Maya Rudolph
Rudolph in 2012
Born	(1972-07-27) July 27, 1972 (age 51) Gainesville, Florida, U.S.
Education	University of California, Santa Cruz (BA)
Occupations	Actress comedian
Years active	1996–present
Partner	Paul Thomas Anderson (2001–present)[a]
Children	4
Parents	Richard Rudolph (father) Minnie Riperton (mother)

Maya Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedian. Born in Gainesville, Florida and raised in Los Angeles, she is the daughter of singer Minnie Riperton and composer Richard Rudolph. In 2000, Rudolph became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). During her tenure on the show, she played supporting roles in the films 50 First Dates (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and Idiocracy (2006).

After leaving SNL in 2007, Rudolph appeared in more films, including Grown Ups (2010) and its 2013 sequel, Bridesmaids (2011), Inherent Vice (2014), Sisters (2015), Life of the Party (2018), and Disenchanted (2022). As a voice actress, her credits include the animated films Shrek the Third (2007), Big Hero 6 (2014), The Angry Birds Movie (2016), The Emoji Movie (2017), and Luca (2021).

Rudolph starred in the NBC sitcom Up All Night (2011–2012). Since 2017, she has voiced various characters for the animated sitcom Big Mouth, including Connie the Hormone Monstress, which won her two Primetime Emmy Awards. For her portrayal of politician Kamala Harris on SNL, Rudolph won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. She received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for playing a judge in the comedy series The Good Place (2018–2020). In 2022, Rudolph began executive producing and starring in the comedy series Loot.

Early life

Rudolph was born on July 27, 1972, in Gainesville, Florida,^[2] to singer Minnie Riperton and composer Richard Rudolph.^[3][4] Her mother was African-American and her father is Jewish. Her paternal grandfather was Sidney Rudolph, a philanthropist who once owned all of the Wendy's and Rudy's restaurants in Miami-Dade County, Florida.^[5] Her great-grandfather was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, changed his surname from "Rudashevsky" to "Rudolph", and was one of the founding members of Congregation Beth Shalom, a Conservative Jewish synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.^[6] Rudolph's godmother was R&B singer Teena Marie.^[7] On an episode of PBS's Finding Your Roots, Rudolph discovered that her maternal great-great-great grandfather was James Grigsby, who was born enslaved in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Grigsby was denied financial compensation and freedom granted by the last will and testament of his enslaver, John Warren Grigsby, and challenged the enslaver's grandson in court in the 1830s.^[8][9]

Rudolph's parents moved to Los Angeles, California, when her brother Marc and she were very young, and they grew up primarily in the Westwood neighborhood.^[10] Near the end of the song "Lovin' You", Riperton repeats "Maya". She incorporated this into her performance on The Midnight Special.^[11] Her mother died of breast cancer on July 12, 1979, at age 31, two weeks before Maya's seventh birthday.^[10] In 1990, Rudolph graduated from Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, where she befriended schoolmates Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black.^[12] She attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, living in Porter College. She graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in photography.^[13]

Career

Television and film

Rudolph was in the improv troupe the Groundlings, where she met future Saturday Night Live cast member Will Forte. She joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player for the final three episodes of the 1999–2000 season through 2007.^[10][14][15] She has made several cameo appearances over the years. Since the 45th-season premiere, she has occasionally portrayed Vice President Kamala Harris, a performance acknowledged by Harris.^[16]

She has appeared in many other television shows, including the CBS medical drama series City of Angels and Chicago Hope. She had small parts in Chuck & Buck, Gattaca, As Good as It Gets, Duplex, and Duets; she was also a music supervisor for Duets. Her first prominent film role came in 2006 with A Prairie Home Companion. Earlier, she had costarred with Luke Wilson in the 2005 Mike Judge sci-fi comedy Idiocracy, although that film was shelved until September 2006 and then only given a limited release. She also guest-starred as Rapunzel in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third. She guest-starred as Julia in The Simpsons episode "The Homer of Seville". Rudolph guest-starred as character Athena Scooberman in NBC's Kath & Kim, and starred in the film Away We Go with The Office star John Krasinski. In 2010, she appeared in Grown Ups starring Adam Sandler, where she played the wife of Chris Rock's character. In 2011, she appeared in Bridesmaids with Saturday Night Live colleague Kristen Wiig, and in 2013 she played a supporting role in The Way, Way Back as the girlfriend of Sam Rockwell's character. She co-starred in the NBC sitcom Up All Night, with Christina Applegate and Will Arnett. Rudolph's self-titled variety show television pilot aired on May 19, 2014,^[17] but the show did not go beyond that. It was later announced that she would star in an NBC variety series Maya & Marty with Martin Short,^[18] which debuted on May 31, 2016. Her next series, Forever, premiered on September 14, 2018, on Amazon Video.^[19] As a voice actress, she had various roles in the Netflix animated series Big Mouth, premiering in 2017.

In 2018, she performed in advertisements for Ruby Tuesday and Seventh Generation. In 2019 she appeared as the mother in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. In 2021 she voiced Linda Mitchell, mother of two, in Sony Pictures' The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and Daniela Paguro in the Pixar film Luca.^[20] In July 2022 she appeared as the star of Loot, an Apple TV+ series. In 2022, Rudolph portrayed Malvina Monroe, the main antagonist of Disenchanted, the sequel to the 2007 Disney film Enchanted.^[21]

Rudolph has a production company called Animal Pictures with Natasha Lyonne which has produced Russian Doll, Poker Face, Loot and the upcoming animated series The Hospital.^[22] As of October 3, 2023, Rudolph reportedly separated amicably from Animal Pictures to produce independently.^[23]

In January 2023, it was announced that Rudolph would be the spokesperson for M&M's after owner Mars Incorporated supposedly pulled its "Spokescandies" in light of criticism for its depictions of gender,^[24] though a few days later Mars confirmed that their Spokescandies would return in their Super Bowl commercial.

Music

Prior to joining Saturday Night Live, Rudolph was a backing singer (1995–1999)^[25] and briefly a keyboardist in the band the Rentals, with whom she toured.^[10] She appears in music videos for the songs "Waiting" and "Please Let That Be You". She sang backing vocals for "Barcelona" and "My Head Is in the Sun", both from the album Seven More Minutes. In 2004, she recorded a track with the Rentals frontman Matt Sharp, including a cover of Tegan and Sara's "Not Tonight". She performed "Together in Pooping" and "Little Roundworm" with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Robert Smigel) on his album Come Poop With Me. She is in a Prince cover band called Princess with her friend Gretchen Lieberum.^[26]

Personal life

Rudolph has been in a relationship with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson since 2001.^[1][27] They live in the San Fernando Valley with their four children.^{[28][29][30][31]}

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Music videos

Awards and nominations