Heidi Lynn Gardner (born July 27, 1983) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for eight seasons from season 43 in 2017 until her eventual firing from the show after season 50 in 2025. She was promoted to repertory status on the show in 2019.
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. Before moving, she saved $600 over one summer. A friend encouraged her to attend a performance at The Groundlings theater, where she became inspired to become an actress. 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.
In 2014, Gardner joined the Sunday Company and a year later after a promotion to the Main Company, she quit her job as a hairstylist to focus on acting. During that time, she became a voice actress, regularly appearing on animated series including Bratz, SuperMansion, and Mike Tyson Mysteries. In 2017, she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) along with Luke Null and Chris Redd for its forty-third season, as featured players.
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. 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. In 2019, Gardner made her stage debut in Michael Frayn's Noises Off at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. That same year, her and SNL castmate Redd were promoted to Repertory Status for SNL's 45th season.
By the time of season 47, which was her fifth season on SNL, she still felt like "the new kid", because by that point, outside of Leslie Jones, most of the senior cast members from her first season were still there. This was due in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic preventing those said senior cast members from leaving the show earlier. By the time season 47 had concluded and season 48 was underway, said senior cast members (such as Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson, and Cecily Strong - who left midway through season 48) had left the show, and Gardner (who, by that point, was in her sixth season) talked about being grateful for now being one of the senior cast members, and has enjoyed being "passed the ball more."
Starting with the January 21, 2023 episode, the tenth episode and first show of New Year 2023 of Season 48, hosted by actress and comedian Aubrey Plaza, with musical guest Sam Smith, Gardner became the longest-tenured current female cast member, she had this title until she was cut from the cast following the conclusion of season 50.[1]
Gardner, who had never broken character in seven seasons on SNL, cracked while playing NewsNation host Bobbi Moore in a Beavis and Butthead-centered sketch on April 13, 2024. Vulture magazine described the moment as breaking in "spectacularly charming fashion".
Gardner lead the cast in sketch appearances in Season 49, joining the SNL greats who have accomplished this feat.
Celebrity Impressions[]
- Kristen Schaal
- Ainsley Earhardt
- Dana Bash
- Drew Barrymore
- Allison Janney
- Abigail Spanberger
- Jill Biden
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley
- Kim Kardashian
- Wally Funk
- Ashley Olsen
- Deborah Birx
- Erin Andrews
- Frances Haugen
- Jackie Speier
- John Michael Wozniak
- Judy Woodruff
- Kersti Kaljulaid
- Mette Frederiksen
- Mikey Madison
- Taylor Swift
- Kristi Noem
- Liz Cheney
- Judy Woodruff
- Tracy Wolfson
Characters[]
- Angel: every boxer's girlfriend
- Bailey Gismert: teen film critic
- Baskin Johns: Goop staffer
- 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).
- Mandy, a cousin of a celebrity that shames their movie careers
- Sandy, a joyful cook of a baking reality competition show that is qualified and skilled though she 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
- Jan Janby, a British psychic tarot card reader
- Crystal, (Your Co-worker who's extremely busy doing seemingly nothing), who comes to Weekend Update to complain about her job, though it's unclear what she actually does
- Bobbi Moore, a NewsNation reporter
SNL Career[]
Gallery[]
