Vanessa Bayer
Bayer at theLeukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2015
Born	(1981-11-14)November 14, 1981 (age 44) Orange, Ohio, U.S.
Education	University of Pennsylvania (BA)
Occupations	Actress comedian
Years active	2002–present

Vanessa Bayer (born November 14, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live from 2010 to 2017, for which she was nominated for anEmmy. She co-created, co-executive produced, and starred in theShowtime comedyI Love That for You, loosely based on her experience as a survivor ofchildhood leukemia. She has appeared in such films asTrainwreck (2015),Office Christmas Party (2016),Carrie Pilby (2016),Ibiza (2018), andWander Darkly (2020).

Bayer was born on November 14, 1981,^[1] inOrange, Ohio, a suburb ofCleveland, and raised in nearbyMoreland Hills.^[2][3] She is the daughter of Carolyn and Todd Bayer.^[4] Bayer's family isJewish, and she has stated that her Jewish upbringing "influenced her life and comedy".^[5] She has an older brother, Jonah, who is a music journalist and the guitarist of the punk supergroupUnited Nations.^[6][7]

At age 15, Bayer was diagnosed withacute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). She stated that while battling the disease, she discovered the meaning ofcomic relief. "I don't know if it made me funnier, but it was so amazing, how it made everything be O.K.", she said.^[8]

Bayer is a 2000 graduate ofOrange High School.^[9] In 2004, she graduated from theAnnenberg School for Communication of theUniversity of Pennsylvania, where she majored incommunications and French.^[4][10][11]

While attending college, she interned on the television showsSesame Street andLate Night with Conan O'Brien and participated in the cast of Bloomers, an all-female musical and sketch comedy troupe.^[12]

As of 2012^[update], Bayer was collaborating with her brother Jonah on theweb seriesSound Advice forAbove Average, where she stars as Janessa Slater, a media coach who helps famous musicians change their images.^[13][14][15] She was part of the all-Jewish cast ofThe Second City's stage showJewsical: The Musical, a musical that presented a comedic take on Jewish life and culture.^[16] She played Kate Clark in the Chicago-based feature comedyOff the Cuff.^{[citation needed]} She performedimprovisational comedy at Chicago'sImprovOlympic, where she trained withSNL castmatePaul Brittain,^[3] and at theAnnoyance Theatre and The Second City.^[17]

Bayer joined the cast ofSaturday Night Live as a featured player on September 25, 2010. She was promoted to repertory status for the 2012–2013 seasons. In 2014, she was nominated for anAmerican Comedy Award for her work on the show,^{[citation needed]} and in 2017, was nominated for aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.^[18] She departedSNL on May 20, 2017, after seven years there.^[19][20]

Her recurring characters included:

• Laura Parsons, a child actress always performing roles originally played by adults, including fromForrest Gump,The Wolf of Wall Street,Brokeback Mountain andDallas Buyers Club
• Brecky, a former porn star who creates homemade commercials to obtain free luxury items (withCecily Strong)
• Rebecca Stern-Markowicz, a co-host ofJ-Pop America Fun Time Now, which celebrates Japanese culture, (withTaran Killam andJason Sudeikis)
• Rosa, a housemaid, in "The Californians"
• Miss Meadows, an unrealistically perky poetry teacher trying to connect with her delinquent students
• An unnamed director of talk showMornin' Miami
• Jacob theBar Mitzvah Boy, who appears onWeekend Update to perform a rehearsed speech with forced jokes about a given subject
• One of three workshop elves who perform their jobs poorly in the hope that their master will "punish" them (withKenan Thompson)
• Dawn Lazarus, an inept meteorologist who appears onWeekend Update and struggles to discuss the weather
• A housewife who cooks for her husband and his friends in a series of increasingly absurdTotino's commercials
• One of twoWeekend Update guests who claim to be "best friends" with various world dictators, and gossip about petty drama in their social circle (withFred Armisen)

Bayer appeared on ABC'sSingle Parents in 2019 in a recurring role as Mia Cooper, the ex-wife ofTaran Killam's character.

Starting in 2018, she had a recurring role on NBC'sWill & Grace as Amy, a former baker who loses her job because of Karen and subsequently works for Karen's baseball team.

Bayer is the co-creator, co-executive producer and star of theShowtime comedyI Love That for You, which premiered on May 1, 2022, and is loosely based on her life as a survivor of childhood leukemia.^[21][22][23]

Bayer appeared in two episodes ofWhat We Do in the Shadows as Evie Russell, a vampire who drains energy from humans by resorting to passive aggressive and wholly fabricated stories of various horrible things that supposedly happened to her. She has a rivalry with energy Vampire Colin Robinson, played byMark Proksch, who uses boring long-winded explanations to get the same result.^[24] Bayer played Madame Jen in the 2025fantasy comedyFreakier Friday.^[25]

After Bayer was diagnosed with leukemia as a teenager, theMake-A-Wish Foundation granted her wish to send her family on vacation toHawaii. In gratitude and recognition, Bayer is involved with the foundation. In 2015, she hosted its Evening of Wishes Dinner to help raise funds for wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.^[26]

In June 2019, Bayer published the children's bookHow Do You Care for a Very Sick Bear?, which teaches children how to support friends with long-term illnesses.^[27]

• Vanessa Bayer atIMDb 
• Vanessa Bayer atRotten Tomatoes

• 1981 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American comedians
• 21st-century American Jews
• Actresses from Cleveland
• American film actresses
• American impressionists (entertainers)
• American sketch comedians
• American television actresses
• American women comedians
• American voice actresses
• Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania alumni
• Comedians from Ohio
• Jewish American actresses
• Jewish American comedians
• Jewish women comedians
• Jews from Ohio
• People from Cuyahoga County, Ohio

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