Amy Poehler

Her great-grandmother immigrated from Nova Scotia, Canada to Boston in the late 1800s.

She was raised as a Catholic.

Poehler grew up in nearby Burlington, Massachusetts, which she describes as a blue-collar town.

Her favorite performers and influences included sketch comedians Carol Burnett, Gilda Radner and Catherine O'Hara.

When she was ten years old, Poehler played Dorothy Gale in her school's production of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz.

The experience inspired Poehler's love of performing.

Poehler continued acting in school plays at Burlington High School.

She also participated in other activities during her time in high school including student council, soccer, and softball.

Amy Poehler (born September 16, 1971) is an American actress and comedian.

After graduating from high school in 1989, she enrolled at Boston College.

During college, Poehler became a member of the improv comedy troupe My Mother's Fleabag.

After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade.

The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) formed as a sketch and improv group in Chicago in 1991.

Early members included Horatio Sanz, Adam McKay, Ian Roberts, Neil Flynn and Matt Besser, although the membership was not static.

She graduated from Boston College with a bachelor's degree in media and communications in 1993.

Poehler's time studying improv in college inspired her to pursue comedy professionally.

After graduating from college, she moved to Chicago, where she took her first improv class, taught by Charna Halpern at ImprovOlympic.

Early on, Poehler worked as a waitress and at other jobs to earn money.

Through ImprovOlympic, Poehler learned from Del Close and she was introduced to friend and frequent collaborator Tina Fey.

Poehler and Fey joined a Second City touring company at the same time, and Poehler went on to join one of Second City's main companies where Fey was her eventual replacement.

McKay left the fledgling group in 1995 and Poehler became his replacement.

The group moved to New York City in 1996, where their act became a half-hour sketch-comedy series on Comedy Central in 1998.

Along with other members of the comedy group, Poehler is a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

In 1996, a core group of four UCB members, Poehler, Besser, Roberts and Matt Walsh, moved to New York City.

The "UCB Four" began performing shows at small venues around the city which evolved into four regular live shows after a few months.

To earn money outside of the shows, UCB taught improv classes.

In 2001, Poehler joined the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL) as a cast member.

From 2004 until 2008, she served as co-anchor of the show's news parody segment, Weekend Update.

Poehler frequently collaborated with Tina Fey on SNL and later acted with her in the feature films Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), Sisters (2015) and Wine Country (2019).

Poehler also provided voice acting roles for the animated films Shrek the Third (2007), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011), Free Birds (2013) and Inside Out (2015).

Fey and Poehler hosted the Golden Globe Awards four times in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2021.

She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Musical or Comedy Series in 2014 and a Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 2012.

Poehler left SNL halfway through her eighth season to star as Leslie Knope in the sitcom Parks and Recreation, which she produced and starred in until 2015.

Poehler is an executive producer on the television series Welcome to Sweden, Broad City, Difficult People, Duncanville, Three Busy Debras and Russian Doll.

In 2015, Poehler received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to television.

She and Fey won the 2016 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for co-hosting SNL.

Poehler was born in Newton, Massachusetts to school teachers Eileen and William Poehler.

Poehler credits her father with encouraging her to break social protocols and take risks.

She has one younger brother, Greg, who is also a producer and actor.

Poehler's ancestry is Irish, along with German, Portuguese, and English; her Irish roots originate from County Sligo and County Cork.