Heidi Gardner
Gardner in 2016
Born	Heidi Lynn Gardner (1983-07-27) July 27, 1983 (age 40) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Occupations	Actress comedian writer
Years active	2011–present
Spouse	Zeb Wells ​ (m. 2010)​

Heidi Lynn Gardner (born July 27, 1983) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Gardner has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since season 43 in 2017, when she debuted as a featured player. She was promoted to repertory status on the show in 2019.

Early life

Gardner was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri.^[1] She grew up with an older brother, Justin.^[2]

Growing up, Gardner worked part-time at the Tivoli Theater, where she did everything "from selling tickets to making popcorn". She later credited the theater as "setting the tone in her life".^[3] Gardner was not interested in acting as a child, only performing on stage as a flutist for the school band and doing comedy sketches in school talent shows.^[4] Gardner graduated from the all-girls Catholic high school Notre Dame de Sion in 2001. In her senior year, she was voted by her classmates as "Most likely to be a cast member of Saturday Night Live".^[2] Upon graduation, Gardner followed in the footsteps of a friend and enrolled at the University of Kansas for two years, before transferring to the University of Missouri. Although she became uninterested in school and often skipped classes, Gardner discovered a fondness for haircutting.^[4]

Career

At the age of 21, Gardner dropped out of college and left Missouri to move to Los Angeles, where she worked at a hair salon for nine years.^[5] Prior to the move, she saved up $600 over one summer.^[6] She was encouraged by a friend to attend a performance at The Groundlings theatre, where she became inspired to become an actress.^[5] Due to a lack of acting experience, Gardner enrolled in community workshops to learn the basics of improvising. Once she was comfortable, Gardner auditioned into the Groundlings basic class and was accepted.^[4]

In 2014, Gardner joined the Sunday Company, and a year later, after a promotion to the Main Company, she quit her job as a hairstylist to focus on acting.^[4] During that time, she became a voice actress,^[7] regularly appearing on animated series such as Bratz, SuperMansion, and Mike Tyson Mysteries.^[8] In 2017, Gardner joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) along with Luke Null and Chris Redd for its forty-third season.^[6]

Following her first year on SNL, Gardner was hired to play the supporting role of Leonor in the Ben Falcone-directed film Life of the Party, alongside Melissa McCarthy.^[4] On August 28, 2019, TVLine reported that Gardner would have a guest role on the NBC comedy series Superstore playing Dina Fox's nemesis Colleen who is transferred to Store 1217 after Cloud 9's Bel-Ridge location gets shut down.^[9] In 2019, Gardner made her stage debut in Michael Frayn's Noises Off at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts.^[10]

Recurring characters on Saturday Night Live^[11]

• Angel (Every Boxer's Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever), a distressed woman who tries to give "Weekend Update's Good News Report," but inevitably derails into melodramatic rants about her boyfriend's dangerous boxing career.
• Bailey Gismert, a teen film critic who gives awkward reviews.
• Brie Bacardi, one half of a shallow couple always on the brink of an argument, who runs a relationship-themed Instagram account with her boyfriend Nico Slobkin (Mikey Day).
• Baskin Johns, a woman who works for Goop and gets worried Gwyneth Paltrow will fire her.
• Mandy, a cousin of a celebrity that shames their movie careers
• Sandy, a joyful cook of a baking reality competition show that is qualified and skilled though she often gets passed over as a winner for more poorly-constructed and eccentric cakes
• Tamra, an intern who pitches Instagram captions for Mattel's Barbie account
• Deidre, one half of a couple who describe their vacation to their friends, naïvely misinterpreting poor experiences as prestigious culture
• Crystal (Your Co-Worker Who is Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing), who comes to Weekend Update to talk about her job, which is unclear exactly what it is.

Personal life

Gardner is a fan of both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals.^[3] She is married to Marvel Comics writer Zeb Wells, whom she met while she was a member of the Groundlings.^[12]

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Audio

Stage

Writing credits

Web