Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group

The Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

and was a cast member on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' from 2005 to 2012, where he and his fellow group members are credited with popularizing the ''SNL'' Digital Shorts. Samberg has starred in several films, including '' Hot Rod'' (2007), ''

I Love You, Man ''I Love You, Man'' is a 2009 American bromantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg, based on a script by Larry Levin. The film stars Paul Rudd as a friendless man looking for a best man for his upcoming wedding. However, his new ...

'' (2009), '' That's My Boy'' (2012), ''

Celeste and Jesse Forever ''Celeste and Jesse Forever'' is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lee Toland Krieger and written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. The movie was released on August 3, 2012 in New York City and Los Angeles, with Rashida Jo ...

'' (2012), '' Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping'' (2016), and ''

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land ...

'' (2020). Samberg has also lead voice roles in ''

Space Chimps ''Space Chimps'' is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Kirk DeMicco in his directional debut, and written by DeMicco and Rob Moreland. It features the voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick W ...

'' (2008), the ''Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'' film series (2009–2013), the ''Hotel Transylvania'' film series (2012–2022), ''

Storks Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

'' (2016), '' America: The Motion Picture'' (2021), and '' Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers'' (2022). From 2013 to 2021, he starred as

Jake Peralta ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American sitcom which premiered in September 2013 on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox, and later moved to NBC. The show revolves around the Detective#United States, detective squad of the fictional 99th Precinct of the ...

in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, and later

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, police

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

'' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' which he also produced. For his work on the show, he was awarded a

Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy is a Golden Globe Award presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding perform ...

in 2013.

Early life and education

Samberg was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

on August 18, 1978. His mother, Marjorie "Margi" (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Marrow), is a retired teacher, who taught at John Muir Elementary School, and his father, Joe Samberg, is a photographer. He has two sisters, Johanna and Darrow. At age 5, he told his parents that he wanted to change his name to Andy. Samberg was raised in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family and considers himself "not particularly religious." He also has Italian heritage. He attended Chabot Elementary School with his future '' Brooklyn Nine Nine'' co-star

Chelsea Peretti Chelsea Vanessa Peretti (born February 20, 1978) is an American comedian, actress, television writer, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for portraying Gina Linetti in the comedy series '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' and writing for '' Parks and ...

. In a 2019 episode of ''

Finding Your Roots ''Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'' is a documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is compiled with ...

'', hosted by

Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African A ...

, Samberg discovered that his mother Marjorie, who was adopted by Jewish parents, is the biological daughter of a Sicilian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

father named Salvatore Maida, who immigrated in 1925, and a

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

refugee mother named Ellen Philipsborn, who had come to the US in 1938; they met in San Francisco. Samberg is a third cousin of U.S. Senator

Tammy Baldwin Tammy Suzanne Green Baldwin (born February 11, 1962) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Wisconsin since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she served three terms in the Wisconsin St ...

(D-WI), and his adoptive maternal grandfather was

industrial psychologist Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational ...

and philanthropist Alfred J. Marrow. Samberg graduated from Berkeley High School in 1996, where he became interested in

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and has stated that writing classes "were the ones that eput all iseffort into... that's what ecared about and that's what eended up doing". He attended college at

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

for two years before transferring to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(NYU)'s

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

, where he graduated in 2000. While at NYU, writer Murray Miller was his roommate.

Career

Acting and filmmaking

Samberg majored in

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

. He became an online star and made his own comedy videos with his friends

Akiva Schaffer Akiva D. Schaffer (; born December 1, 1977) is an American film director, comedian, actor, and writer. He is a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island along with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. He began his career with The Lonely Island maki ...

and

Jorma Taccone Jorma Christopher Taccone (; born March 19, 1977) is an American comedian, director, actor, and writer. He is one-third of the sketch comedy troupe The Lonely Island, with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010, Taccone co-wr ...

. When

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

was created in 2005, the streaming of their videos became much more widespread. Samberg became a featured player on ''Saturday Night Live'' in part because of the work he had done on his sketch comedy website TheLonelyIsland.com, which helped them land an agent and eventually get hired at ''Saturday Night Live''. Prior to joining its cast, Samberg was (and remains) a member of the comedy troupe

the Lonely Island The Lonely Island is an American comedy trio, formed by Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg, and Jorma Taccone in Berkeley, California, in 2001. They have written for and starred in the American TV program ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). The three ...

, along with Taccone and Schaffer. The trio began writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' in 2005 and released their debut album ''

Incredibad ''Incredibad'' is the debut studio album of the American comedy troupe The Lonely Island, released on February 10, 2009, through Universal Republic Records. Composed of writers and childhood best friends Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma T ...

'' in 2009. Samberg appeared in numerous theatrical films, commercials, music videos, and hosted special events, including the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. In 2012, Samberg delivered the Class Day speech at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, and he starred with Adam Sandler in '' That's My Boy''. The same year, he starred in ''

Hotel Transylvania ''Hotel Transylvania'' is an American animated media franchise created by comedy writer Todd Durham and produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It consists of four feature films, three short films, a flash-animated TV series, and several video ...

'' as the main character, Jonathan, a role he reprised for its sequels ''

Hotel Transylvania 2 ''Hotel Transylvania 2'' is a 2015 American computer-animated monster comedy film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, written by Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler, and it is the second installment in the ''Hotel Transylvania'' franchise and the sequ ...

'' and '' Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation''. In September 2012, Samberg played Cuckoo in the BAFTA nominated

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

series ''

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

''; and, in 2013, he landed the role of Detective Jake Peralta in

's (now

's) police sitcom '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine,'' which first aired on September 17 of the same year. Samberg won the

in 2014 for his role as Peralta. Samberg hosted the

67th Primetime Emmy Awards The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2014 until May 31, 2015, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the M ...

on September 20, 2015. Years later, he co-hosted the 76th Golden Globe Awards with

Sandra Oh Sandra Miju Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian–American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Rita Wu on the HBO comedy '' Arliss'' (1996–2002), Dr. Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama series ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005 ...

on January 6, 2019. Samberg starred in

Sleater-Kinney Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member ...

's "No Cities to Love" video along with other actors such as

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. ...

, Elliot Page, and

Norman Reedus Norman Mark Reedus (born January 6, 1969) is an American actor best known for starring as Daryl Dixon in the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' (2010–2022). He also starred as Murphy MacManus in the film ''The Boondock Saints'' (19 ...

. On May 16, 2016, Samberg and the Lonely Island performed their 2009 hit "I'm on a Boat" with classroom instruments on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It is the seventh incar ...

'', as part of a recurring segment on the show.

''Saturday Night Live''

In September 2005, Samberg joined ''Saturday Night Live'' as a featured player and writer. Similarly, Schaffer and Taccone joined the show's writing staff. Though his live sketch roles were limited in his first year, he appeared in many prerecorded sketches including commercial parodies and various other filmed segments. On December 17, 2005, he co-starred with castmate Chris Parnell in the Digital Short show " Lazy Sunday", a hip hop song about a quest to see the film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe''. The short became an

Internet phenomenon An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

and garnered Samberg significant media and public attention. Acclaim continued, especially for "

Dick in a Box "Dick in a Box" is a song by the American comedy group The Lonely Island featuring American singer Justin Timberlake. The artists wrote the song with Katreese Barnes and Asa Taccone, who both produced it with Jorma Taccone. ''Saturday Night Li ...

", a duet with

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

that won a

Creative Arts Emmy The Creative Arts Emmys are a class of Emmy Awards presented in recognition of technical and other similar achievements in American television programming. They are commonly awarded to behind-the-scenes personnel such as art director, production de ...

for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. The video for his comedy troupe's collaboration with T-Pain, "

I'm on a Boat "I'm on a Boat" is a single (music), single from The Lonely Island's debut album ''Incredibad''. It was also featured as a ''Saturday Night Live'' SNL Digital Shorts, Digital Short. The song features Contemporary R&B, R&B singer T-Pain. The song, ...

", had over 56 million views on YouTube, after debuting on February 7, 2009. The song was nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. Another digital short, " Motherlover", also featuring Timberlake, was released on May 10, 2009, to commemorate

Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the ...

. Outside of his prerecorded segments, he participated in recurring live segments, such as his

Blizzard Man ''Blizzard Man'' is a recurring sketch by Andy Samberg on the American television program ''Saturday Night Live''. The sketch features Samberg as the title character who is brought in to recording studios to assist musicians with an in-progress ...

sketch. On June 1, 2012, Samberg's spokesperson announced that Samberg had left the show. He returned to the show to host the Season 39 finale in 2014 and to host the 40th anniversary special's Digital Short.

Personal life

Samberg is married to musician Joanna Newsom. He once described himself as a "superfan", and they met at one of her concerts. After five years of dating, Samberg proposed to her in February 2013, and they married on September 21, 2013, in Big Sur, California, with ''Saturday Night Live'' co-star Seth Meyers serving as Samberg’s groomsman. In March 2014, Samberg and Newsom purchased the

Moorcrest Moorcrest is a house in Beachwood Canyon, Los Angeles, California, United States. It was built in 1921 for the utopian Krotona Colony in Beachwood Canyon and was designed by Marie Russak Hotchener, an architect who designed several buildings for th ...

estate in the Beachwood Canyon area of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, which was associated with various historical figures: in the 1920s, it was owned by the parents of actress

Mary Astor Mary Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke; May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987) was an American actress. Although her career spanned several decades, she may be best remembered for her performance as Brigid O'Shaughnessy in '' The Maltese ...

; and, prior to that

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

rented the estate. The couple also own a home in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, West 14th Street to th ...

. They announced the birth of their daughter on August 8, 2017. Samberg, who grew up in the

East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties ...

, is a fan of the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

and the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

Early life and education

Career

Acting and filmmaking

''Saturday Night Live''

Personal life

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links