Casey Wilson
Wilson at the PaleyFest Fall TV Previews 2014 forMarry Me
Born	Cathryn Rose Wilson (1980-10-24)October 24, 1980 (age 44) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater	New York University Stella Adler Studio of Acting
Occupations	Actress comedian writer podcaster
Years active	2002–present
Known for	Happy Endings Saturday Night Live Black Monday The Shrink Next Door
Spouse	David Caspe ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	3

Cathryn Rose "Casey"Wilson^[1] (born October 24, 1980)^[2][3] is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter.

Originally known for her performances with theUpright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe in New York City, Wilson's first major television appearances came during her two-season stint as a cast member on theNBCsketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live from 2008 to 2009. FollowingSNL, she starred as Penny Hartz in theABC comedy seriesHappy Endings for which she was twice nominated for theCritics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and has since starred in comedies such asShowtime'sBlack Monday,Apple TV'sThe Shrink Next Door,Hulu'sThe Hotwives andMarry Me onNBC.

Other notable work includes supporting roles in films such asGone Girl,Julie & Julia, andThe Meddler, recurring in theHBO seriesMrs. Fletcher, theAmazon comedyOne Mississippi, and theNetflix seriesAtypical, and her 2013Sundance filmAss Backwards, which she co-wrote and starred in with her creative partnerJune Diane Raphael. Wilson co-hosts (alongsideDanielle Schneider) theEarwolf podcastBitch Sesh.

Casey Wilson was born and raised inAlexandria, Virginia.^[2][4][5] She graduated fromT. C. Williams High School in 1998^[6] and studied theater atNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts and at theStella Adler Studio of Acting, where she was a recipient of NYU's "Excellence in Acting" award when graduating in 2002.^[7]

She is ofIrish andItalian heritage,^[8] and was raisedBaptist.^[9] Her parents worked in politics, and she credits her politically opposed parents (her mother was aDemocrat, her father aRepublican) in shaping her sense of humor, having grown up in a "blue-state/red-state, forever-clashing political household", as she called it in an interview withWashington Flyer.^{[citation needed]} She has a younger brother, Fletcher.^[5]

Her father, Paul O. Wilson, is a political strategist and consultant who runs campaigns forRepublican party candidates.^[10] Her mother, Kathy Higdon, was awomen's rights advocate and served as the chairwoman of theNational Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) throughout the 1980s.^[5] Under Higdon's leadership, the NWPC endorsedWalter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election.^[5]

Kathy Higdon Wilson retired from politics in the late 1980s; switching to a career in early childhood education, she began serving as the director of childcare and development centers inAlexandria, Virginia, in 1991.^[5] She died ofheart failure at age 54 inRehoboth Beach, Delaware, on September 1, 2005.^[5] Casey Wilson and her family have since continued to run theKathy Wilson Foundation, a charitable organization honoring her mother's work in helping children with disabilities.^[11]

Wilson's passion for performing began at an early age, and she has said that her first memorable exposure to theater came when her father took her to New York City to see a production ofCats, inspiring her to create her own plays.^[12]

When Wilson was nine years old, her father built her a homemade stage in the family's backyard, where she put on plays with other children from the neighborhood. From there, she started taking singing and acting lessons as a teenager. She became involved in her high school's theater program, starring in (and occasionally directing) many of the school's plays and musicals, including a production ofThe Sound of Music, in which she played the lead role of Maria.^[13]

While studying acting at the Stella Adler School of Dramatic Arts, Wilson originally set out to be a dramatic actress, but later started to focus on comedy at the suggestion of an acting teacher.^[14]

After graduating from NYU in 2002, Wilson and her best friend from college,June Diane Raphael, began studying improvisational comedy at theUpright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City, where they eventually ran their two-woman sketch show for a number of years. Performing the long-running stage show opened doors for them as writers. After performing the show at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2005, they were hired byNew Regency Pictures to write the filmBride Wars and landed a development deal withUPN to create a sitcom pilot.^[15]

Wilson has cited her biggest influences asCatherine O'Hara,Diane Keaton,Madeline Kahn,Lucille Ball,Bette Davis,Molly Shannon,Cheri Oteri,Debra Winger, andShirley MacLaine.^[3][12][16]

Wilson started her comedy career writing and performing with theUpright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) in New York and later in Los Angeles.^[7] At UCB, she was a member of theHarold improv teams "Mr. and Mrs. All-Star", "Sentimental Lady", and "Hey, Uncle Gary!".^[17]

Among her best-known work at UCB was the long-running two-woman sketch showRode Hard and Put Away Wet, written and performed alongside her comedy partner and best friend June Diane Raphael; the show ran from 2003 to 2006 in New York and Los Angeles and was an official selection at 2005'sUS Comedy Arts Festival inAspen, Colorado.^[7] The two women, who first met in a clowning class during their freshman year at NYU,^[18] went on to win theECNY Award for "Best Comedy Duo" in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

Wilson and Raphael's comedic partnership has since branched out into an active writing career in film and television. They co-wrote their first screenplay for the comedyBride Wars, in which they also played supporting roles.^[19] They landed a development deal withUPN in 2005 to create a half-hour comedy pilot. In 2007 they worked as writers and story editors on theAmericanized version ofCreature Comforts on CBS.^{[citation needed]}

Wilson made her film acting debut as an acting student in the final scene of the 2006Christopher Guest filmFor Your Consideration. She has since appeared inJulie & Julia,C.O.G.,The Breakup Girl,The Guilt Trip,Killers,The Brothers Solomon,Freak Dance,The Great Buck Howard, and theBob Odenkirk-directed short filmDerek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette. She also co-starred in theDavid Fincher thrillerGone Girl (2014), the 2016 dramedyThe Meddler, withSusan Sarandon, and the 2019 comedyAlways Be My Maybe.

Wilson continues to collaborate with writing partner June Diane Raphael on scripts for film and television. They have worked on numerous script rewrites for films in development, such as projects withAnna Faris andAmerica Ferrera attached to star.^[20] As writer-performers, Wilson and Raphael also continue to generate material for themselves. They wrote and starred together in the comedyAss Backwards, which co-starsAlicia Silverstone,Jon Cryer,Vincent D'Onofrio,Paul Scheer, andBob Odenkirk. The film premiered at theSundance Film Festival on January 21, 2013.^[21] Wilson and Raphael are working on a second film to star in together, produced byWill Ferrell andAdam McKay's companyGary Sanchez Productions.^[22]

Wilson's theater and stage work includes joining the 2010 rotating cast of theOff-Broadway playLove, Loss, and What I Wore (written byNora Ephron andDelia Ephron) at Manhattan'sWestside Theatre.^[23] She also contributed short stories to the 2010 bookWorst Laid Plans, based on the long-running stage show, in which she co-starred. Wilson and June Diane Raphael created their newest comedic stage showThe Realest Real Housewives, which they star in alongsideJessica St. Clair,Melissa Rauch,Danielle Schneider and Morgan Walsh. The show began running at theUpright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2011.^[24]

From April 2011 to May 2013, Wilson starred as Penny Hartz in theABC ensemble comedy seriesHappy Endings alongsideEliza Coupe,Elisha Cuthbert,Zachary Knighton,Adam Pally andDamon Wayans, Jr. A breakout role for Wilson, she was nominated twice for "Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series" at theCritics' Choice Television Awards for her work on seasons two and three ofHappy Endings. In July 2020, the cast reunited overZoom for the pandemic-themed episodeAnd the Pandemmy goes to... to raise money for the charitiesColor of Change andWorld Central Kitchen.^[25][26]

Wilson again collaborated with her husbandDavid Caspe (they met working together onHappy Endings, which Caspe created) on theNBC sitcomMarry Me, which aired for one season from 2014 to 2015. The series starred Wilson andKen Marino as an engaged couple, and the premise was loosely based on Wilson and Caspe's relationship. She also starred for two seasons on theHulu original seriesThe Hotwives. The series is a parody of the reality television franchiseThe Real Housewives onBravo. With season one (The Hotwives of Orlando) focused on Orlando, and season two taking place in Las Vegas (The Hotwives of Las Vegas), both seasons featured the same cast playing different roles in each season.^[27]

Wilson's other television credits include guest appearances onBlack-ish,How I Met Your Mother,The Mindy Project,Drunk History,Grey's Anatomy,Fresh Off the Boat,Kroll Show,Bored to Death,Comedy Bang! Bang!,The Middle, andThe League; she has also had voiceover roles in the animated comedy programsAmerican Dad!,Animals.,Archibald's Next Big Thing,Family Guy,Glenn Martin, DDS, andThe Life & Times of Tim, as well as inLittlest Pet Shop, where she starred in the series finale episode as Felina Meow. She plays a recurring role in theAmazon seriesOne Mississippi starringTig Notaro, as Tig's ex-girlfriend Brooke. In 2017, Wilson co-starred oppositeBusy Philipps inTina Fey's unaired comedy pilotThe Sackett Sisters for NBC. In 2019, she began a recurring role as Jane Rosen in theHBO mini-seriesMrs. Fletcher. From 2019 to 2021, Wilson co-starred as Tiffany Georgina on theShowtime comedyBlack Monday for three seasons.

In 2019, Wilson wrote and directed the short filmDaddio starringMichael McKean, which premiered at theToronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2019.^{[citation needed]}

In 2021, Wilson starred alongsideWill Ferrell,Paul Rudd, andKathryn Hahn in theApple TV+ mini-seriesThe Shrink Next Door, based on the popularWondery podcast of the same name. In addition, her book of essays,The Wreckage of My Presence was published byHarperCollins and made theNew York Times bestseller list for non-fiction works.^[28] In 2024, Wilson andJessica St. Clair wrote and narrated the audiobookThe Art of Small Talk, which includes interviews withAmy Poehler,Colin Quinn,Malcolm Gladwell,Tony Hale, andJune Diane Raphael, and others.^[29]

In 2024, Wilson took over forEllie Kemper as host of season 7 ofThe Great American Baking Show onThe Roku Channel, after also hosting the "Celebrity Holiday Special" in 2023.

After auditioning in late 2007, Wilson was hired in January 2008 to join the cast ofSaturday Night Live, succeeding departing cast memberMaya Rudolph. However, due to the2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, she did not make her first appearance as a cast member until the show returned in February 2008; she was the first new addition to the cast in over two years, and was also the firstSNL cast member to have been born in the 1980s. Wilson's most memorable work onSNL included celebrity impressions of, among others,Rachael Ray,Elizabeth Dole,Elizabeth Taylor,Ginnifer Goodwin,Katy Perry, andJennifer Aniston, as well as original characters such as Dusty Velvet, "the paralyzed stripper"; and Toni Ward, co-host of "The Cougar Den". After spending two seasons onSNL, Wilson was let go from the show before the start of the 2009–2010 season. When asked how she felt about herSNL departure in an October 2009 interview, Wilson said: "My mindset is good. I did it for a year and a half. I don't think it will ultimately define my career. And it wasn't the best fit for me."^[30]

Wilson has performed as a number of notable characters onSaturday Night Live:

• Dusty Velvet, a strip club dancer who was left paralyzed from the neck down following a freakTilt-A-Whirl accident, and refuses to let it stop her from performing her act. She is only able to perform her "erotic moves" with the assistance of Donnie (played byAshton Kutcher) the strip club manager.
• Nora Maharelle, part of the singing sisterly quartet The Maharelle Sisters who are regularly featured onThe Lawrence Welk Show. Their otherwise flawless performances are always ruined by the fourth sister, Dooneese (played byKristen Wiig), because of her off-key singing and freakish appearance.
• Toni Ward, one of thecougars who co-hostsThe Cougar Den. She is distinguished by her deep voice and offbeat methods for pursuing younger men. For example, she says that for Valentine's Day: "I'm going to suck down some Jello shooters and wander around USC's campus wearing a T-shirt that says: 'I'll pay you and this won't get messy.'"

• Chelsea Clinton
• Christina Hendricks
• Elizabeth Dole
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Ginnifer Goodwin
• Jennifer Aniston
• Karen Dotrice
• Katy Perry
• Mariam Budia
• Robin Coleman

On December 2, 2015, Wilson and comedianDanielle Schneider began hosting theEarwolf podcastBitch Sesh, where they and a guest have comedic discussions about the previous night's episode ofThe Real Housewives, as well as other topics related to the Bravo channel and reality television. Guests have includedJune Diane Raphael,Andy Cohen,Adam Pally,Jerry O'Connell,Matt Besser,Vanessa Bayer,Michael Rapaport,Elisha Cuthbert,Kristen Wiig,Michelle Collins, andRetta.Paul Scheer announced the show on his podcastHow Did This Get Made? and released a special preview episode, describing it as a "sister podcast" to his show, with a focus on discussing reality television instead of movies. Entertainment websites includingVulture,Entertainment Weekly andThe A.V. Club rankedBitch Sesh on numerous podcast "Best Of" lists.^[31][32][33] In 2022, she hosted theWondery podcastFed Up about the F-Factor diet.^[34][35]

Wilson lives inLos Angeles and is married to comedy writerDavid Caspe. They met in early 2010 when she auditioned for his ABC seriesHappy Endings. After working together on the show for over a year, they started dating in July 2011.^[36] They got engaged overLabor Day weekend in September 2013 and were married on May 25, 2014, inOjai, California.^[37] They have two sons, Max Red Caspe (born May 2015)^[38] and Henry Bear Caspe (born August 24, 2017).^[39] Casey welcomed daughter Frances 'Frankie' Rose Caspe viasurrogate in January 2023.^[40]

Wilson shares her family's interest in politics. She was a supporter ofHillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential election and volunteered on her campaign. She went on the road with the Clintons in theMidwest, speaking at and introducing Hillary andBill Clinton at campaign rallies inIowa andIndiana.^[6]

Wilson and her family maintain the charitableKathy Wilson Foundation, established in 2005, which focuses on children with disabilities. The foundation screens three- and four-year-olds in the Alexandria community for disabilities. Her father Paul Wilson serves as president, with Wilson and her brother Fletcher serving as vice presidents.^[11] The foundation distributes donations and grants to local area preschools and childcare centers inVirginia every year.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCasey Wilson.

• Casey Wilson atIMDb
• Casey Wilson onTwitter
• Casey Wilson on FunnyOrDieArchived April 5, 2018, at theWayback Machine

• 1980 births
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• 21st-century American actresses
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• American film and television podcasters
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