Heidi Gardner
Gardner being interviewed forSuperMansion at the 2016 New York Comic Con
Born	Heidi Lynn Gardner[1] (1983-07-27)July 27, 1983 (age 42) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Education	University of Kansas University of Missouri
Occupations	Actress comedian writer
Years active	2011–present
Spouse	Zeb Wells ​ ​ (m. 2010; div. 2023)​ [2]

Heidi Lynn Gardner^[3] (born July 27, 1983)^[4] is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She was a cast member on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live for eight seasons fromseason 43 in 2017 until her departure afterseason 50 in 2025. She was promoted to repertory status on the show in2019.

Gardner was born and raised inKansas City, Missouri.^[5] She has an older brother, Justin.^[6]

Heidi Gardner worked part-time at the Tivoli Theater in Kansas City as a child, where she did everything "from selling tickets to making popcorn". She later credited the theater as "setting the tone in her life".^[7] She was not interested in acting as a teenager, only performing on stage as a flautist for the school band and doing comedy sketches in school talent shows.^[8] She graduated from the all-girlsCatholic high schoolNotre Dame de Sion in southern Kansas City in 2001. In her senior year, her classmates voted her "most likely to be a cast member ofSaturday Night Live".^[6]

After graduation, Gardner followed in a friend's footsteps and enrolled at theUniversity of Kansas for two years before transferring to theUniversity of Missouri for a semester. At the time, she was uninterested in school and often skipped classes, but discovered a fondness for cutting hair.^[8]

At age 21, Gardner dropped out of college and left Kansas City forLos Angeles, where she worked at a hair salon for nine years.^[9] Before moving, she saved $600 over one summer.^[10] A friend encouraged her to attend a performance atThe Groundlings theater, where she became inspired to become an actress.^[9] Lacking acting experience, Gardner enrolled in community workshops to learn the basics of improvisation. Once she was comfortable performing, Gardner auditioned for the Groundlings basic class and was accepted.^[8]

In 2014, Gardner joined the Sunday Company and a year later after a promotion to the Main Company, she quit her job as a hairstylist to focus on acting.^[8] During that time, she became a voice actress,^[11] regularly appearing on animated series includingBratz,SuperMansion, andMike Tyson Mysteries.^[12] In 2017, she joined the cast ofSaturday Night Live (SNL) along withLuke Null andChris Redd for itsforty-third season, as featured players.^[10]

After her first year onSNL, Gardner was hired to play Leonor in theBen Falcone-directed filmLife of the Party, alongsideMelissa McCarthy, Falcone's wife.^[8] On August 28, 2019,TVLine reported that Gardner would have a guest role on theNBC comedy seriesSuperstore, playing Dina Fox's nemesis Colleen who is transferred to Store 1217 after Cloud 9's Bel-Ridge location is shut down.^[13] In 2019, Gardner made her stage debut inMichael Frayn'sNoises Off at The Cape Playhouse inDennis, Massachusetts onCape Cod.^[14] That same year, she andSNL castmate Redd were promoted to Repertory Status for SNL's45th season.^[15]

By the time ofseason 47, which was her fifth season onSNL, she still felt like "the new kid", because by that point, outside ofLeslie Jones, most of the senior cast members from her first season were still there.^[16] This was due in part to theCOVID-19 pandemic preventing those senior cast members from leaving the show earlier.^[17] By the time season 47 had concluded, and season 48 was underway, several senior cast members (such asKate McKinnon,Pete Davidson, andCecily Strong – who left midway throughseason 48) had left the show, and Gardner (who, by that point, was in her sixth season) talked about being grateful for now being one of the senior cast members, and has enjoyed being "passed the ball more."^[18][19]

During her eight-year tenure onSaturday Night Live, Gardnerbroke character once. It happened inher seventh season on the show, while playing aNewsNation host named Bobbi Moore in aBeavis and Butt-Head-themed sketch.^[20]Vulture magazine described the moment as breaking in "spectacularly charming fashion".^[21] Gardner departed the show in 2025, after the conclusion of the show's50th season.^[22]

• Angel (Every Boxer's Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever), a troubled woman who tries to give "Weekend Update's Good News Report" but inevitably derails into melodramatic rants about her boyfriend's dangerous boxing career
• Bailey Gismert, a teen film critic who gives awkward reviews
• Brie Bacardi, one half of a shallow couple always on the brink of an argument, who runs a relationship-themedInstagram account with her boyfriend Nico Slobkin (Mikey Day)
• Baskin Johns, a woman who works forGoop and gets worried that she will be fired byGwyneth Paltrow
• Mandy, a cousin of a celebrity who shames their movie careers
• Sandy, a joyful cook on a bakingreality competition show who is qualified and skilled but often gets passed over as a winner for more poorly-constructed and eccentric cakes
• Tamra, an intern who pitches Instagram captions forMattel'sBarbie account
• Deidre, one half of a couple who describes their vacation to their friends, naïvely misinterpreting poor experiences as prestigious culture
• Crystal (Your Co-Worker Who is Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing), who comes to Weekend Update to complain about her job, although it's unclear what she actually does^[23]

Gardner is a fan of theKansas City Chiefs and theKansas City Royals.^[7] From 2010 to 2023, she was married toMarvel Comics writerZeb Wells, whom she met while she was a member of the Groundlings.^[24][25]

As of 2024, Gardner resided inLeawood, Kansas, in amid-century modern house she purchased in 2021.^[26][27][28]

Film

Television

Web

Audio

Web

• Heidi Gardner onInstagram
• Heidi Gardner atIMDb 

• 1983 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American actresses
• 21st-century American comedians
• Actresses from Kansas City, Missouri
• American film actresses
• American impressionists (entertainers)
• American sketch comedians
• American television actresses
• American voice actresses
• American women comedians
• Comedians from Kansas City, Missouri
• University of Kansas alumni

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