Amy Poehler Biography

Small, bleach-blonde and crackling with energy, Amy Poehler is an actress whose sketch comedy talents took her from Saturday Night Live to feature films like Baby Mama (2008) and the TV series Parks and Recreation. Amy Poehler graduated from Boston College in 1993 and then moved to Chicago, where she worked in comedy clubs doing improvisation. She and a few colleagues went to New York in 1996 and began the Upright Citizens Brigade, an improvisational comedy troupe and training ground for up-and-coming performers. The group had a cable TV show (1998-2000), after which Poehler landed a spot on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. She became a regular cast member within the first year, and by 2004 she was one of the show’s main performers, co-hosting the “Weekend Update” segment with Tina Fey and doing impersonations of Hillary Rodham Clinton and other celebs. Amy Poehler’s movie career, flavored by her SNL connections, has included the Will Ferrell comedies Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Blades of Glory (2007), as well as the Tina Fey movies Mean Girls (2004) and Baby Mama (2008). In 2009 she left Saturday Night Live and began a successful starring run on the off-kilter sitcom Parks and Recreation.