Melissa Anne Villaseñor (born October 9, 1987) is an American stand-up comedienne, actress, impressionist, writer, musician, and artist. First garnering attention for her stand-up shows and impressions, Villaseñor found wider success when she was hired to join the cast of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for season 42 in 2016, alongside Mikey Day and Alex Moffat. She was promoted to the cast's repertory players in season 44 in 2018 and then departed at the end of season 47 in 2022, after six seasons as a cast member.
She was a contestant on America's Got Talent (another NBC show) in 2011 and made it to the semifinals. Since then, she has had a few roles in projects such as Family Guy, Adventure Time, and a show called First Impressions.
Villaseñor first auditioned for the late-night sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live in 2009, where she did several impressions but was not hired. Villaseñor was introduced as a featured player on the October 1, 2016 episode, the season premiere of Season 42 of Saturday Night Live, and appeared between the show's 42nd and 47th seasons, alongside Mikey Day and Alex Moffat. Her debut was an impression of Sarah Silverman in the Family Feud: Political Edition sketch. She is the second Latina cast member after Noël Wells, who is a quarter Mexican, and the first Latina to be promoted to repertory status in the 44th season.
After she became a cast member, she deleted almost 2,000 old tweets, that she had posted mostly in 2010 and 2011, which some critics called racist. SNL and Villaseñor initially declined to comment on the accusation, but in September 2018, Villaseñor explained that she was "trying to be edgy" when she posted them, and that she did not regret deleting them. She told NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, "I'm flawed like everyone else, and yeah, I just wanted to make sure I was perfect."
She was promoted to the cast's repertory players in season 44 in 2018. Villaseñor left the show at the end of the 47th season in 2022, after six years as a cast member.
Her debut album, Dreamer, a pop-punk/power pop-influenced work, was released in October 2019. She is also an illustrator.
She helped Rob Cantor create his viral "29 Celebrity Impressions, 1 Original Song" video to promote his album Not a Trampoline, in which she sings impressions of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Björk.
She hosted the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards, and voiced Robin in the radio drama podcast Batman: The Audio Adventures.
In 2023, it was announced that she would voice Nellie Ramírez-Humphrey in Primos.
Impressions[]
- Carmen Yulín Cruz
- Celine Dion
- Ariana Grande
- Kathy Griffin+
- Jennifer Lopez+
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus+
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Kate McKinnon+
- Lady Gaga
- Sue Perkins
- Elaine Quijano
- Sarah Silverman
- Gwen Stefani
- Wanda Sykes+
- Kristen Wiig
- Owen Wilson+
- Ana Navarro
- Christina Koch
- John Mulaney
- Kate Bennett
- Nicole Scherzinger
- Rachel Maddow
- Sally Hawkins
- Tekashi 6ix9ine
- Dolly Parton
- Macaulay Culkin (as Kevin from Home Alone)
- Britney Spears
- Billie Eilish
- El Chapo
- Barbara Walters
- Christina Aguilera
- Winona Ryder
- Björk
+ = voice only.
Characters[]
- Dirty Talk Girl
- Janet