Biography
A comedic powerhouse with real vocal talent, Ana Gasteyer springboarded from The Groundlings to "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ), where she quickly established herself as a first-rate impersonator, nailing wickedly clever takes on Martha Stewart and Celine Dion. Among her breakout characters included the earnestly awful folk singer Cinder Calhoun, Molly Shannon's soft-spoken NPR "Delicious Dish" co-host, and along with Will Ferrell, a husband-and-wife team of white-bread music teachers who throw themselves into passionate but terrible covers of popular songs. An under-the-radar MVP, Gasteyer parlayed her "SNL" goodwill into small roles in "Dick" (1999), "Woman on Top" (2000) and "What Women Want" (2000), but earned her biggest movie success as the anthropologist mother of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in Tina Fey's blockbuster "Mean Girls" (2004). She showed off her amazing pipes in "Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical" (2005), and to greater acclaim as Elphaba in the stage musical "Wicked," a role she reprised on Broadway. She made a cameo in "The Women" (2008) and played a mayor in Tyler Perry's "We the Peeples" (2011). The actress also notched two recurring roles: a quirky judge on "The Good Wife" (CBS, 2009-16) and an overbearing suburbanite in "Suburgatory" (ABC, 2011-14). Proving her versatility in musical theater as well as onscreen, Ana Gasteyer earned a stellar reputation as an ace scene-stealer and comedic force who enlivened every project in which she appeared with her unique, offbeat energy.
