Michaela Watkins

Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971)[1] is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived ABC sitcom Trophy Wife, as well as being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2009. She has also recurred on television series such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened and Search Party and has had appearances in the films The Back-up Plan (2010), Wanderlust (2012), Enough Said (2013) and Sword of Trust (2019).

Michaela Watkins
Watkins in 2010
Born	Michaela Suzanne Watkins December 14, 1971 Syracuse, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Boston University
Occupation	Actress, comedian
Years active	1998–present
Known for	Saturday Night Live Trophy Wife Casual
Spouse(s)	Fred Kramer ​ (m. 2013)​

Early life

Watkins was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of former Latin teacher mother[2] Myrna Watkins and Syracuse University mathematician father Mark Watkins.[3][4][5] She has two sisters, Rebecca Kent and Sarah Fitts.[3]

She was raised in DeWitt, New York,[6] a suburb of Syracuse, in a Jewish family.[2] After her parents' divorce, Watkins' mother obtained a marketing degree and relocated the family to Boston when Watkins was 15.[2][7]

She attended Moses DeWitt Elementary School and Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Michaela graduated from Boston University, where she studied theater and acting. Watkins auditioned for a part in a British farce at a community theater when she was 15, and got the part. Joan Rivers was one of her inspirations to go into show business.[2]

Career

Theater

After theater school, Watkins lived and worked in New York City for a year but struggled to build her career. She moved with a friend to Portland, Oregon.[8] She lived there from 1996–2000 and appeared onstage with Portland Center Stage and the defunct improv group Toad City Productions.[9] She traveled around the country doing regional theater, then decided to move to Los Angeles.[8]

She was active in Los Angeles Theatre for many years, taking on roles with Circle X Theatre[10] and 2100 Square Feet.[11]

Regional theater

• Portland Center Stage: Hamlet (1999), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1999), Bus Stop (2000)
• Portland Repertory Theatre: Arcadia
• Artist Repertory Theatre: The Misanthrope, How I Learned To Drive as well as Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale
• triangle productions: Angels in America, The Food Chain
• Circle X Theatre: Laura Comstock's Bag Punching Dog (2002) - LA Weekly award,[12]Sperm (2004)
• Vineyard Playhouse: Fighting Words by Sunil Kuruvilla (2003)[13]

Improv

She became a regular performer at The Groundlings,[14] where she was discovered by Saturday Night Live.[15] Watkins said the appeal of sketch work is that she can write her own material.[2]

Saturday Night Live

In November 2008, Watkins joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL), along with Abby Elliott. Watkins said (at that time) that she was the oldest woman they ever hired.[2] Watkins has since been surpassed by Leslie Jones, who was 47 when she joined SNL. Watkins made her first major appearance on the show as Arianna Huffington on the November 22nd Weekend Update.[16][17] Watkins remained on SNL as a featured player throughout the rest of the 2008-2009 season, up to the season finale on May 16, 2009.

However, while SNL was on summer hiatus, the news broke in early September 2009 that Watkins, along with fellow castmate Casey Wilson, were both to be let go from the show[18][19] and would not be returning for the 2009-10 season.[20][21]

Recurring characters on SNL

• Angie Tempura: A geeky, iced coffee-drinking computer nerd who snarks on celebrities and movies and is the creator of the snarky website "Bitch Pleeze" (www.bitchpleeze.com, which redirects to the SNL site). Though she insults celebrities, Angie was revealed to have a crush on Zac Efron.

Later TV credits

She recurred as Lucy opposite Hamish Linklater in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, as well as appearing in recurring roles in the comedy programs Enlightened, New Girl, and Anger Management. She has also made guest appearances on shows such as Hung, Childrens Hospital, Kroll Show, Key & Peele, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Modern Family.

Watkins also starred alongside Malin Åkerman, Bradley Whitford, and Marcia Gay Harden in the short-lived, but well-received[22] ABC sitcom Trophy Wife.[23][24] The series aired for one season from September 2013 to May 2014.[25]

In 2015, it was announced that Watkins would star in the Hulu series produced by Jason Reitman called Casual, which would be executive produced by Liz Tigelaar.[26]

In 2018 it was announced that Watkins would be joining the cast of the Amazon Prime series Catastrophe, playing the sister of lead character Rob Norris (Rob Delaney).[27]

Producing, writing

Watkins co-created (with writing partner and fellow Groundling, Damon Jones)[28] the short-lived 2014 USA Network comedy series Benched.[29] The series starred Eliza Coupe and Jay Harrington and premiered on October 28, 2014.[30] Watkins and Jones were also executive producers on the show.[31]

Film

Watkins has appeared in supporting roles in films such as Enough Said, In a World...,[32] Afternoon Delight, The Back-Up Plan, Wanderlust, They Came Together and Lazy Eye.

Personal life

Watkins is married to Fred Kramer, who is a founding partner of Reason Ventures and General Manager of Critical Mass Studios, Inc.[33] Kramer used to be Executive Director of the Jewish World Watch organization, a Los Angeles-based anti-genocide non-profit, focused on the situations in Sudan and Congo.[34]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Inconceivable	Marcy
2008	Yoga Matt	Jill Goering	Short film
2010	The Back-up Plan	Mona
	The Prankster	Miss LaFleur
	Welcome to the Jungle Gym	Principal Gilly	Short film
	Worst Enemy	Wooly	Short film
2011	Una Hora Por Favora	Elissa	Short film
2012	Wanderlust	Marisa Gergenblatt
	Thanks for Sharing	Marney
2013	In a World...	Dani
	Afternoon Delight	Jennie
	iSteve	Melinda Gates
	Bunion	Therapist	Short film
	Enough Said	Hillary
2014	They Came Together	Habermeyer
2016	Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie	Ivana Trump
	Punching Henry	Mara
	Lazy Eye	Mel
2017	Person to Person	The Widow
	Brigsby Bear	Louise Pope
	The House of Tomorrow	Mrs. Whitcomb
	How to Be a Latin Lover	Gwen
	The House	Raina Theodorakis
2018	Dude	Jill
	Ibiza	Sarah
	Under the Eiffel Tower	Tillie
	Antiquities	Dolores Jr.
2019	Brittany Runs a Marathon	Catherine
	Sword of Trust	Mary
	Good Boys	Saleswoman
2020	The Way Back	Beth
	Bad Therapy	Judy Small
TBA	Werewolves Within		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Charmed	Andrea	Episode: "Death Takes A Halliwell"
2003	Without a Trace	Marla	Episode: "Maple Street"
	Miss Match	Susan Scott	Episode: "Divorce Happens"
2004	Strong Medicine	Julia	Episode: "Bleeding Heart"
2006	Medium	Clerk	2 episodes
	Modern Men	Amanda	Episode: "Pilot"
	Grey's Anatomy	Nikki Ratlin	Episode: "Superstition"
	Malcolm in the Middle	Receptionist	Episode: "Hal's Dentist"
	7 Deadly Hollywood Sins	Jennifer	4 episodes
2007	Revenge	Mary-Louise	Unsold TV pilot
2008	Man Stroke Woman (US version)	Various	Unsold TV pilot
	Frank TV	Julia Roberts	Episode: "#2.1"
	Californication	Executive	2 episodes
2008–09	Saturday Night Live	Various	15 episodes
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Lucy	7 episodes
2009	Eli Stone	Judge Leigh Rappaport	Episode: "Sonoma"
2010	Parenthood	Lucy Estman	Episode: "Team Braverman"
	Miami Medical	Carla	Episode: "Time of Death"
2011	Mad	Samus Aran / Sam Puckett / Mom (voice)	Episode: "The Straight A-Team/Gaming's Next Top Princess"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Saundra	Episode: "The Safe House"
	Hung	Judy	Episode: "Don't Give Up on Detroit or Hung Like a Horse"
	Private Practice	Laura Martin	Episode: "Deal with It"
2011–13	Enlightened	Janice Holm	9 episodes
2011–15	New Girl	Gina	5 episodes
2012	The Life & Times of Tim	Homeless Woman (voice)	Episode: "Pudding Boy/The Celebrity Who Shall Remain Nameless"
	Bent	Carol	Episode: "HD"
	Childrens Hospital	Detective Lacey Briggs	Episode: "The Return of the Young Billionaire"
	Key & Peele	Mary Magdalene	2 episodes
	Modern Family	Susan	Episode: "Schooled"
2012–18	Robot Chicken	Nerd's Mom / various (voice)	4 episodes
2013	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Beth	Episode: "Extra Terrorist-rial"
	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Amber	Episode: "Gillian Jacobs Wears a Red Dress with Sail Boats"
	Anger Management	Lisa	2 episodes
2013–14	Trophy Wife	Jackie Fisher	22 episodes
	Kroll Show	Various	2 episodes
2014–15	Married	Stacey	2 episodes
2014–16	Drunk History	Nurse / Julia Child	2 episodes
2014–19	Transparent	Connie / Yetta	6 episodes
2015	Marry Me	Janet L'Amour	Episode: "Dead Me"
	The Goldbergs	Señora Taraborelli	2 episodes
	Veep	Patti	Episode: "East Wing"
	The Comedians	Wendy Myers	Episode: "Partners"
	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Rhonda	6 episodes
2015–18	Casual	Valerie Meyers	36 episodes
2016	Family Guy	Girl Pulling Train (voice)	Episode: "Take a Letter"
	Pickle and Peanut	Pickle's Mom / various (voice)	Episode: "What Lies Beneath/The Rat King Moves In"
	Another Period	Brothel Madam	Episode: "Joplin"
2016–17	Angie Tribeca	Melanie Burke	2 episodes
2016–20	American Dad!	Various voices	4 episodes
2017	Speechless	Becca	Episode: "O-s-Oscar P-a-Party"
	Nobodies	Herself	Episode: "Not the Emmys"
	Idiotsitter	Windy	2 episodes
	Danger & Eggs	Various voices	Episode: "Finding Cheryl/The Trio"
	Playing House	Dr. Laura Meredith	Episode: "You Wanna Roll with This"
	The Guest Book	Phyllis	2 episodes
	The Mick	Trish	Episode: "The Friend"
	Do You Want to See a Dead Body?	Herself	Episode: "A Body and Some Pants"
	Easy	Karen Treska	Episode: "Conjugality"
	No Activity	Erin	Episode: "Golden Age of Tunnels"
2017–20	Big Mouth	Cantor Dina Reznick (voice)	6 episodes
2019	Wayne	Maureen McNulty	3 episodes
	Catastrophe	Sydney	2 episodes
	Schooled	Ms. Taraborelli	Episode: "CB Likes Lainey"
	Get Shorty	Ali Egan	6 episodes
2019–present	The Unicorn	Delia	Main cast
2020	Search Party	Polly Danzinger	6 episodes
	Make It Work!	Herself	Television special

References

1. "Michaela Suzanne Watkins profile". FamilySearch. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
2. Rivers, Joan (April 2, 2014). "In Bed With Joan - Episode 51: Michaela Watkins". In Bed With Joan. Archived from the original (Video interview) on September 6, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
3. Watkins, Mark E. "Mark E. Watkins - My Biography" (PDF). Webpage of Mark E. Watkins, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
4. "Mark Watkins, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics". Syracuse University. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
5. "She's got characters". Boston Globe. March 21, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2013.
6. Herbert, Geoff (September 24, 2013). "'Trophy Wife': Syracuse native Michaela Watkins stars on new ABC TV show". Syracuse Post-Standard. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
7. Gilmartin, Paul (June 22, 2012). "Episode 66: Michaela Watkins". The Mental Illness Happy Hour. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
8. Hoffman, David (August 30, 2012). "The Groundlings Podcast: 04: Michaela Watkins" (Audio interview - mp3). The Groundlings. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
9. Hughley, Marty (November 14, 2008). "Former Portlander Michaela Watkins to join "SNL" cast". Oregon Live. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
10. Schwartz, Jonas (March 9, 2004). "Circle X Theatre". Theater Mania. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
11. Mikulan, Steven (January 20, 2005). "As I Die Lying: Tuning family heartstrings in the ICU". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
12. "Productions". Circle X Theatre. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
13. Kuruvilla, Sunil. "Fighting Words". The Vineyard Playhouse. Archived from the original on June 20, 2006. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
14. "Performers: Michaela Watkins - Main Company". Groundlings. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
15. Miller, Julie (June 5, 2014). "40 Years of Improv Comedy: An Oral History of the Groundlings". Vanity Fair. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
16. "Update: Arianna Huffington - Video - Saturday Night Live". NBC. November 22, 2008. Archived from the original on May 21, 2010. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
17. Mechare, Ethan (November 3, 2010). "Michaela Watkins on Doin' It With Ethan". Doin It With Ethan. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
18. Ausiello, Michael (September 4, 2009). "Exclusive: Michaela Watkins 'shocked' by 'SNL' firing". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
19. Itzkoff, Dave (September 4, 2009). "Michaela Watkins on Her 'Saturday Night Live' Exit". The New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
20. McCarthy, Sean L. (September 4, 2009). "Addition through subtraction: SNL fires Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson!?". The Comic's Comic. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
21. Holmes, Linda (September 9, 2009). "SNL's Michaela Watkins 'Just Too Classically Pretty To Be Hilarious'?". Monkey See (blog). NPR. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
22. Heisler, Steve (1 April 2014). "Trophy Wife's Michaela Watkins on Her Brief SNL Stint, Modern Divorce, and Crazy Ladies". Vulture. New York Magazine. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
23. Shattuck, Kathryn (6 September 2013). "Defying Expectations, TV Actors Try Different Roles". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
24. Rodman, Sarah (24 September 2013). "Michaela Watkins is 'Wife' material". Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
25. Sepinwall, Alan (May 9, 2014). "ABC reportedly cancels 'Trophy Wife' & 'Mixology'". HitFix. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
26. Goldberg, Lesley. "Michaela Watkins to Star in Hulu's Jason Reitman Comedy 'Casual'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
27. Singer, Jenny (June 27, 2018). "'Catastrophe' Snags Jewish Comedy Gem Michaela Watkins For Season 4". The Forward. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
28. Katz, Jessie; Kirby, Brandon (April 30, 2014). "'Off the Cuff' Podcast: Michaela Watkins Explains Why Her 'Tropphy Wife' Costumes are a 'Fashion Jam'" (Podcast interview). The Hollywood Reporter. Pret-a-Reporter. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
29. Goldberg, Lesley (February 21, 2014). "'Under the Dome' Alum Boards USA's 'Benched' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
30. Goldberg, Lesley (January 24, 2014). "USA Orders Eliza Coupe Comedy 'Benched' to Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
31. Peikert, Mark (February 11, 2014). "Spotlight On: Michaela Watkins, ABC's 'Trophy Wife'". Backstage. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
32. Smith, Krista (January 21, 2013). "Lake Bell and Michaela Watkins on "In a World"" (Video interview). Vanity Fair. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
33. "Team: Fred Kramer, Founding Member/Partner". Reason Ventures. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
34. Berrin, Danielle (May 15, 2012). "New world view". Jewish Journal. Retrieved August 24, 2013.

External links

• Michaela Watkins at IMDb
• @michaelaWat on Twitter