American actress and comedian

Vanessa Polster Bayer (born November 14, 1981) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2010 to 2017, which earned her an Emmy nomination. Bayer also appeared in films such as Trainwreck (2015), Office Christmas Party (2016), Carrie Pilby (2016), and Ibiza (2018).

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Career
  • 2.1 Saturday Night Live
• 3 Philanthropy
• 4 Filmography
  • 4.1 Film
  • 4.2 Television
• 5 References
• 6 External links

Early life

Bayer was born and raised in Orange, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She is the daughter of Carolyn (née Polster) and Todd Bayer. She has a brother, Jonah, who is a music journalist and the guitarist of the punk supergroup United Nations.

At age 15, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Bayer stated that while battling the disease, she discovered the meaning of comic relief. "I don't know if it made me funnier, but it was so amazing, how it made everything be O.K.", she said.

Bayer graduated from Orange High School in 2000 and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in communication and French, graduating in 2004.

Career

As of 2012, Bayer was collaborating with her brother Jonah on the web series Sound Advice for Above Average. Bayer stars as Janessa Slater, a media coach who helps famous musicians change their image.

While attending college, Bayer interned on the television shows Sesame Street and Late Night with Conan O'Brien and participated in the cast of Bloomers, an all-female musical and sketch comedy troupe. Bayer was part of the all-Jewish cast of The Second City's stage show Jewsical: The Musical, a musical that presented a comedic take on Jewish life and culture.

Bayer played the role of Kate Clark in the Chicago-based feature comedy Off the Cuff.

Bayer performed improvisational comedy at Chicago's ImprovOlympic, where she trained with SNL castmate Paul Brittain as well as the Annoyance Theatre and The Second City.

Bayer appeared on ABC's Single Parents in 2019 in a recurring role as Mia Cooper, the ex-wife of Taran Killam's character. Starting in 2018, she had a recurring role on NBC's Will & Grace playing Amy, a former baker who loses her job because of Karen and subsequently works for Karen's baseball team.

Saturday Night Live

Bayer joined the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player on September 25, 2010. Beginning with the 2012–2013 season, Bayer was promoted to repertory status. She has been praised for her performance on the show, with HitFix calling her "one of the strongest members of the ensemble" and Rolling Stone calling her "Saturday Night Live's secret weapon". In 2014, she was nominated for an American Comedy Award for her work on the show, and in 2017, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Bayer departed SNL on May 20, 2017, after seven years on the show.

Her recurring characters include:

• Laura Parsons, a child actress always performing roles originally played by adults, including from Forrest Gump, The Wolf of Wall Street, Brokeback Mountain and Dallas Buyers Club
• Brecky, a former adult movie star who creates homemade commercials to obtain free luxury items alongside Cecily Strong
• Rebecca Stern-Markowicz, a co-host of J-Pop America Fun Time Now, which celebrates *anese culture alongside Taran Killam and Jason Sudeikis
• Rosa, a housemaid, in "The Californians"
• Miss Meadows, an unrealistically perky poetry teacher trying to connect with her delinquent students
• Miley Cyrus (impersonation), on "The Miley Cyrus Show"
• An unnamed director of talk show Mornin' Miami
• Jacob the Bar Mitzvah Boy, who appears on Weekend Update to perform a rehearsed speech (complete with forced jokes) about a given subject
• One of three workshop elves who perform their jobs poorly in the hope that their master will "punish" them, alongside Kenan Thompson
• Dawn Lazarus, an inept meteorologist who appears on Weekend Update and struggles to discuss the weather
• The housewife who feeds her "hungry guys" Totinos.

Philanthropy

Bayer was diagnosed with leukemia when she was a teenager. The Make-A-Wish Foundation granted her wish to send her family on vacation to Hawaii. In gra*ude and recognition, Bayer is involved with the foundation. In 2015, she hosted the foundation's Evening of Wishes Dinner to help raise funds for wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses.

In June 2019, she published the children's book How Do You Care for a Very Sick Bear?, which teaches children how to support friends with long-term illnesses.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

• Vanessa Bayer at IMDb
• Vanessa Bayer at Rotten Tomatoes