Nicole Byer

Byer was born in the Lincroft section of Middletown Township, New Jersey on August 29, 1986, the youngest daughter of Trevor Byer (1952–2008), a scientist for AT&T, and Lille Byer (1947–2002).[6][7] Byer graduated from Middletown High School South in 2004.[8]

Byer moved to New York City after high school, waitressing and taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade before moving to Los Angeles in 2012.[9] Byer graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Certificate Program in Professional Performance.[10]

In 2013, Byer and Sasheer Zamata created and starred in a web series called Pursuit of Sexiness which was produced by Upright Citizens Brigade.[11] In 2014, she hosted the first season of MTV's Are You the One? The Aftermatch Live, an after-show for Are You the One?.

Byer appeared in several roles on network television in 2016. That year, she had supporting roles on three shows: MTV's commentary show Girl Code; a hidden camera prank show Ladylike, also on MTV; and she was a series regular on the Fox show Party Over Here, a half-hour sketch comedy created by Paul Scheer and Lonely Island, which was cancelled after one season.[12][13][14] As a commentator on the show Girl Code, she was described by Maitri Mehta at Bustle as a "beloved talking head";[3] Stephanie Merry at The Washington Post called Byer "one of the most dependably funny commentators" on the show.[15]

Byer has guest starred in several shows including BoJack Horseman, Transparent, and Bob's Burgers. She played Lizette in season 5, episode 7 of the Freeform series Young & Hungry in 2017. She appeared as a guest judge on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.[16] She tours the United States doing stand-up comedy and regularly performs improv with Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles.

As of March 2018, Byer hosts a Netflix original bake-off show Nailed It! alongside head judge, chocolatier Jacques Torres. Each episode features three home bakers with a "terrible track record" attempting to recreate extremely complicated pastries for a $10,000 prize.[17]

In 2018, she appeared in a Smirnoff ad campaign with actor Ted Danson.[18]

Her first book #VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl's Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini is set to come out in 2020.[19]

On The Ringer, Allison P. Davis described Byer's comedy: "Most easily compared to a raunchier Retta with a hint of Ilana Glazer's madcap energy. She's mouthy, vulgar, a little bit goofy, relatable but ridiculously charming, and not afraid to infuse her broad comedy with a confident sexuality."[9] Writing for USA Today, Jaleesa M. Jones said that "it's precisely [Byer's] brazen, ribald brand of comedy that landed her in the creative incubator that is MTV, where she toplines two new comedy shows in 2016, Ladylike and Loosely Exactly Nicole".[21]

Byer described Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Turner, and Mo'Nique as her early inspirations.[21]

Byer supports body positivity and stated in an interview with Brit+Co, "Body positivity, to me, means you accept the body that you're in... And if you want to change it, you can, but you should love the skin that you're in currently, forever. Because everyone is beautiful. No one's truly ugly. You're always beautiful to somebody, and you're always ugly to somebody."[29]

• Official website
• Nicole Byer on IMDb