Heidi Gardner
Gardner in 2016
Born
Heidi Lynn Gardner

(1983-07-27) July 27, 1983
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • comedian
  • writer
Years active2011–present
Spouse
​
(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

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Dibs! Erica
2018 Life of the Party Leonor
2018 Making Babies Meg
2019 Otherhood Erin
2022 Hustle Kat Merrick
2022 Puss in Boots: The Last Wish Last Baker Voice role
2023 Leo Eli's mom Voice role[13]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Mike Tyson Mysteries Old Woman (voice) Episode: "Love Letters"
2017–present Saturday Night Live Various
2019 The Other Two Mona Episode: "Chase Turns Fourteen"
2019 Veep Amanda White Episode: "Discovery Weekend"
2019 Alien News Desk Tuva Van Void (voice) 12 episodes
2019 American Dad! Various voices Episode: "Lost Boys"
2019 Mike Tyson Mysteries Jennifer (voice) Episode: "The Yung and The Restless"
2019 Superstore Colleen Episode: "Forced Hire"
2020 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Jenny Special: "Kimmy vs the Reverend"
2021 Close Enough Becca (voice) Episode: "Houseguest From Hell"
2021 Crank Yankers Herself (voice) Episode: "Chelsea Peretti, Heidi Gardner & J.B. Smoove"
2022 Is It Cake? Herself (Judge) Episode: "Toying Around"
2022 Girls5eva Cara Episode: "Album Mode"
2022 That Damn Michael Che Episode: "Higher Power"
2023 Shrinking Grace 3 episodes

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2015 Adult Wednesday Hairdresser Episode: "The Haircut"
2015 Bratz Yasmin (voice) 8 episodes
2015–19 SuperMansion Cooch, Various voices 46 episodes
2016 CollegeHumor Originals Patient Episode: "Why Are My Nipples Pixelated?"

Audio

Year Title Role Notes
2020 Heads Will Roll Various voices 10 episodes
2021 Batman: The Audio Adventures Harley Quinn, Miss Tuesday

Stage

Year Title Role Locations
2019 Noises Off Brooke Ashton/Vicki The Cape Playhouse

Writing credits

Web

Year Title Notes
2015 Bratz 3 episodes
2015–17 SuperMansion 11 episodes

References

  1. ↑ "Heidi Gardner". nbc.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Gutierrez, Lisa (September 27, 2017). "This KC native is being hailed as the next household name on 'Saturday Night Live'". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "My Kansas City: Interview With SNL's Heidi Gardner". visitkc.com (Interview). Interviewed by Lambdin Meyer, Diana. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Cizmar, Martin (August 21, 2019). "How Heidi Gardner went from a hairstylist taking improv classes to Saturday Night Live star". kansascitymag.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  5. 1 2 Coy Dugger. "How Kansas City Native Heidi Gardner Ended Up On Saturday Night Live". kcur.org. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Steinberg, Brian (November 22, 2019). "'SNL': Heidi Gardner's Kooky 'Weekend Update' Characters Make News". Variety. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  7. ↑ Bradley, Nina (September 26, 2017). "Who Is Heidi Gardner? The New 'SNL' Cast Member Is Someone You Should Get To Know ASAP". Bustle.
  8. ↑ Hatchett, Keisha (October 13, 2016). "TMS Interviews the SuperMansion Cast About Santa's Existential Crisis and Jordan Peele's Get Out". The Mary Sue. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Schwartz, Ryan (28 August 2019). "Superstore Season 5: Justina Machado to Recur, SNL's Heidi Gardner Also Cast". TVLine. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. ↑ Gans, Andrew (August 7, 2019). "Jeremy Webb, Janine LaManna, Jennifer Cody Join SNL's Heidi Gardner in Noises Off at Cape Playhouse". Playbill. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  11. ↑ Steinberg, Brian (2019-11-22). "'SNL': Heidi Gardner's Kooky 'Weekend Update' Characters Make News". Variety. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  12. ↑ Hoedel, Cindy (August 1, 2019). "IN Conversation with Heidi Gardner". inkansascity.com. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Everything You Need to Know About Leo". Tudum. August 23, 2023. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
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