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Cecily Strong

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Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress, comedienne, producer, author, and singer. Strong is most notable for being a cast member on the NBC's sketch comedy and variety series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022. She is also the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.[5]

Raised in Oak Park, IL, Strong graduated from the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Strong attended California Institute for the Arts graduating with a BFA in theater. After college, she received training and experience working with The Groundlings, Second City, and Improv Olympic.

Strong has a starring role on the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! (2021–2023), which she also co-produced. Her other roles include voice work on The Awesomes (2013–2015), supporting roles in films like Ghostbusters, The Meddler, and The Female Brain. She hosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2015. Her first book, the memoir This Will All Be Over Soon, was published in 2021.

For her work on Saturday Night Live, Strong was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 72nd and 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.


Saturday Night Live[]

Strong debuted as a featured player on Saturday Night Live on September 15, 2012, alongside Aidy Bryant and Tim Robinson.[13][17][18] Prior to the start of season 39 premiere, it was announced, Strong became a repertory player, along with her fellow castmates Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon, and she would become co-anchored the recurring Weekend Update segment, with existing longest-tenured cast member and Update anchor Seth Meyers, who was slated to leave the show on February 1, 2014, (when SNL went on break for the Sochi Olympics). Strong later co-anchored with Colin Jost on March 1, 2014.[1] However, prior to the start of season 40, she was replaced by Michael Che, on September 27, 2014, partly at her own request to focus on doing sketches as a part of the regular cast.

Strong's return for season 48, her 11th season, made her the longest tenured female cast member in the show's history, passing former castmate Kate McKinnon. Strong matched McKinnon's record a few episodes into the season, as Kate had joined mid-season and Cecily missed the first three episodes of season 48, before surpassing it with the December 17, 2022 episode, the ninth episode and Christmas show, hosted by actor Austin Butler, with musical guest Lizzo, which would ultimately be her last.

Strong missed several episodes of Saturday Night Live during the 2020s. She missed the nearly the first-half of season 46, due to filming Schmigadoon, returning for the December 5, 2020 episode. She also missed the January episodes of season 47 (Jan. 15, Jan. 22, and Jan. 29, 2022), due to her being in the New York edition of the Broadway play "The Search for Signs of Inteligent Life in the Universe". Reprising her role in the L.A. edition of "Intelligent Life," she also missed the beginning of season 48. Likely due to season 48's new montage, she wasn't credited for the episodes she missed. She returned on the October 29, 2022 episode, with host and musical guest Jack Harlow but would ultimately altogether leave following the December 17, 2022 episode. Having her been a cast member for 11 seasons, she left the show as the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.

Other work[]

Strong was the featured entertainer at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Association dinner. She took digs at the various news organizations in attendance, politicians of all persuasions, and President Obama. She also took shots at the US Secret Service, host location the Washington Hilton, Brian Williams, Sarah Koenig and the state of Indiana.

In 2016, she appeared in a commercial for Old Navy, alongside other SNL cast members Nasim Pedrad and Jay Pharoah. That year, Strong also joined the climate change documentary show Years of Living Dangerously as a celebrity correspondent. In 2016, she guest starred as Samantha Stevens in TBS's Angie Tribeca and Catherine Hobart in Fox's Scream Queens. She has appeared in a series of commercials for Triscuit since 2017.

Her first book, a memoir titled This Will All Be Over Soon, was published on 10 August 2021. The book addresses "the challenges of beginning a relationship during the pandemic; the pain of losing family and friends; the pivotal events of her life that shaped her; and the importance of gratitude for each passing day." It developed from an essay she wrote about grieving the loss of her cousin Owen to brain cancer in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic that was first published on Vulture.com in 2020.

In 2021, Strong appeared in HBO Max's six-part comedy series That Damn Michael Che, featuring SNL castmate Michael Che. The same year, she starred in, and was a producer for, Schmigadoon!, a musical parody series on Apple TV+. Developed by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, and produced by SNL's Lorne Michaels, the series centers around a couple (played by Strong and Keegan-Michael Key) stuck in a 1940s studio musical town until they find "true love".

Characters/Impressions[]

Characters[]

  • Heather (One-Dimensional Female Character from a Male-Driven Comedy)
  • Janet Johnson-Luna
  • Joelle LaRue
  • Kyra
  • Loni (Science Room kid)
  • Model (Ex-Porn Star)
  • Oceana (mermaid)
  • Sharon (Close Encounter sketches)

Impressions[]

SNL Career[]

Personal life[]

In March 2024, Strong revealed that she is engaged to her partner John MacGregor.

In November 2024, Strong announced on her Instagram page that she was pregnant with her first child, a girl, via IVF. She gave birth the following April.

Trivia[]

  • The dog seen with her during the Season 40's opening credits (also used for Season 41, Season 42 and Season 43) is actually her dog Lucy. Her original credits for Season 44 did not include Lucy, but she was added back in later episodes.
  • She hosted the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2015.
  • A home video of her at age 13 was shown during one of the SNL Mother's Day monologues.
  • Her mother appeared on the SNL Mother's Day monologue 2015.
  • For the season 44 opening credits sequence for announcing the actors was taped before season 44. During the premiere episode, the announcement of Cecily Strong's name was accidentally omitted, her "cast clip" was silently shown, and then followed by the announcement of "Kyle Mooney", however this error was fixed by the next episode.
  • Strong has been romantically linked to writer and former-cast member Mike O'Brien.[2]

Gallery[]

References[]

Preceded by:
Seth Meyers alone 		Weekend Update anchor with Seth Meyers
(September 28, 2013— February 1, 2014) 		Followed by:
with Colin Jost
Preceded by:
with Seth Meyers 		Weekend Update anchor with Colin Jost
(March 8, 2014— May 17, 2014) 		Followed by:
Michael Che and Colin Jost
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