Elaine May Biography

Elaine May is a screenwriter film director actress and comedienne. She made her initial impact in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines with Mike Nichols performing as Nichols and May.
After studying acting with theater coach Maria Ouspenskaya in Los Angeles she moved to Chicago in 1955 and became a founding member of the Compass Players an improvisational theater group. May began working alongside Nichols who was also in the group and together they began writing and performing their own comedy sketches which were enormously popular. In 1957 they both quit the group to form their own stage act Nichols and May in New York.
They performed nightly to mostly sold-out shows in addition to making TV appearances and radio broadcasts. In their comedy act they created satirical clichés and character types which made fun of the new intellectual cultural and social order that was just emerging at the time. In doing so she was instrumental in removing the stereotype of women being unable to succeed at live comedy. Together they became an inspiration to many younger comedians including Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin. After four years at the height of their fame they decided to discontinue their act. May became a screenwriter and playwright along with acting and directing.

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