Vanessa Bayer
| Vanessa Bayer | |
|---|---|
 Bayer at 2015 benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society | |
| Born |
November 14, 1981[1] Orange, Ohio, U.S. |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 2009–present |
Vanessa Bayer (born November 14, 1981)[1] is an American actress and comedian, best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, for which she earned a Primetime Emmy nomination as well as for supporting roles in the films Trainwreck (2015), Office Christmas Party (2016), Carrie Pilby (2016), and Ibiza (2018).
Early life
Bayer was born and raised in Orange, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, to a Reform Jewish family.[2] She is the daughter of Carolyn (née Polster) and Todd Bayer.[3] She has a brother, Jonah, who is a music journalist and the drummer for the punk supergroup United Nations.[4][5]
At the age of 15, she was diagnosed with leukemia. Bayer stated that while battling the disease, she discovered the meaning of “comic relief”. “I don’t know if it made me funnier, but it was so amazing, how it made everything be O.K.,” she said.[6]
Bayer graduated from Orange High School in 2000[7] and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in communication and French,[8] graduating in 2004.
Career
As of 2012, Bayer was collaborating with her brother Jonah on the web series Sound Advice for Above Average. Bayer stars as Janessa Slater, a media coach who helps famous musicians change their image.[9][10][11]
While attending college, Bayer interned on the television shows Sesame Street and Late Night with Conan O'Brien and participated in the cast of Bloomers, an all-female musical and sketch comedy troupe.[12] Bayer was part of the all-Jewish cast of Second City's stage show Jewsical: The Musical, a musical that presented a comedic take on Jewish life and culture.[13]
Bayer played the role of Kate Clark in the Chicago-based feature comedy Off the Cuff.
Bayer performed improvisational comedy at Chicago's ImprovOlympic, where she trained with SNL castmate Paul Brittain[2] as well as the Annoyance Theatre and Second City.[14]
Saturday Night Live
Bayer joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player on September 25, 2010. Beginning with the 2012–2013 season, Bayer was promoted to repertory status. She has been praised for her performance on the show, with HitFix calling her "one of the strongest members of the ensemble" and Rolling Stone calling her "Saturday Night Live's secret weapon". In 2014, she was nominated for an American Comedy Award for her work on the show. Bayer departed SNL on May 20, 2017 after seven years on the show. She held the record of the show's longest-serving female cast member, with 149 episodes (Maya Rudolph, who had been a cast member for 9 seasons, stayed for 146 episodes).[15] [16] She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for that season.[17]
Her recurring characters include:
- Laura Parsons, a child actress always performing roles originally played by adults, including from Forrest Gump, The Wolf of Wall Street, Brokeback Mountain, and Dallas Buyers Club
- Brecky, a former porn star who creates homemade commercials to obtain free luxury items alongside Cecily Strong
- Rebecca Stern-Markowicz, a co-host of J-Pop America Fun Time Now which celebrates Japanese culture alongside Taran Killam and Jason Sudeikis
- Miss Meadows, an unrealistically perky poetry teacher trying to connect with her delinquent students
- An unnamed director of talk show Mornin' Miami
- Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, who appears on Weekend Update to perform a rehearsed speech (complete with forced jokes) about a given subject
- Rachel Green from the sitcom Friends (and other characters from the show)
- One of two workshop elves who perform their jobs poorly in the hope that their master will "punish" them, alongside Kenan Thompson
- An unnamed housewife who makes Totinos for her "hungry guys".
- Dawn Lazarus, an inept meteorologist who appears on Weekend Update and struggles to discuss the weather.
- Maggie Margaret Bond, whose "walking music" may be unflattering, in SNL's "Soap Opera Reunion".
Philanthropy
Bayer suffered from leukemia as a teenager. The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted her wish to send her family on vacation to Hawaii. As a former "Make-A-Wish kid", Bayer continues to do work with the foundation. In 2015, she hosted the foundation's "Evening of Wishes Dinner" to help raise funds for wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.[3][18]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Off the Cuff | Kate Clark | |
| 2010 | Stages of Emily | Jocelyn | Short film |
| 2012 | Adventures in the Sin Bin | Superdawg Waitress | |
| 2013 | Despicable Me 2 | Flight Attendant | Voice role |
| 2015 | Trainwreck | Nikki | |
| 2016 | Carrie Pilby | Tara | |
| Office Christmas Party | Allison | ||
| 2017 | The Polka King | Bitsy Bear | |
| 2018 | Ibiza | Nikki | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–17 | Saturday Night Live | Various | Series regular Nominated – 2014 American Comedy Award for Comedy Supporting Actress - TV Nominated – 2014 Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Female Performance in a Fiction Program Nominated – 2015 Online Film & Television Association Award for Best Female Performance in a Fiction Program Nominated – 69th Primetime Emmy Awards ("Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series") |
| 2011 | I Wanna Have Your Baby | Connie | Episode: "Corrine & Jerry" |
| 2012 | Sugarboy | Chip's wife | |
| 2013 | The Mindy Project | Mary | Episode: "Sk8er Man" |
| 2014 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Susan Armhold | Episode: "Patton Oswalt Wears a Black Blazer & Dress Shoes" |
| 2014–15 | Portlandia | Various | Episodes: "Sharing Finances", "Late in Life Drug Use", "You Can Call Me Al" and "The Storytellers" |
| 2015 | Man Seeking Woman | Laura | Episodes: "Traib" and "Lizard" |
| 2015 | The Awesomes | Dr. Jill Stein-Awesome-Kaplan | 4 episodes |
| 2016 | Modern Family | Marjorie | Episode: "Snow Ball" |
| 2016–18 | Drunk History | Various | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | The Simpsons | Dr. Clarity Hoffman-Roth (voice) | Episode: "A Father's Watch" |
| 2018 | Love | Sarah | Episode: "Sarah from College" |
| 2018 | Will & Grace | Amy | Episode: "The Beefcake & the Cake Beef" |
References
- 1 2 "Vanessa Bayer - About - Saturday Night Live - NBC". Saturday Night Live. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
- 1 2 Moynihan, Rob. "SNL's Fab Four", TV Guide, March 7, 2011, Pages 44-45
- 1 2 Vanessa Bayer from the Orange High School website
- ↑ Eakin, Marah. "Jonah and Vanessa Bayer on Sound Advice, sibling rivalries, and childhood bribery". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- ↑ "Watch Vanessa Bayer Roast United Nations". Stereogum. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- ↑ Correal, Annie (May 7, 2016). "The (Very Lazy) Sunday Routine of Vanessa Bayer of 'Saturday Night Live'". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
- ↑ "'Saturday Night Live' regular Vanessa Bayer, a Moreland Hills native, returns home to perform Sunday at the Improv". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ↑ "For Saturday Night Live's Bayer, humor a family affair - Cleveland Jewish News: Entertainment". Cleveland Jewish News. 2012-11-20. Retrieved 2013-10-03.
- ↑ "Penn Gazette | Alumni : Profiles". Upenn.edu. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
- ↑ "Jonah Bayer". Jonahbayer.wordpress.com. 2010-09-21. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
- ↑ "An Interview with a Guy Who Hung Out with Drake for Two Hours Once". Noisey. 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
- ↑ "All-Female Musical and Sketch Comedy at the University of Pennsylvania". Bloomers Comedy. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
- ↑ "Jews in the News: Rachel Specter, Grammys & Barbra Streisand". Letmypeoplegrow.org. Retrieved 2012-09-22.
- ↑ "NBC'S 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE' PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 25 WITH SNL ALUM AMY POEHLER & CHART-TOPPING MUSICAL GUEST KATY PERRY". NBC-Universal Press Release. September 17, 2010. Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
- ↑ Hughes, William. "Vanessa Bayer is leaving SNL".
- ↑ "Vanessa Bayer leaving 'SNL'". CNN. May 21, 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
- ↑ "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - 2017". Los Angeles: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ↑ Daley, Megan (2015-06-22). "Vanessa Bayer talks to People about her childhood struggle with leukemia" (online ed.). Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
