Michaela Watkins
Watkins in January 2010
Born	(1971-12-14)December 14, 1971 (age 53) Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Education	Boston University (BFA)
Occupation(s)	Actress, comedian
Years active	1998–present
Known for	Saturday Night Live Trophy Wife Casual The Unicorn
Spouse	Fred Kramer ​ (m. 2013)​

Michaela Watkins (born December 14, 1971)^[1] is an American actress and comedian. After several years performing with the Los Angeles comedy troupeThe Groundlings, Watkins achieved widespread attention for her brief stint as a featured player on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live during its34th season between 2008 and 2009. Since leavingSNL, she has starred on theHulu seriesCasual and on the short-lived sitcomsThe Unicorn andTrophy Wife. Watkins has also had recurring roles on other television series, such asThe New Adventures of Old Christine,Catastrophe,Enlightened andSearch Party and appeared in films such asThe Back-up Plan (2010),Wanderlust (2012),Enough Said (2013),Sword of Trust (2019), andSuze (2023).

Watkins was born in 1971 inSyracuse, New York, the daughter of former Latin teacher mother^[2] Myrna Watkins andSyracuse University mathematician father Mark Watkins.^[3][4][5] She has two sisters, Rebecca Kent and Sarah Fitts.^[3]

Watkins was raised inDeWitt, New York,^[6] a suburb of Syracuse, in aJewish family.^[2] After her parents' divorce, Watkins' mother obtained a marketing degree and relocated the family toBoston when Watkins was 15.^[2][7]

Watkins attendedMoses DeWitt Elementary School in DeWitt andWellesley High School inWellesley, Massachusetts. She graduated fromBoston University, where she studied theater and acting. Watkins auditioned for a part in a British farce at a community theater when she was 15, and got the part.Joan Rivers was one of her inspirations to go into show business.^[2]

After theater school, Watkins lived and worked in New York City for a year but struggled to build her career. She moved with a friend toPortland, Oregon.^[8] She lived there from 1996 to 2000 and appeared onstage withPortland Center Stage and the defunct improv group Toad City Productions.^[9] She traveled around the country doing regional theater, then decided to move to Los Angeles.^[8]

She was active in Los Angeles Theatre for many years, taking on roles withCircle X Theatre^[10] and 2100 Square Feet.^[11]

• Portland Center Stage:Hamlet (1999),Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1999),Bus Stop (2000)
• Portland Repertory Theatre:Arcadia
• Artist Repertory Theatre:The Misanthrope,How I Learned To Drive as well as Merchant of Venice,The Winter's Tale
• triangle productions:Angels in America,The Food Chain
• Circle X Theatre:Laura Comstock's Bag Punching Dog (2002) –LA Weekly award,^[12]Sperm (2004)
• Vineyard Playhouse:Fighting Words by Sunil Kuruvilla (2003)^[13]

She became a regular performer atThe Groundlings,^[14] where she was discovered bySaturday Night Live.^[15] Watkins said the appeal of sketch work is that she can write her own material.^[2]

In November 2008, Watkins joined the cast ofSaturday Night Live (SNL). Watkins said (at that time) that she was the oldest woman they ever hired.^[2] Watkins has since been surpassed byLeslie Jones, who was 47 when she joinedSNL. Watkins made her first major appearance on the show asArianna Huffington on the November 22nd Weekend Update.^[16][17] Watkins remained onSNL as a featured player throughout the rest of the 2008–2009 season, up to the season finale on May 16, 2009.

However, whileSNL was on summer hiatus, the news broke in early September 2009 that Watkins, along with fellow castmateCasey Wilson, were both to be let go from the show^[18][19] and would not be returning for the 2009–10 season.^[20][21]

• Angie Tempura: A geeky,iced coffee-drinking computer nerd who snarks on celebrities and movies and is the creator of the snarky website "Bitch Pleeze" (www.bitchpleeze.com, which redirects to the SNL site). Though she insults celebrities, Angie was revealed to have a crush onZac Efron.

She recurred as Lucy oppositeHamish Linklater in the sitcomThe New Adventures of Old Christine, as well as appearing in recurring roles in the comedy programsEnlightened,New Girl, andAnger Management. She has also made guest appearances on shows such asHung,Childrens Hospital,Kroll Show,Key & Peele,Curb Your Enthusiasm, andModern Family.

Watkins also starred alongsideMalin Åkerman,Bradley Whitford, andMarcia Gay Harden in the short-lived, but well-received^[22]ABC sitcomTrophy Wife.^[23][24] The series aired for one season from September 2013 to May 2014.^[25]

In 2015, it was announced that Watkins would star in theHulu series produced byJason Reitman calledCasual, which would be executive produced byLiz Tigelaar.^[26]

In 2018, she recurred on season two of theAmazon Prime seriesCatastrophe, playing the sister of lead character Rob Norris (Rob Delaney).^[27] From 2019 to 2021, she has co-starred on theCBS sitcomThe Unicorn.

Watkins co-created (with writing partner and fellow Groundling, Damon Jones)^[28] the short-lived 2014USA Network comedy seriesBenched.^[29] The series starredEliza Coupe andJay Harrington and premiered on October 28, 2014.^[30] Watkins and Jones were also executive producers on the show.^[31]

Watkins has appeared in supporting roles in films such asEnough Said,In a World...,^[32]Afternoon Delight,The Back-Up Plan,Wanderlust,They Came Together andLazy Eye.

In 2020, Watkins appeared in the supporting role of Irene O'Connor in the musical podcastIn Strange Woods.^[33][34]

Watkins is married to Fred Kramer, who is a founding partner of Reason Ventures and General Manager of Critical Mass Studios, Inc.^[35] Kramer used to be Executive Director of theJewish World Watch organization, a Los Angeles-based anti-genocide non-profit, focused on the situations in Sudan and Congo.^[36]

• Michaela Watkins atIMDb
• @michaelaWat onTwitter

• 1971 births
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