Amy Poehler Biography

Amy Poehler grew up in Burlington, MA, and attended Boston College. After graduation, she moved to Chicago in 1993 to pursue a professional career in comedy, joining the comedy theaters ImprovOlympics and Second City, which have produced famous alumni including Stephen Colbert, Chris Farley, Mike Myers and Tina Fey. Poehler and Fey, who would later become famous together on Saturday Night Live (SNL), met each other through an improv group called Inside Vladimir, which someone had named after an adult video found at a local convenience store. "I believe there was some kind of Russian theme, but the story was lost on me very quickly," Poehler recalled. The two became friends immediately.

Poehler soon became part of a comedic troupe called the Upright Citizens' Brigade, a spin-off of ImprovOlympics. In 1996, she and her fellow comics moved UCB to New York City, where the troupe scored regular gigs on "The Conan O'Brien Show" and, later, a show of its own on Comedy Central in 1998. After a few years in New York, Poehler got her big break when she was hired as a featured performer on "Saturday Night Live."

Amy Poehler debuted in September 2001, appearing in the first "SNL" show to air after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She played a horrified employee in a sketch where Will Ferrell shows up to the office in a patriotic thong. She was promoted from featured player to full cast member midway through her first season, becoming the first woman and only the third person ever (after Harry Shearer and Eddie Murphy) to do so. When Jimmy Fallon left the show in 2004, Poehler joined Tina Fey as a co-anchor of Weekend Update.

In 2004, Poehler starred in the film "Mean Girls," famously playing the surgically-enhanced "cool mom" of Rachel McAdams' character. In 2008, Poehler and Fey teamed up to star in "Baby Mama," where Poehler plays a surrogate mother carrying a child for an uptight Fey.

Poehler had one of her busiest years on "SNL" portraying Hillary Clinton in a series of skits about the 2008 election. When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, Poehler performed alongside Fey's spot-on impression of the nominee. When the real Sarah Palin appeared on the show, a nine-months-pregnant Poehler performed a gangster rap about the Alaska governor while Palin swayed to the beat beside her.

Poehler left "SNL" in December 2008 but returned immediately to television with "Parks and Recreation," playing an over-eager bureaucrat in a fictional Midwestern town. She also launched a Web series called "Smart Girls at the Party," featuring interviews with "girls who are changing the world by being themselves."

Poehler has become one of television's top comediennes with the success of her sitcom "Parks and Recreation." For her work on the show, she has received several Emmy nominations as an actress, writer and producer. Poehler is also set to appear on the big screen with "Parks and Recreation" co-star Adam Scott in the upcoming comedy "A.C.O.D."

Amy also wrote a book recently called, "Yes Please, where she offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny bits on sex and love and friendship and parenthood and real life advice. The book ended up winning Best Humor for the GoodReads Choice Awards of 2014.

In the Summer of 2015, Amy starred as Susie in the Netflix original comedy series, "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp."

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