Mary Ellen Matthews is a photographer based in New York City and

East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a total ...

.Mary Ellen Matthews' bio on Jed Root Inc.'s website
/ref> She is best known for her photographs featured on the television

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

and variety show ''

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 ...

'' (''SNL'');Sawalich, William. "Mary Ellen Matthews: It's Saturday Night!", ''Digital Photo Pro'', Feb 23, 2010.
/ref> her

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s of the celebrities who appear as guest-hosts and musical guests of ''SNL'' are displayed as the show returns from commercial breaks."PhotoSynthesis With 'SNL' Photographer Mary Ellen Matthews", ''Spinner'', Apr 2, 2009
/ref> Since 2010 she has also directed videos for ''SNL''.

Career

A native of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and currently living in

, Sancton, Julian. "Live From NY...Mary Ellen Matthews Shoots 'Saturday Night Live'", ''BlackBook'', Oct 1, 2007
/ref> Matthews began her career in film production and music publicity. She moved into the field of entertainment photography when she joined the staff of ''SNL'' in 1993 as an assistant to photographer Edie Baskin. In 1999 she took over from Baskin, becoming responsible for the celebrity portraits used as commercial bumpers on the show. Matthews' ''SNL'' photographs are taken at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

headquarters in the

GE Building 30 Rockefeller Plaza (officially the Comcast Building; formerly RCA Building and GE Building) is a skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Completed in 1933, the 66-s ...

in New York City's

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

. Matthews uses

Studio 8H Studio 8H is a television studio located in New York City in the United States. The studio is a part of NBC Studios, the home of the NBC television network, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It is most notable for housing the live broadcast of '' ...

as her shooting space—the very same studio from which ''SNL'' is broadcast; she often photographs the week's guest-host as the week's musical guest practices their musical set in the same studio. In the summer of 2010 a retrospective of Matthew's photographs from ''SNL'' titled "Live from New York: A Decade of Portraits" was exhibited at the

John Varvatos John Varvatos (born 1954) is an American menswear designer. Early life The Varvatos family is originally from the village of Poulata on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, Michigan. He ...

boutique at 315 Bowery in New York City—formerly the site of seminal music club

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

. O'Reilly, Kelly. "Live from New York: It's SNL Portraits at John Varvatos", ''NBC New York'', May 5, 2010.
/ref> She also began directing video clips for ''SNL'' in 2010, such as the show's opening

title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...

. In addition to her work on ''SNL'', Matthews works in the realms of promotional, editorial and commercial photography for a variety of clients. Matthews is represented by the New York arm of the talent agency Jed Root Inc and her work has appeared in such publications as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'' and the Spanish edition of ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

''. She took promotional photographs of the 2009 fall/winter collection by

Theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be s ...

, a New York-based

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

, as well as photos for the movies ''

What Happens in Vegas ''What Happens in Vegas'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy film directed by Tom Vaughan and written by Dana Fox. It stars Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher as a couple who get married and win a casino jackpot prize during a drunken night in Las ...

'' and ''

Baby Mama A baby mama (also baby mother, or hyphenated baby-mama) is a slang term for a mother who is not marriage, married to her child's father, although the term often carries other connotations as well. This term is associated with African Americans ...

''. She has worked as a wedding photographer for such celebrities as

Liv Tyler Liv Rundgren Tyler (born Liv Rundgren; July 1, 1977) is an American actress, producer, singer and former model. She began a modeling career at age 14. She later decided to focus on acting and made her film debut in ''Silent Fall'' (1994); she ...

Kate Hudson Kate Garry Hudson (born April 19, 1979) is an American actress and businesswoman. She has received numerous awards and nominations, including a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Satellite Award, as well as nominations f ...

and

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

and has also toured with

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

References

External links

Mary Ellen Matthews
at Jed Root *
''Saturday Night Live'' photos
at NBC * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Mary Ellen Commercial photographers Movie stills photographers Photographers from New York (state) American portrait photographers Wedding photographers Rock music photographers American women photographers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)