Ana Gasteyer biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Comedic actress Ana Kristina Gasteyer was born on May 4, 1967 in Washington D.C. to Maria Roumell-Gasteyer, an artist, and Phil Gasteyer, a lobbyist who later became the mayor of the village of Corrales, New Mexico. Gasteyer's musical and dramatic talents were nurtured from early in her childhood. "I played violin from the age of five," she said, "and I had an ear from a really early age."

Gasteyer attended the prestigious private Sidwell Friends School in suburban Maryland, where she became a friend of classmate Amy Carter, the only daughter of President Jimmy Carter. Gasteyer's connection to the Carter family led to her playing violin before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin during a break in their 1978 negotiations over the groundbreaking Camp David Accords. "It was real low-key," Gasteyer later remembered. "We walk into this little bungalow [at Camp David], and basically there's [President Carter] and some guy, and another guy in a turban."

For many 10-year-old violinists, that performance might have marked a career pinnacle. For Gasteyer, it was only the beginning. She earned her first professional acting job, as a child ghost in Verdi's Macbeth, when she was 13.

'Saturday Night Live'

She was also a good student. After graduating in 1989 from Northwestern University's School of Communication, where she earned her bachelor of science in speech, theater and performance studies, Gasteyer moved to Los Angeles to join the legendary improv troupe The Groundlings.

"A lot of improvisation can be very masculine and competitive and smart oriented, much more than acting oriented, and I felt like that was the first time I understood that there is a kind of female character sensibility that was more about slice-of-life — more about your funny aunt that people might find interesting," she said.

While developing her craft as an actress and comedian with The Groundlings, Gasteyer also made several guest appearances on television series in 1995 and 1996, popping up in bit parts on episodes Party of Five, NYPD Blue and even the legendary "Soup Nazi" episode of Seinfeld.

In 1996, Ana Gasteyer joined Saturday Night Live as a repertory player, kicking off a run that saw her remain a regular cast member on the show for the next six years. She became well known for her celebrity impressions -- most notably for her hilarious takes on Barbra Streisand, Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart -- and also wrote a large number of sketches for the show.

She created several popular original characters: Cinder Calhoun, a politically correct singer; Bobbi Moughan-Culp, the high school music teacher who performed alongside Will Ferrell's Marty Culp; Margaret Jo, the co-host of an NPR radio show alongside Molly Shannon.