Maya Khabira Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress and comedienne, known as a long-running cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, and the daughter of the late soul singer Minnie Riperton.
Personal life
Family
Maya Rudolph was born in Gainesville, Florida, the daughter of the late soul singer Minnie Riperton (a.k.a. Andrea Davis) and composer, songwriter and producer Richard Rudolph.1 Her father is Jewish and her mother African American.2 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. Riperton died at age 31 from cancer, short of her daughter's seventh birthday. This death of her mother at a young age and growing up multiracial 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." R&B Singer Teena Marie is her godmother.
Education
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 from Porter College.3
Relationships
Rudolph and filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson are in a relationship, and have a daughter, Pearl Bailey Anderson, born on October 15, 2005.
Career
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, Beyonce, Liza Minnelli, LaToya Jackson, Diana Ross, 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 were frequently employed on SNL; she sang 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 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 Nooni Schoener, she, along with Fred Armisen, created a couple from an unspecified Scandinavian country, who have unplaceable accents and bewilderingly foreign manners. Rudolph was also able to play male characters (Scott Joplin, Lorne Michaels, Justin Guarini, Mario Vazquez) in addition to playing females.
Her final show was on November 3, 2007, with host Brian Williams and musical guest Feist. She returned on October 25, 2008 in a featured guest appearance as Michelle Obama, and sang a duet with Kenan Thompson about Amy Poehler's newborn.
Characters
Impressions
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 films. 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, a role she filled during her pregnancy (her character is 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. She also guest starred as Rapunzel in the DreamWorks animated film Shrek the Third. She guest starred as Julia in the The Simpsons episode "The Homer of Seville".
Music
Prior to joining SNL, Rudolph was briefly a keyboardist and backing singer for the band The Rentals. She also appears in the music video for the song "Waiting" and "Please Let That Be You" by the band. 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, particularly 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.
References
External links
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