Amy Poehler

Born in Burlington, MA, on September 16, 1971, Amy Poehler became known for her energetic nature. After graduating from Boston College in 1993 with a degree in media and communications, Poehler honed her craft doing stand-up in local comedy clubs. Poehler studied improv in Chicago under Del Close and joined the Upright Citizens Brigade, co-founded by Matt Besser. Seeking bigger opportunities, Poehler and Matt Walsh led the troupe's move to New York City in the late 1990s. They soon landed a Comedy Central series, "The Upright Citizens Brigade" (1998-2000), where Poehler performed and wrote for three seasons, helping the cult favorite subvert authority. Later, she played Stacey Richter, Andy Richter's fictional sister, on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC , 1993-2009). In 2001, Poehler joined "Saturday Night Live" as a featured player and earned a rare mid-season promotion to full regular in under six months-a feat previously achieved only by Eddie Murphy. She was later named co-anchor of "Weekend Update," replacing Jimmy Fallon. Poehler found success with the Lindsay Lohan film "Mean Girls" (2004). Written by her "SNL" colleague Tina Fey, it topped the box office on its opening weekend. Poehler later made a cameo in "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny" (2006) and played herself in Barry Levinson's "Man of the Year" (2006). Poehler then starred in "Blades of Glory" (2007) as one of the Van Waldenbergs, a scheming sibling pair competing against rival figure skaters (Will Ferrell and Jon Heder) forced to team up after being banned from competing. She voiced Snow White in the record-breaking sequel "Shrek the Third" (2007) and starred in "Baby Mama" (2008). Before departing "SNL," she co-created and starred in Nickelodeon's "The Mighty B!" She then starred in NBC's "Parks and Recreation" (2009-2015). Poehler earned an Emmy nomination for her final "SNL" season-highlighted by impressions of Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric-and four consecutive nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for "Parks and Recreation." Afterwards, Poehler starred in the Pixar film "Inside Out" (2015), playing the personification of the emotion Joy inside a moody young girl's brain and kept busy with the films "Wine Country" (2019), "Lucy and Desi" (2022), "First Time Female Director" (2023) and "Inside Out 2" (2024). In 2025, Poehler started the interview podcast "Good Hang with Amy Poehler." Each episode features a special guest for conversation about their careers and lives. Poehler's podcast won the 2026 iHeartPodcast Award for Best Comedy and Best Podcast at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards.