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'Maya Khabira Rudolph' (born July 27, 1972, in Gainesville, Florida) is an American actress and comedian, currently best known as a cast member of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live.''

Contents

Personal life

Career

Television and film

Music

''Saturday Night Live''

Characters

Impressions

References

External links

Personal life

Rudolph is the daughter of the late African American soul singer Minnie Riperton and Jewish American composer, songwriter and producer Richard Rudolph. She was in the studio with her mother on the day Riperton recorded "Lovin' You"; one can hear her mother sing "Maya, Maya, Maya" to her near the end of the track. Growing up biracial and losing her mother at a young age had an effect, according to a July 2001 ''Rosie'' magazine article: "My mom was black and my dad is Jewish, and I lost my mom when I was seven. That made me feel really different from other kids."
Growing up, Maya attended St. Augustine by the Sea School, where she met childhood friend Gwyneth Paltrow. The Paltrows and the Rudolphs became family friends.
She attended high school in Santa Monica, California, and continued her education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she graduated in 1995 with a B.A. in photography.
Rudolph and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson are in a relationship, and have a daughter, Pearl Bailey Anderson, born on October 15, 2005.
As of November 2006, she is involved in a lawsuit over a New York condominium she had leased with Anderson which, among other problems, was found to be infested with bedbugs.^[1]

Career

Television and film

In addition to her work on ''SNL,'' Rudolph has appeared on a few television shows, including ''City of Angels'' and ''Chicago Hope.''
She has also appeared in Hollywood movies. She had small parts in the films ''Chuck & Buck'', ''Gattaca'', ''As Good As It Gets'', ''Duplex'', and ''Duets'' and, for the latter, she was also the music supervisor. Her first prominent film role came in 2006 with ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' filming her role during her pregnancy (her character is visibly pregnant during the film). Earlier, she had co-starred 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. In 2007 she also appeared and provided the voice of Rapunzel in the DreamWorks animated movie ''Shrek the Third''.

Music

Prior to joining ''SNL,'' Rudolph was briefly a keyboardist and backing singer for the band The Rentals. She sang backing vocals for "Barcelona" and "My Head Is In The Sun," both from the album ''Seven More Minutes.'' She recently recorded some tracks with The Rentals frontman Matt Sharp (most notably a cover of Tegan and Sara's "Not Tonight"). Rudolph also performed "Together In Pooping" and "Little Roundworm" with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on his CD, ''Come Poop With Me''.

''Saturday Night Live''

She joined ''SNL'' late in season 1999-2000 as a featured player, after a stint as a member of The Groundlings improv troupe.
Rudolph's characters on the show have included attorney Glenda Goodwin, and Megan from the "Wake Up, Wakefield!" sketches; she has performed impressions of Oprah Winfrey, Christina Aguilera, Condoleezza Rice, Paris Hilton, Teresa Heinz Kerry, Tyra Banks, Patti LaBelle, Liza Minelli, LaToya Jackson, Whitney Houston, and most famously, designer Donatella Versace.
Rudolph appeared in the first ''SNL'' episode of the 2005-2006 season (host: Steve Carrell; musical guest: Kanye West) before going on maternity leave. She returned for the February 4, 2006 episode (host: Steve Martin; musical guest: Prince).
Rudolph's musical talents are frequently employed on ''SNL''; she sings as Beyoncé Knowles in the ''Prince Show'' sketches, as the Space Creature in the ''Gays in Space'' sketches, and elsewhere. Her chameleon-like ability to change her looks, and her impressive command of many accents have also led to her playing an unusually wide range of ethnicities on the show, often with only a change of wigs; she has been white (Lisa Kudrow, Barbra Streisand), Asian (Lucy Liu, Lisa Ling), black (Diana Ross, Tina Turner), Latina (Charo, Jennifer Lopez), and more. As Nuni Showner, she, along with Fred Armisen, created a couple from an unspecified Scandinavian country, who have unplaceable accents and bewilderingly foreign manners. Rudolph is also able to play male characters (Scott Joplin, Lorne Michaels, Justin Guarini, Mario Vazquez) in addition to playing females.

Characters

★ Apprecianté (''Starkisha & Apprecianté'')

★ Beertje Van Beers (''Club Traxx'')

★ Britannica (''Gemini's Twin'')

★ Charli Coffee

★ Cocktail Waitress (''Rialto Grande'')

★ Donatella Versace

★ Glenda Goodwin (''Second Time Around'')

★ Jodi Deetz (''Bronx Beat'')

★ Jo-Jessica (''HipHop-Kids'')

★ Leilani Burke (''The Pet Psychic'')

★ Megan (''Wake Up Wakefield!'')

★ Mrs. Denmont (''Appalachian Emergency Room)

★ Nuni Showner (''Art Dealers'')

★ Patti Sylviac (''Pat N' Patti's Shack'')

★ Rebecca (''Fiesta Politica'')

★ Space Creature (''Gays In Space'')

Impressions

★ Amanda Byram

★ Ananda Lewis

★ Barbra Streisand

★ Beyoncé Knowles (as the co-host in the recurring skit "The Prince Show")

★ Charo

★ Christina Aguilera

★ Condoleezza Rice

★ Diana Ross

★ Donatella Versace

★ Donna Fargo

★ Emily Robison

★ Fredricka Whitfield

★ Free

★ Gayle King

★ Halle Berry

★ Ivanka Trump

★ Jennifer Lopez

★ Joyce Irby

★ Justin Guarini

★ Kara Saun

★ Katrina Campins

★ Kristin Davis

★ Latoya Jackson

★ Lawanda Page

★ Lisa Kudrow

★ Lisa Ling

★ Liza Minelli

★ Lorne Michaels

★ Lucy Liu

★ Lynda Lopez

★ Macy Gray

★ Melinda Doolittle

★ Mario Vasquez

★ Marta Mercado

★ Mary Roach

★ Melissa Stark

★ Mya

★ Nelly Furtado

★ Nicky Hilton

★ Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth

★ Oprah Winfrey

★ Paris Hilton

★ Patti LaBelle

★ Scott Joplin

★ Teresa Heinz Kerry

★ Tina Turner

★ Tyra Banks

★ Valerie Simpson

★ Vanessa Bryant

★ Wanda Sykes

★ Whitney Houston

References

External links

★

★ Bio at official NBC Saturday Night Live site

★ USA Weekend magazine article from January 2004