Cecily Strong
Strong in 2018
Born	Cecily Legler Strong[1] (1984-02-08)February 8, 1984 (age 41) Springfield, Illinois, U.S.
Education	California Institute of the Arts (BFA)
Occupations	Actress comedian
Years active	2012–present
Known for	Saturday Night Live (2012–2022) Schmigadoon! (2021–2023)
Children	1

Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984)^[2][3] is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on theNBC sketch comedy seriesSaturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022.^[4] She is the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.^[5]

Strong has a starring role on theApple TV+ musical comedy seriesSchmigadoon! (2021–2023), which she also co-produced. Her other roles include voice work onThe Awesomes (2013–2015), supporting roles in films likeGhostbusters,The Meddler, andThe Female Brain. She hosted theWhite House Correspondents' Dinner in 2015. Her first book, the memoirThis Will All Be Over Soon, was published in 2021.

For her work onSaturday Night Live, Strong was nominated forOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the72nd and73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Strong was born inSpringfield, Illinois, and was raised inOak Park, an inner ring suburb ofChicago.^[6] She is the daughter of Penelope and William "Bill" Strong, who worked as anAssociated Press bureau chief and as of 2013 ran his own public-relations firm.^[2][6] Penny Legler Strong is anurse practitioner, having worked extensively at area hospitals. Strong's parents are divorced.^[7] Strong grew up adoringSNL as a child, reenacting sketches with her friend^[8] and watching oldSNL commercials on VHS. "I had a tape of the best commercials, and I wore it out, every day." She has stated that she was inspired byPhil Hartman.^[9]

In a 2021 interview withTerry Gross on theNational Public Radio programFresh Air, Strong said that because her uncle is a Broadway producer, as a child she often was able to attend Broadway shows and sometimes go back stage to meet their casts.^[10]

She attendedOak Park and River Forest High School until her sophomore year, when she was expelled for bringing marijuana to school. She then attended a private Catholic school until transferring for her senior year to theChicago Academy for the Arts, where she graduated in 2002.^[7][11] She then studied acting atCalifornia Institute of the Arts (CalArts), graduating in 2006 with aBFA in theatre.^[12][13][14] After graduating, Strong returned to Chicago where she studied at theSecond City Conservatory andiO Chicago.

Strong performed regularly withThe Second City touring group and worked the box office atiO Chicago.^[7] Strong performed on a cruise ship with other Second City members for four months.^[15] She appeared at theChicago Sketch Fest,Chicago Just for Laughs, the New York Sketchfest, theEdinburgh Fringe Festival,^[13] theGoodman Theater, theBailiwick Theater, the Mercury Theater, and with the all-female improv troupe Virgin Daiquiri.^[16]

Strong debuted as a featured player onSaturday Night Live on September 15, 2012.^[13][17][18] The next season, Strong became a repertory player and co-anchored the recurringWeekend Update segment withSeth Meyers, beginning with the season 39 premiere. Strong later co-anchored withColin Jost,^[19] and was replaced onWeekend Update with writerMichael Che, beginning with the season 40 premiere in September 2014, partly at her own request to focus on doing sketches as a part of the regular cast.^[20] In 2020, Strong was nominated for her firstPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show.^[21] She was nominated again in2021.^[22] She was also nominated forBest Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the12th Critics' Choice Television Awards.^[23]

Strong drew praise from abortion-rights supporters, and strong backlash from abortion opponents, after appearing in a comedy skit, "Goober the Clown Who Had An Abortion When She Was 23," during aWeekend Update sketch on the November 6, 2021, episode.^[24] The sketch followed U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments in two cases relating to theTexas Heartbeat Act.^[25] Strong later confirmed on her Instagram account that the sketch referenced her own abortion.^[26] Strong followed up on the commentary a year later, during aWeekend Update sketch on the November 5, 2022, episode, appearing as "Tammy the Trucker on Gas Prices and Definitely Not Abortion" before the2022 midterm elections.^[27]

Strong returned toSNL forseason 48, and passed former castmateKate McKinnon as the longest-running female cast member in the show's history,^[28][5] though she missed the first three shows of the season reprising her role in the playThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe in Los Angeles.^[29] She returned on the October 29, 2022, episode.^[30] Strong passed McKinnon's record with the December 17, 2022, episode,^[31][5] her last.^[32][5]

• The Girl You Wish You Hadn't Started a Conversation with at a Party, an unintelligent, unnamed pseudo-activist,^[33]
• Dana, a loud-mouthed, unfriendly retail employee who along with Niff (played byBobby Moynihan) always insults her coworkers out of fear of being fired,
• Donna Fingerneck, The Art of the Encounter and Women in the Workplace co-host with Jodi Cork (played byKate McKinnon),
• Heather, a one-dimensional female character from a male-driven comedy,
• Kyra, co-host ofThe Girlfriends Talk Show, alongside Morgan (played byAidy Bryant),
• Cathy Anne, the drug-addicted neighbor ofMichael Che (usually introduced by Che as "the woman who's always yelling outside my window"), who has strong opinions on current events,
• An unnamed blondeformer porn star-turned-model/commercial actress who hawks elegant items alongside Brecky (played byVanessa Bayer),
• Gemma, an aspiring British singer with various boyfriends,
• Gracelynn Chisholm, co-host of morning showRight Side of the Bed with her husband Cory (played byTaran Killam),
• Joelle LaRue, one of the two French animal-based video clip show presenters, alongside Noelle LeSoup (played byKate McKinnon),
• Lonnie, one of the two unintelligent kids (the other being Josh, played byMikey Day) in theScience Room sketches.^[34][35]

Strong was the featured entertainer at the 2015White House Correspondents' Association dinner.^[36] She took digs at the various news organizations in attendance, politicians of all persuasions, andPresident Obama. She also took shots at theU.S. Secret Service, host location theWashington Hilton,Brian Williams,Sarah Koenig and the state ofIndiana.^[37]

In 2016, she appeared in acommercial forOld Navy,^[38] alongside otherSNL cast membersNasim Pedrad andJay Pharoah. That year, Strong also joined the climate change documentary showYears of Living Dangerously as a celebrity correspondent.^[39] In 2016, she guest starred as Samantha Stevens inTBS'sAngie Tribeca and Catherine Hobart inFox'sScream Queens. She has appeared in a series ofcommercials forTriscuit since 2017. Starting in 2020 she starred in a series of Prego Spaghetti sauce commercials and in 2022 she was in several Verizon commercials featuring Apple+ TV with several co-stars includingAdam Scott andJulian Edelman.

Her first book, a memoir titledThis Will All Be Over Soon, was published on August 10, 2021.^[40][41] The book addresses "the challenges of beginning a relationship during the pandemic; the pain of losing family and friends; the pivotal events of her life that shaped her; and the importance of gratitude for each passing day."^[42] It developed from an essay she wrote about grieving the loss of her cousin Owen to brain cancer in the middle of theCOVID-19 pandemic that was first published onVulture.com in 2020.^[43][44]

In 2021, Strong appeared inHBO Max's six-part comedy seriesThat Damn Michael Che, featuringSNL castmateMichael Che.^[45] The same year, she starred in, and was a producer for,Schmigadoon!, amusical parody series onApple TV+. Developed byCinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and produced bySNL'sLorne Michaels, the series centers on a couple (played by Strong andKeegan-Michael Key) stuck in a 1940s studio musical town until they find "true love".^[46][47]

Strong made her New York stage debut in anOff Broadway revival ofJane Wagner's one-woman playThe Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, which starredLily Tomlin in 1985.^[48] Directed byLeigh Silverman, the show opened atThe Shed on January 11, 2022.^[49][50]

It was then announced in December 2023, that Strong would co-star in the off Broadway playBrooklyn Laundry, which opened at the New York Center on February 28, 2024.^[51]

In March 2024, Strong revealed that she was engaged to her partner John MacGregor.^[52][53]

In November 2024, Strong announced on herInstagram page that she was pregnant with her first child, a girl, throughin vitro fertilization. The post also encouraged her followers to vote against Republican presidential nomineeDonald Trump in the2024 United States presidential election.^[54] She gave birth the following April.^[53]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCecily Strong.

• Cecily Strong atIMDb
• Cecily Strong onInstagram
• Official SNL cast biography

• 1984 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American actresses
• American film actresses
• American impressionists (entertainers)
• American television actresses
• American voice actresses
• American women comedians
• California Institute of the Arts alumni
• Actresses from Oak Park, Illinois
• Actors from Springfield, Illinois
• American sketch comedians
• Comedians from Illinois
• 21st-century American comedians
• The Second City Training Center alumni

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