Jenny Slate, 33, is a goddess. She is somehow the girl-next-door, man’s best friend, your sister, and someone who doesn’t care about any of those stereotypes, rolled up into one, awesome person.
This beautiful woman grew up in Massachusetts with a poet father and a ceramicist mother. She graduated in 2004 from Columbia University with an English Literature degree. While at Columbia, she started an improv group called Fruit Paunch and met her future comedic duo partner, Gabe Liedman.
Jenny has been doing comedy since about 2005, perhaps best known for her role on Parks & Recreation as “the WORRRST” Mona-Lisa Saperstein. She was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, season 35 and does the voice of Tammy on Bob’s Burgers. She was also the redeeming cast member on The Kroll Show.
Triple-threat actress/comedian/goddess Jenny also created and voiced Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, a YouTube sensation – then proceeded to publish a book documenting his adventures.
“You know, SNL was a challenge for me, mostly because of how I treated myself. Everyone was very kind to me, but if there was one thing I would change, I would ask people to stop saying that ‘now is the time for women in comedy’ because it’s rude to all of the women who came before us, patronizing to those of us doing it, and backwards in general. Comedy comes from my nature, not my gender!”
Last year, Jenny starred in the honest and heart-warming movie Obvious Child (2014) as Donna who ends up with an unplanned pregnancy. It portrays abortion services as a normal part of a woman’s reproductive freedom, which is certainly refreshing. (PLEASE watch this movie, it is amazing – here is the trailer.)
“I am so proud to be in a movie that is joyful and thoughtful and predicts a modern experience of an unplanned pregnancy. I think it’s beautiful and I’m really proud.”
But my favorite role Jenny plays is herself. Practically everything that comes out of her mouth – and her Instagram (@jennyslate) – is comedic gold. She is strange but makes us all realize how strange we are too. You can always count on her to be unapologetically herself.
Check her out in this interview with Seth Meyers and I’m pretty sure you’ll casually fall in love with her, just like I have.