Noël Kristi Wells (born December 23, 1986) is an American actress, comedian, impressionist, writer, director, singer, and musician. Wells is known for her television roles as Rachel Silva in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

comedy-drama ''

Master of None ''Master of None'' is an American comedy-drama streaming television series, which was released for streaming on November 6, 2015, on Netflix. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, with the first two seasons starring Ansari in the ...

'' (20152017), as the voice of Kelsey Pokoly in the Cartoon Network animated television series ''

Craig of the Creek ''Craig of the Creek'' is an American animated television series created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin for Cartoon Network. The show's pilot episode debuted directly on the official app on December 1, 2017. The series premiered online on February ...

'' (2018present), as the voice of Ensign D'Vana Tendi in the

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

animated series '' Star Trek: Lower Decks'' (2020present), and her brief tenure as a featured player on the

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 ...

sketch comedy series ''

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 (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' during its 39th season between 2013 and 2014. She also wrote, directed, and starred in the film ''

Mr. Roosevelt ''Mr. Roosevelt'' is an American comedy film written, directed by, and starring Noël Wells, in her directorial debut. It co-stars Nick Thune, Britt Lower, Daniella Pineda, Andre Hyland, Doug Benson, Armen Weitzman, and Sergio Cilli. Emily Marti ...

'' (2017). Outside of comedy and acting, Wells has also ventured into music; her debut album ''It's So Nice!'' was released in 2019.

Early life

Wells was born in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. Her father is a Tunisian immigrant, and her mother is of half Mexican descent. She says her parents named her Noël because she was born two days before Christmas. Wells attended Memorial High School in

Victoria, Texas Victoria is a small city in South Texas and county seat of Victoria County, Texas. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 as of the 2000 censu ...

, where she was active in speech and debate and graduated as

salutatorian Salutatorian is an academic title given in the United States, Armenia, and the Philippines to the second-highest-ranked graduate of the entire graduating class of a specific discipline. Only the valedictorian is ranked higher. This honor is tradi ...

. She graduated from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

in 2010 with degrees in Plan II Honors and Radio-Television-Film. While attending college, she was a cast member of

Esther's Follies Esther's Follies is a modern-day vaudeville theatre located on 6th Street in downtown Austin, Texas. The group is named after actress Esther Williams. Acts incorporate magic, juggling, singing, dancing, and sketches on current events. The show ...

, Austin's long-running musical satire show, where she performed in sketches and as a magician's assistant. Before becoming an actress, she worked as an editor and did motion graphics.

Career

In 2010, Wells moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and performed at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior t ...

with the sketch team "New Money". She appeared in numerous Cracked.com and

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

videos, and was known for her own sketch and parody videos, which have over 18 million views on YouTube. In 2013, Wells joined the cast of ''

'' during its 39th season as a featured player along with fellow Upright Citizens Brigade performers

John Milhiser John Milhiser (born November 29, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. Milhiser first garnered attention for his work as a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch group Serious Lunch, before achieving widespread success for his brief s ...

Kyle Mooney Kyle James Kozub Mooney (born September 4, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2013 until 2022. Mooney co-wrote and starred in the film '' Brigsby Bear'', in addition to co-crea ...

, and

Beck Bennett Christopher Beck Bennett (born October 1, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' for eight seasons (2013–2021). Before then, he performed in AT&T "It's Not Complicated" commercials in ...

, as well as writer Mike O'Brien and stand-up comedian Brooks Wheelan. On July 15, 2014, it was announced that Wells would not be returning for a second season.

''Saturday Night Live'' impressions

Wells has made guest appearances on television programs such as '' The Aquabats! Super Show!'' and ''

Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humani ...

'', as well as doing recurring voice work on Hulu's ''

The Awesomes ''The Awesomes'' is an American adult animated comedy streaming television series created by Seth Meyers and Mike Shoemaker for Hulu. Meyers and Shoemaker serve as executive producers alongside Lorne Michaels. It debuted on August 1, 2013 and en ...

'',

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven yea ...

's ''

Wander Over Yonder ''Wander Over Yonder'' is an American animated television series that aired on Disney Channel and Disney XD. Created by Craig McCracken, it follows the adventures of the optimistic Wander, who rides across the galaxy to help the inhabitants of v ...

, and Cartoon Network's

''. In 2015, Wells co-starred on the critically acclaimed

comedy ''

'', created by

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari (; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series '' Mas ...

and

Alan Yang Alan Michael Yang (born August 22, 1983) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ansari, Yang ...

. Wells played Rachel, the love-interest of Ansari's character. Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall said the "Dev/Rachel story is so smartly developed, with such strong chemistry between Ansari and Wells.” Richard Lawson of '' Vanity Fair'' said her portrayal of Rachel was a “star-making...performance. It’s subtle, but not minimalist or deadpan.” All 10 episodes premiered on November 6, 2015, and it won the 2016 Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy. In March 2017, Wells wrote, directed, and starred in the feature film ''

'', which premiered at the SXSW film festival in Narrative Spotlight. It won multiple awards including the Audience Award and Louis Black Lone Star Jury Award at SXSW and Best US Narrative Feature at the Traverse City Film Festival. Wells released her debut album ''It's So Nice'' on August 30, 2019. Written and recorded over a two-year period, it marks Wells' first foray as a musician and singer-songwriter. , Wells had a television show in development for the new streaming service

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

. In 2020, Wells was cast as a voice actor in '' Star Trek: Lower Decks'' as Ensign Tendi, a new Orion crewmember (one of four main characters) aboard the ''USS Cerritos'' working in the ship's medical bay.

Personal life

Wells is an avid photographer and has had her photography featured in exhibitions and the literary magazine ''

Oxford American The ''Oxford American'' is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the American South. First publication The magazine was begun in late 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi, by Marc Smirnoff (born July 11, 1963). The name "Oxford American" is a play on ''T ...

''. She has lived in

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Discography

Albums

*'' It's So Nice!'' (2019)

References

External links

* *
User Profile
at Cracked.com
Photography page
at

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Noel 1986 births Living people Actresses from San Antonio American impressionists (entertainers) American actresses of Mexican descent American people of Tunisian descent American photographers American sketch comedians American television actresses American women comedians American women screenwriters Hispanic and Latino American actresses Moody College of Communication alumni Screenwriters from Texas Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters