Melissa Villaseñor


Melissa Villaseñor is an American actress, stand-up comedian, impressionist, visual artist and singer. She is a cast member on Saturday Night Live, having joined in the forty-second season in 2016. Her other credits include voice work on several episodes of OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes and Adventure Time and a contestant on the sixth season of America's Got Talent.

Early life

Villaseñor grew up in Whittier, California, and attended the Catholic Ramona Convent Secondary School in Alhambra, California. She is of Mexican descent. At fifteen, Villaseñor started stand-up at the Laugh Factory Comedy Camp in Hollywood, California.

Career

Villaseñor was a semi-finalist in season 6 of America's Got Talent. Previously, she was selected for the New Faces lineup in the 2010 Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival. She has also done voice work for the animated shows Adventure Time, Family Guy and TripTank. Villaseñor appeared on the second season of HBO's Crashing.
Villaseñor also makes visual art and released her debut album Dreamer in October 2019.

''Saturday Night Live''

Villaseñor was introduced as a featured player on the October 1, 2016, episode of SNL alongside Mikey Day and Alex Moffat. Her debut was an impression of Sarah Silverman in the Family Feud: Celebrity Edition sketch. Villaseñor is the second Latina cast member after Noël Wells, who is a quarter Mexican, and the first Latina to be promoted to repertory status. She was promoted to the cast of repertory players in season 44.
She had previously auditioned for the show in 2009, when she was just 21 years old. She did a few impressions but was not hired that year. Instead, Nasim Pedrad and Jenny Slate were hired.
Villaseñor also helped Rob Cantor create his viral "29 Celebrity Impressions, 1 Original Song" video to promote his album, Not a Trampoline; she sang impressions of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Björk.

Personal life

After Villaseñor became a cast member of SNL in 2016, she deleted tweets she had previously written that some viewed as racist. Most of the tweets uncovered by media publications had been posted in 2010 and 2011. Villaseñor wrote tweets such as, "A bossy black lady at my temp looks exactly like steve erkel. Ugly". SNL and Villaseñor declined to comment on the alleged racism.
Villaseñor has defended her tweets as "trying to be edgy," and said she didn't regret the deletions. In 2018, she told Elizabeth Blair on Weekend Edition Saturday, "I'm flawed like everyone else, and yeah, I just wanted to make sure I was perfect."

Celebrity impressions

Villaseñor describes herself as a comedian and impressionist. She has performed various impressions for America's Got Talent, First Impressions, her YouTube channel, and SNL including Sarah Silverman, Elaine Quijano, Winona Ryder, Barbara Walters, Natalie Portman, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Kristen Wiig, Hillary Clinton, Gwen Stefani, Sonia Sotomayor, Whitney Cummings, Sia, Zooey Deschanel, Kate Micucci, Gloria Estefan, Miley Cyrus, Kathy Griffin, and Christina Aguilera, Sue Perkins, Wanda Sykes, Lady Gaga, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rachel Maddow, Kate McKinnon, Nicole Scherzinger, Gwen Stefani, Carmen Yulín Cruz, Maisie Williams, and Ana Navarro.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2011America's Got TalentHerself/contestantSemi-finalist
2012Family GuyNora Ephron Episode: ""
201216Adventure TimeVarious/Additional voices11 episodes
201416TripTankVarious 4 episodes
2015Pickle and PeanutDarla Episode: "Francine/Cell Phone Tree"
2016First ImpressionsHerself/contestantEpisode: "Yvette Nicole Brown"
2016presentSaturday Night LiveHerself/various69 episodes
2017F Is for FamilyAdditional voices2 episodes
201719OK K.O.! Let's Be HeroesVarious voices13 episodes
2017The David S. Pumpkins Halloween SpecialAdditional voicesTelevision Special
2018CrashingHerselfEpisode: "NACA"
2018BarryWaitressEpisode: ""
2018–19American Dad!Various voices2 episodes
2019Comedians in Cars Getting CoffeeHerselfEpisode: "Melissa Villaseñor"
2020Awkwafina Is Nora from QueensPerformerEpisode: Paperwork