Heidi Lynn Gardner[3] (born July 27, 1983)[4] is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She has been a cast member on the NBCsketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since season 43 in 2017, when she debuted as a featured player. She was promoted to repertory status on the show in 2019.
Heidi Gardner worked part-time at the Tivoli Theater in Kansas City as a child, where she did everything "from selling tickets to making popcorn". She later credited the theater as "setting the tone in her life".[7] She was not interested in acting as a teenager, only performing on stage as a flautist for the school band and doing comedy sketches in school talent shows.[8] She graduated from the all-girls Catholic high school Notre Dame de Sion in southern Kansas City in 2001. In her senior year, her classmates voted her "most likely to be a cast member of Saturday Night Live".[6] After graduation, Gardner followed in a friend's footsteps and enrolled at the University of Kansas for two years before transferring to the University of Missouri for a semester. At the time she was uninterested in school and often skipped classes, but discovered a fondness for haircutting.[8]
Career
At age 21, Gardner dropped out of college and left Kansas City for Los Angeles, where she worked at a hair salon for nine years.[9] Before moving, she saved $600 over one summer.[10] A friend encouraged her to attend a performance at The Groundlings theater, where she became inspired to become an actress.[9] Lacking acting experience, Gardner enrolled in community workshops to learn the basics of improvisation. Once she was comfortable performing, Gardner auditioned for the Groundlings basic class and was accepted.[8]
After her first year on SNL, Gardner was hired to play Leonor in the Ben Falcone-directed film Life of the Party, alongside Melissa McCarthy, Falcone's wife.[8] On August 28, 2019, TVLine reported that Gardner would have a guest role on the NBC comedy series Superstore, playing Dina Fox's nemesis Colleen who is transferred to Store 1217 after Cloud 9's Bel-Ridge location is shut down.[13] In 2019, Gardner made her stage debut in Michael Frayn's Noises Off at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.[14]
Angel (Every Boxer's Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever), a distressed woman who tries to give "Weekend Update's Good News Report" but inevitably derails into melodramatic rants about her boyfriend's dangerous boxing career
Bailey Gismert, a teen film critic who gives awkward reviews
Brie Bacardi, one half of a shallow couple always on the brink of an argument, who runs a relationship-themed Instagram account with her boyfriend Nico Slobkin (Mikey Day)
Baskin Johns, a woman who works for Goop and gets worried that she will be fired by Gwyneth Paltrow
Mandy, a cousin of a celebrity who shames their movie careers
Sandy, a joyful cook on a baking reality competition show who is qualified and skilled but often gets passed over as a winner for more poorly-constructed and eccentric cakes
Tamra, an intern who pitches Instagram captions for Mattel's Barbie account
Deidre, one half of a couple who describe their vacation to their friends, naïvely misinterpreting poor experiences as prestigious culture
Crystal (Your Co-Worker Who is Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing), who comes to Weekend Update to complain about her job, although it's unclear what she actually does
^"Almanac: Today's Birthdays". Dubuque Telegraph-Herald. July 27, 2024. p. A3. ProQuest3085732594. Former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez is 49. Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers is 47. Actor/comedian Heidi Gardner is 41. Actor Taylor Schilling is 40. Golfer Jordan Spieth is 31. See also:
"Today in History: Today's Birthdays". Dubuque Telegraph-Herald. July 27, 2018. p. A2. ProQuest2077225829. Former MLB All-Star Alex Rodriguez is 43. Actor Seamus Dever is 42. Actor Jonathan Rhys (rees) Meyers is 41. Actress/comedian Heidi Gardner is 35. Actor Blair Redford is 35. Actress Taylor Schilling is 34. Singer Cheyenne Kimball is 28. Golfer Jordan Spieth is 25.
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