Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972 in Gainesville, Florida) is an American actress and comedian best known for her many roles on Saturday Night Live. Her mother, Minnie Riperton, was a soul singer (the same one known for the song "Loving You"), and her father, Richard Rudolph, was a music producer, so Maya practically grew up in the studio. Her godmother is rhythm-and-blues singer Teena Marie. Her mother died of breast cancer when Maya was very young.
In the 1990s, Maya was the backing singer and occasional keyboardist for rock band The Rentals, appeared in a few films and TV shows, such as As Good as It Gets and Gattaca, and was a member of Improv comedy troupe The Groundlings.
Maya Rudolph's big break came in 2000, when she joined Saturday Night Live, becoming the first half-black, half-white cast member, the fourth black female cast member (after Yvonne Hudson from season six, Danitra Vance from season eleven, and Ellen Cleghorne from season 17), and the first black female cast member to actually be popular (Hudson was a background player who faded to obscurity, Vance was a decent performer but was often relegated to stereotypical roles, and Ellen Cleghorne did attain some popularity on SNL, but she was overshadowed by the male cast membersnote and has not done anything of note after her tenure on the show). From 2000 to 2007, she did many celebrity impressions (most famously Donatella "GETHOOOOOOOOOOUT" Versace), played original characters, and even sang. Her mixed race and vocal talents made her a chameleon, as she played real and fictional characters of every race and ethnicity — and sometimes, she even played men (such as Scott Joplin and Lorne Michaels). She even won an Emmy Award for her portrayal of Kamala Harris during the Democratic primaries for the 2020 election, which she would continue doing on an official recurring basis after the eventual nominee, Joe Biden, selected her as his running mate.
Rudolph was planning on leaving the show after the 32nd season (2006-2007), but stayed on without a contract for the 33rd season (2007-2008). Unfortunately, it was only for the first four episodes. When Saturday Night Live was put on hiatus due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Rudolph quietly left the show and was replaced with Casey Wilson when the strike ended and production continued. Rudolph did come back to cameo a few episodes and even host (season 37; February 18, 2012; musical guest: Sleigh Bells), becoming one in a handful of former female cast members to come back and host (joining Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, and, later, Rudolph's Bridesmaids co-star, Kristen Wiig).
Outside SNL, Rudolph has appeared in several movies and TV shows, such as Bridesmaids, where she was joined by fellow SNL comedian Kristen Wiig. In 2011, she began starring alongside Christina Applegate and Will Arnett in the sitcom Up All Night. She lives with film director Paul Thomas Anderson and their four children.
Roles
- Chicago Hope (1996-1997) as Nurse Leah Martine
- As Good as It Gets (1997) as Police Woman
- Gattaca (1997) as Delivery Nurse
- City of Angels (2000) as Nurse Grace Patterson
- Saturday Night Live (2000-2007) in various roles (see below for celebrity impersonations)
- 50 First Dates (2004) as Stacy
- Idiocracy (2005) as Rita
- A Prairie Home Companion (2006) as the Stage Manager
- Shrek the Third (2007) as Rapunzel (voice role)
- The Simpsons (2007 episode "Homer of Seville") as Julia (voice role)
- Away We Go (2009) as Verona de Tessant
- Grown Ups (2010) and Deanne McKenzie
- MacGruber (2010) as Casey
- Bridesmaids (2011) as Lillian
- Up All Night (2011-2012) as Ava Alexander
- Friends with Kids (2012) as Leslie
- Turbo (2013) as Burn
- Big Hero 6 (2014) as Aunt Cass
- Big Hero 6: The Series (2017-2021) as Aunt Cass
- Baymax! (2022) as Aunt Cass
- The Way, Way Back (2013) as Caitlyn
- The Angry Birds Movie (2016) as Matilda (voice role)
- The Emoji Movie (2017) as Smiler
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2017, guest star) as Dionne Warwick
- Big Mouth (2017-present) as Connie, Diane, Bonnie, Various
- Human Resources (2022) as Connie
- The Good Place (2018) as Gen, The All Knowing Judge
- Forever (2018) (2018) as June Hoffman
- The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) as Finn and Bianca's mom
- Wine Country (2018) as Naomi
- The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) as Linda Mitchell
- Luca (2021) as Daniela
- Loot (2022) as Molly
- Disenchanted (2022) as Malvina Monroe
- Digman! (2023)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) as Cynthia Utrom
- IF (2024) as Alligator
SNL celebrity impersonations (selected)
- Barbra Streisand
- Beyoncé
- Christina Aguilera
- Condoleezza Rice
- Diana Ross
- Halle Berry
- Jennifer Lopez
- Kamala Harris (for which she won an Emmy Award)
- Lisa Kudrow
- Lucy Liu
- Michelle Obama
- Nelly Furtado
- Oprah Winfrey
- Paris Hilton
- Scott Joplin
- Tina Turner
- Tyra Banks
- Vanessa Hudgens
- Whitney Houston
Tropes
- Ascended Fangirl: Of Prince. Many of her SNL skits included references to the Purple One, and nowadays she is one half of a Prince cover band with Gretchen Lieberum called Princess.
- Attractive Bent-Gender: As Scott Joplin and other male roles.
- The Cast Show Off: Works featuring her like to show off her singing voice.
- Ms. Fanservice: Spent years on SNL as the go-to "sexy one."
- Parental Love Song: Her mother's most famous song, "Lovin' You," was written about a then-infant Maya. Near the end of the song, Riperton repeatedly sings Maya's name.
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: The chances she'll be voicing a Team Mom are rather high.
- Plays Great Ethnics: One reason she was so versatile on SNL was that her looks let her play any ethnicity. Just look at that list of impressions.
- Team Mom: She poses herself as a maternal figure to the new cast members during her hosting gig on Season 46 of Saturday Night Live, but falls flat because she can't remember any of their names, shuns Andrew Dismukes for reminding her of her age, and misremembers her time on SNL as the plot of The Breakfast Club.
