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Kathryn McKinnon Berthold (born January 6, 1984), better known by her stage name Kate McKinnon, is an American actress and comedienne, writer, and singer. McKinnon is most notable for being a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy and variety series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022, where she became known for her character work and celebrity impressions. She joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player on April 7, 2012, replacing Paul Brittain. She is the first openly lesbian member of SNL's cast, and the first gay cast member since Terry Sweeney and Danitra Vance in 1985. She was promoted to repertory status in Season 39 on September 2013, along with Aidy Bryant and Cecily Strong. Prior to SNL, she also starred on the Logo sketch program The Big Gay Sketch Show from 2007 to 2010.[3][1] She has appeared in films such as Balls Out (2014), Ghostbusters (2016), Office Christmas Party (2016), Rough Night (2017), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), Yesterday (2019), and Bombshell (2019). In 2022, she played the role of Tiger King subject Carole Baskin in the miniseries Joe vs. Carole. She appeared in the 2023 Barbie film.

McKinnon won a 2014 American Comedy Award and 2016 and 2017 Primetime Emmy Awards for her work on SNL. She also starred in the female reboot of Ghostbusters (2016), alongside Saturday Night Live alumni Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones.

McKinnon became the longest tenured female cast member during the May 4, 2019 episode of Saturday Night Live, as it was her 150th episode (compared to former castmate Vanessa Bayer's 149 episodes). Both Bryant and McKinnon departed the series after Season 47 (her 11th full season on SNL), Though, Kate missed the first seven episodes of Season 47, due to filming Joe Exotic in Brisbane, Australia. She finished with 211 episodes. However, her record was surpassed in season 48 by former castmate Cecily Strong, who entered her 11th full season on SNL, and got the record by December 17, 2022 (Strong subsequently left the show after that episode).

On March 4, 2017 (episode hosted by Octavia Spencer), McKinnon was vocally impersonated by her then castmate Melissa Villaseñor.

She returned to Saturday Night Live to host for the first time on December 16, 2023, the eighth episode and the Christmas show, as well as the final episode of 2023 of Season 49, with musical guest Billie Eilish. She is also the eighth former longtime cast member to host the Christmas show, after Bill Murray (Season 7), Eddie Murphy (Seasons 8, 10, and 45), Jimmy Fallon (Seasons 37 and 39), Martin Short (Season 38), Tina Fey & Amy Poehler (Season 41) and Kristen Wiig (Season 46).

Characters/Impressions

Characters

Impressions

SNL Career

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