Kate McKinnon

Kate McKinnon Bio

Kate McKinnon Berthold, born January 6, 1984, is an American actress and comedian widely recognized for her decade-long run on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. She joined the show in 2012 and remained a cast member until 2022, becoming one of its most celebrated performers of her era. McKinnon is known for her sharp character work, her celebrity and political impressions, and her versatility across television, film, voice acting, and writing.

Beyond Saturday Night Live, McKinnon has built a varied career that includes lead roles in films such as Ghostbusters and Barbie, voice work in animated series, and original creative projects developed with her sister. She has earned multiple industry honors, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and she remains a prominent figure in American comedy.

Early Life and Background

Kate McKinnon Berthold was born and raised on Long Island in the town of Sea Cliff, New York. She is the daughter of Laura Campbell, a parent educator, and Michael Thomas Berthold, an architect. She has a younger sister, Emily Lynne, who is also a comedian and actress and has collaborated with McKinnon on several creative projects. Their father died when McKinnon was eighteen years old, an experience that shaped her teenage years.

From an early age, McKinnon showed a strong interest in performance and music. She began playing the piano at five, picked up the cello at twelve, and taught herself guitar at fifteen. Her talent for accents first emerged in fifth grade, when she auditioned for a reading-week role using an English accent. That early moment, she has said, sparked her lifelong love of comedy and voice work.

McKinnon graduated from North Shore High School in 2002 and went on to attend Columbia University, where she earned a degree in theatre in 2006. At Columbia, she co-founded a musical improv comedy group called Tea Party Music and starred in three Varsity shows. Her college circle also included future actors Jenny Slate and Grace Parra, directors Tze Chun and Greta Gerwig, and other creative talents who would go on to work in comedy and film.

Path to Acting

McKinnon’s professional path began while she was still at Columbia, performing with student comedy groups including Tea Party Music and Prangstgrüp, the latter known for staged campus pranks. After graduation, she moved into New York’s live comedy scene, joining the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2008, where she performed sketch comedy regularly. These years helped her develop the improv and character skills that would later define her work on television.

Her first on-screen break came in 2007, when she joined the original cast of Logo TV’s The Big Gay Sketch Show. She appeared in all three seasons of the series, which ran from 2007 to 2010. She also worked as a voice-over actress during this period, lending her voice to animated series such as The Venture Bros., Robotomy, and Ugly Americans. In 2009, she won a Logo NewNowNext Award for Best Rising Comic, signaling her growing reputation in the comedy world.

Kate McKinnon Career

Early Career (2002–2011)

During her early years, McKinnon focused on building a foundation in improv, sketch, and voice work. She trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and appeared in The Big Gay Sketch Show, which gave her steady television exposure. She was also nominated for an ECNY Emerging Comic Award in 2010, further establishing her as a rising voice in New York comedy.

These formative years allowed McKinnon to refine the character work and impressions that would soon reach a national audience. While she was not yet a household name, her performances in sketch and voice roles earned her a loyal following and the attention of casting directors in larger comedy productions.

Breakthrough (2012–2022)

McKinnon’s career changed dramatically in 2012, when she was hired as a featured player on Saturday Night Live. She was promoted to repertory status the following year, in season 39, and quickly became known for her impressions of political figures and pop-culture celebrities. In 2013, she earned her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, followed by an American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress, TV, in 2014.

Her tenure on the show reached a major milestone in 2016, when she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, becoming the first Saturday Night Live cast member to win the award since Dana Carvey in 1993. She won the same award again in 2017. Throughout her run, she became known for portraying Hillary Clinton, Kellyanne Conway, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Sessions, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justin Bieber, and Ellen DeGeneres, among many others. After the 2016 presidential election, she opened the November 12 episode with a solo performance of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah that became one of the show’s most memorable moments.

Alongside her Saturday Night Live work, McKinnon expanded into film. She co-starred in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot alongside Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones, and went on to appear in Sisters, Office Christmas Party, Rough Night, The Spy Who Dumped Me, Yesterday, Bombshell, and The Bubble. She also voiced characters in Finding Dory, The Angry Birds Movie, Ferdinand, and DC League of Super-Pets, and led the voice cast of the Netflix series The Magic School Bus Rides Again from 2017 to 2021 and the PBS Kids series Nature Cat from 2015 onward.

Notable Works and Milestones

McKinnon’s signature work remains Saturday Night Live, where she became the show’s longest-tenured female cast member by the end of her run in 2022. Her film credits include the blockbuster Barbie in 2023, where she played the fan-favorite role of Weird Barbie. She also portrayed Carole Baskin in the 2022 Peacock miniseries Joe vs. Carole and published a young-adult novel, The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science, in 2024, followed by a second book, Secrets of the Purple Pearl, in 2025.

Kate McKinnon Award Nominations

Across her career, Kate McKinnon has earned multiple nominations from major entertainment awards bodies, including the Primetime Emmy Awards, the American Comedy Awards, and the ECNY Emerging Comic Awards. Her work on Saturday Night Live led to repeated recognition in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category, along with a nomination for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for her collaborative work on the show. She has also been nominated for her voice performances and contributions to comedy specials.

Kate McKinnon Awards Won

Kate McKinnon has received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on Saturday Night Live, in 2016 and 2017, making her one of the show’s most honored cast members of her era. She also won an American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress, TV, in 2014, and a Logo NewNowNext Award for Best Rising Comic in 2009, both of which helped establish her reputation as one of the most talented comedians of her generation.

Kate McKinnon Family

Kate McKinnon was raised in Sea Cliff, New York, by her mother, Laura Campbell, a parent educator, and her father, Michael Thomas Berthold, an architect. Her younger sister, Emily Lynne, is also a comedian and actress, and the two have collaborated closely throughout their careers. They co-created the web series Notary Publix and the Audible fantasy-comedy series Heads Will Roll, which premiered in May 2019 and featured guest appearances from Meryl Streep, Peter Dinklage, and several of McKinnon’s Saturday Night Live colleagues. Their father died when McKinnon was eighteen years old.

Personal Life

While attending Columbia University, McKinnon dated journalist Bari Weiss. From 2016 to 2019, she was in a relationship with photographer and actress Jackie Abbott. During her presentation of the Carol Burnett Award to Ellen DeGeneres at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, McKinnon publicly spoke about being a lesbian and credited DeGeneres’ sitcom Ellen with helping her accept her own identity. She does not maintain any social media accounts, having said she fears misrepresenting her real feelings. She also lives with the condition known as geographic tongue.