Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler is an American actress, comedian, writer, director and producer best known for her work on the sketch series Saturday Night Live and as the relentlessly optimistic public servant Leslie Knope on the sitcom Parks and Recreation. A central figure in modern American improv comedy, she helped build the Upright Citizens Brigade and has become a prominent producer of television comedy.

Early life

Poehler was born on September 16, 1971, in Newton, Massachusetts, and raised in nearby Burlington. She studied at Boston College, where she joined the improvisational comedy troupe My Mother's Fleabag, and graduated in 1993. She then moved to Chicago to train at the ImprovOlympic and The Second City, the long-running comedy institutions that have produced many American comedic performers.

Career

In the 1990s Poehler co-founded the Upright Citizens Brigade with collaborators including Matt Besser, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh; the group developed a sketch series for Comedy Central and established improv theaters in New York and Los Angeles. She joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2001 and became one of its most recognizable performers, eventually co-anchoring the Weekend Update segment and creating memorable political and pop-culture impressions before leaving the show in 2008.

Her film work includes comedies such as Mean Girls, Blades of Glory, Baby Mama and Sisters, the last two co-starring her frequent creative partner Tina Fey. From 2009 to 2015 she starred as Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award and several Emmy nominations and became one of her defining characters. She also voiced the emotion Joy in the Pixar film Inside Out and its sequel.

Recent work

Beyond performing, Poehler has expanded into directing and producing. She made her feature directing debut with Wine Country and later directed the teen comedy Moxie for Netflix. Through her production company she has been involved with series including Broad City and Russian Doll, and she co-founded the digital initiative Smart Girls, which encourages young people. She has co-hosted the Golden Globe Awards ceremony with Tina Fey on multiple occasions and published the memoir Yes Please. She continues to work across television, film and podcasting, remaining one of the most influential figures in American comedy. She also co-hosted the crafting competition Making It with her former Parks and Recreation co-star Nick Offerman, and directed the documentary Lucy and Desi, about the entertainers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. As a producer she has championed work created by and starring women, and she has done extensive voice and narration work in addition to her on-camera roles. Across stand-up-adjacent comedy, scripted television, animation and film, Poehler has built a reputation as both a performer and a creative force behind the camera, mentoring younger comedians who came up through the improv world she helped popularize.