New York City Center Encores! Off-Broadway revival of A New Brain and was included on its cast recording. She also participated in a reading of the Broadway musical version of The First Wives Club in January 2009. In 2024, Gasteyer starred as Queen Aggravain in a Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress alongside Sutton Foster, Will Chase, Brooks Ashmanskas, Daniel Breaker, and Michael Urie. The production ran from July through November 2024 at the Hudson Theatre, playing 128 performances, before a limited engagement with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. Her Broadway credits also include Hair, Funny Girl, and Schmigadoon!, as well as the production Chance & Chemistry.

Gasteyer married Charlie McKittrick in 1996. The couple lives in Brooklyn, New York, with their two children.