Lorne Michaels

Todays guest has over 100 film and TV credits to her name and a career that began with roles in repertory theatre in Portland, Oregon, and ultimately lead her to Los Angeles where she discovered improv and sketch comedy and became a member of The Groundlings. She shares how her experiences doing improv in LA prepared her for the rest of the business, including joining the cast of SNL for one season, and how her departue from the show, seemingly premature at the time, made way for countless new opportunities to expand her storytelling capacity.

A natural talent with an undeniable energy, Michaela Watkins has made her mark through a variety of impressive and unforgettable roles.

Watkins can currently be seen in the fourth and final season of the hit Hulu show CASUAL. The show has received critical acclaim with a Golden Globe nomination and recognition in THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER calling it “funny, strongly realized, self-assured and a joy to watch. After watching an episode, you want another.”  She plays the lead role of ‘Valerie Cole’, a newly divorced sex therapist who is re-entering the world of casual dating.

Up next, Watkins can be seen playing Rob Delaney’s Sister in the new season of CATASTROPHE and playing a tightly wound, full of bravado, federal prosecutor hell-bent on putty Dory (Alia Shawkat) and Drew (John Reynolds) behind bars in the next season of SEARCH PARTY.

Watkins can be seen in the first and second season of Amazon’s Golden Globe winning show, TRANSPARENT.  Additionally, she can be seen in the Netflix limited series WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER opposite Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd.  Prior to that, she was last seen playing the eccentric and loveable ‘Jackie’ on the ABC critically-acclaimed series TROPHY WIFE opposite Bradley Whitford and Malin Ackerman.

Other past television credits include VEEP, THE GOLDBERGS, MARRIED, THE COMEDIANS, NEW GIRL, ENLIGHTENED, MODERN FAMILY, CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, PARENTHOOD, KEY AND PEELE, THE KROLL SHOW, DRUNK HISTORY AND CALIFORNICATION.

On the creator side, Watkins executive produced, created and wrote the comedy series BENCHED with Damon Jones, which aired on the USA Network. This series starred Eliza Coupe.

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SOCIAL:

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1143861/
• INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/michaelawat
• TWITTER: www.twitter.com/michaelaWat

NEWS & MORE:

• NBC Article 1: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-arianna-huffington/n12372
• NBC Article 2: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/cast/michaela-watkins-14986
• Groudlings Article: https://www.groundlings.com/performer_detail.php?id=343
• TVLine: https://tvline.com/2019/03/26/michaela-watkins-the-unicorn-cbs-comedy-pilot-cast/
• Deadline: https://deadline.com/2019/03/the-unicorn-rob-corddry-michaela-watkins-co-star-cbs-comedy-pilot-john-hamburg-1202582494/ 

QUOTES:

“Work begets work. You do this one thing, and then you hear about this other thing. Each little thing made room for another little thing.”

“A good manager will say this to you: ‘We’re doing the long game. I don’t care if you book a stupid episode. We’re looking BIG picture.’”

“Your body knows when you hear the thing—that’s the thing for me. I truly believe that we’re not crazy when we feel that.”

“Being safe is not a great plan for being an actor.”