

The craziest thing was, I received word that I had been made an official Groundling on the same day I flew to New York to start a job at Saturday Night Live.
#Maya rudolph how to#
I learned how to write pieces and how to use my singing in performances, and I got to perform with a bunch of other weirdos, who became like family. The Groundlings became my graduate school: I studied there for about four years, and I ate, slept, and drank improv and sketch comedy. (I didn't realize then that the audition was just to weed out the ax murderers! If you weren't totally crazy, you were in.) (Ana Gasteyer and Chris Parnell would join within a few years.) So about six months after I graduated from college, I auditioned to take classes there and was accepted. And at the time-around 1995-three members of the SNL cast were former Groundlings: Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Cheri Oteri. I had heard of the Groundlings, a school for improvisation and comedy writing in Los Angeles. I needed to invest in a comedy education. Now you need to figure out how to get there."Īfter that talk, I realized that becoming a comedian is a job, not just a dream.

And then one day in my senior year, my father asked me what I planned to do after I graduated, and I told him point-blank: "I want to be on Saturday Night Live." It's amazing that he took me seriously-that show has a very small door to squeeze through-but he just said, "Great. In high school I entered some improv competitions, but by the time I got to college, I was studying everything but comedy: photography, women's studies, filmmaking. That whole world was like a big party that I wanted to get invited to. I'd always imitate her around the house-I didn't even need a wig because I already had the big hairdo! Gilda's husband was Gene Wilder, and I dreamed of marrying a funny guy like him someday. At 5, I already knew who Gilda Radner was, and I loved her character Roseanne Roseannadanna. I used to sneak into my parents' bedroom and watch Saturday Night Live. I thought, "Yeah! This is good! I've got an audience. All the adults were clapping, and the more they laughed, the more I turned it up. Once, at a friend's house, when the Pretenders' song "Brass in Pocket" came on the radio, I started lip-synching and dancing-basically doing a full-on performance in the living room. But it wasn't until a surprising talk with her father that her fantasies came into focus.Īs a kid, I loved to make people laugh.

Maya has four children with her partner, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.The Grown Ups actress always dreamed big. In 2006, she co-starred in the film A Prairie Home Companion (2006), directed by the legendary Robert Altman and based on the NPR show by Garrison Keillor. Famous sketches include a dead-on impression of fashion diva Donatella Versace high school flake "Megan", the host of her own morning talk show, "Wake-up WakeField" and one of the members of the R&B parody "Gemini's Twin". On May 6, 2000, Maya joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975), and became one of that show's most popular performers. When The Rentals disbanded, Maya decided to pursue her dream of a career in comedy, joining the famed troupe "The Groundlings". Maya began touring with the group, singing backup and playing Moog synthesizer. Maya was featured on the 1999 release "Seven More Minutes", where she sang backup vocals on "Barcelona" and "My Head is in the Sun". After graduation in 1994, Maya left the band and soon joined The Rentals, fronted by Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. Explore the latest videos from hashtags: mayarudolph, mayarudolphedit, mayarudolphaskamalaharris, myarudolph, mayarudolphsmom, mayarudolphshalon. It was here that Maya formed the band "Supersauce" with fellow students. In 1990, Maya enrolled at the University of California at Santa Cruz, majoring in photography. The Paltrows and the Rudolphs became family friends and, in 2000, Richard Rudolph and Maya filled the role of music supervisors on the Bruce Paltrow-directed film Duets (2000), which starred Gwyneth. Augustine by the Sea School, where she met childhood friend, Gwyneth Paltrow. Here Minnie recorded "Lovin' You", her most famous single, in which one can hear her sing "Maya, Maya, Maya" at the end of the song Riperton said that the song was used as a lullaby for Maya.ĭuring adolescence, Maya attended St. In 1973, Maya, her parents, and her older brother, Marc Rudolph, moved to California to further Minnie's music career. Her mother was African-American and her father is Ashkenazi Jewish (from a family from Lithuania, Russia, Germany, and Hungary).

Maya Rudolph was born on Jin Gainesville, Florida, to Richard Rudolph, a music producer, and soul singer Minnie Riperton.
