Kristen Wiig biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Comedian. Born August 22, 1973, in Canandaigua, New York. Wiig's family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania,a when she was 3 years old before settling in Rochester, New York. Her parents divorced when she was 9 years old, and Wiig lived with her mother and older brother Erik, who is mentally disabled. Even as a child, Wiig had a quirky sense of humor. She later recalled of her youth, "I used to carry my dad's empty guitar case around the neighborhood because I wanted people to think I played the guitar. I would put Flintstones vitamins in it in case I got tired, so I could pop some and keep walking."

After graduating from Rochester's Brighton High School, Wiig enrolled at the University of Arizona as an art student. It was there that Wiig, a natural introvert, enrolled in her first acting class. "I was terrified," she said. "I don't really like talking in front of groups of people. Through high school if ever I had to give a speech, I would try to get out of it or not go to school that day ... But I took the class, and I liked it, and the teacher was really encouraging for me to keep doing it."

Pursuing Acting Dream

After graduation, Wiig got a job at a plastic surgery clinic, where she was supposed to produce drawings of clients' post-surgery bodies. The day before she was to start, she found herself alone at the house she shared with roommates in Tucson. "I looked in the mirror and was like, 'OK, if you could do anything, what would it be?' And I thought, 'I would move to L.A. Just try to act,'" she recalled. "The next day, the Jetta was packed and I was gone, freaking out the whole way."

After arriving in Los Angeles, Kristen Wiig took a job folding clothes at the store Anthropologie. The string of odd jobs she held over the next few years included selling peaches at a farmer's market, catering Hollywood events, babysitting, working in a floral design shop and selling hot dogs at the mall. She was unsatisfied with traditional acting classes. Then a co-worker took her to a show at the Groundlings, the celebrated improv troupe that launched the careers of Saturday Night Live (SNL) stars like Will Ferrell and Maya Rudolph. Wiig was hooked. "That place changed my life," she said.

Saturday Night Live

Wiig auditioned and got a spot on the Groundlings.