Maya Rudolph
Maya Rudolph (born
July 27,
1972 in
Gainesville,
Florida) is an
American actress/
comedian, currently a cast member of
NBC's
Saturday Night Live, and the daughter of the late soul singer
Minnie Riperton & composer
Richard Rudolph.
Rudolph's characters on the show have included attorney Glenda Goodwin and Megan from the "Wake Up, Wakefield!" sketches; she has performed impressions of
Oprah Winfrey,
Christina Aguilera,
Condoleezza Rice,
Charo,
Paris Hilton,
Teresa Heinz Kerry,
Tyra Banks,
Patty LaBelle, time-travelling
Scott Joplin and most famously, designer
Donatella Versace.
In addition to her work on
SNL, Maya has appeared in movies as well as on a few television shows, including
City of Angels and
Chicago Hope. She had small parts in the
2000 films
Chuck & Buck and
Duets, and, for the latter, she was also the music supervisor. Her first prominent film role came in
2006 with
A Prairie Home Companion.
Rudolph was born in
Gainesville, Florida, the daughter of Minnie Riperton and
Jewish American songwriter/producer
Richard Rudolph. She was in the studio with her mother on the day Riperton recorded "Lovin' You"; one can hear her mother sing "Maya, Maya, Maya" to her near the end of the track. Growing up
biracial and losing her mother at a young age had an effect, according to a July 2001
Rosie magazine article: "My mom was black and my dad is Jewish, and I lost my mom when I was seven. That made me feel really different from other kids."
|
Maya Rudolph on SNL Opening Credits |
She attended high school in
Santa Monica,
California and continued her education at the
University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated in
1995 with a BA in photography. She joined
SNL after a stint as a member of
The Groundlings improv troupe.
Prior to joining
SNL, she was briefly a keyboardist and backing singer for the band
The Rentals. She sang backing vocals for "Barcelona" and "My Head is in the Sun," both from the album
Seven More Minutes. She has recently recorded some tracks with
The Rentals frontman
Matt Sharp (most notably a cover of
Tegan and Sara's "Not Tonight").
Rudolph and
filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson are in a relationship and had a daughter, Pearl Bailey Anderson, on
October 15,
2005.[
1][
2][
3] She appeared in the first
SNL episode of the 2005-2006 season before going on maternity leave. She returned for the
February 4,
2006 episode (host: Steve Martin; musical guest: Prince).
*
List of multiracial people*
*
SNL biography*
USA Weekend magazine article from January 2004
