Michaela Watkins Biography

Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived ABC sitcom Trophy Wife, as well as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2009. She has also recurred on television series such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened and Transparent, and has had appearances in the films The Back-Up Plan (2010), Wanderlust (2012) and Enough Said (2013).

Early life

Watkins was born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of former Latin teacher mother Myrna Watkins and Syracuse University mathematician father Mark Watkins. She has two sisters, Rebecca Kent and Sarah Fitts.

She was raised in the suburb of DeWitt, in a Jewish family. After her parents' divorce, Watkins' mother obtained a marketing degree and relocated the family to Boston when Watkins was 15.

She attended Moses DeWitt Elementary School and Wellesley High School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Michaela graduated from Boston University, where she studied theater and acting. Watkins auditioned for a part in a British farce at a community theater when she was 15, and got the part. Joan Rivers was one of her inspirations to go into show business.

Career

Theater

After theater school, Watkins lived and worked in New York City for a year but struggled to build her career. She moved with a friend to Portland, Oregon. She lived there from 1996-2000 and appeared onstage with Portland Center Stage and the defunct improv group Toad City Productions. She traveled around the country doing regional theater, then decided to move to Los Angeles.

She was active in Los Angeles Theatre for many years, taking on roles with Circle X Theatre and 2100 Square Feet.

Regional theater

• Portland Center Stage: Hamlet (1999), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1999), Bus Stop (2000)
• Portland Repertory Theatre: Arcadia
• Artist Repertory Theatre: The Misanthrope, How I Learned To Drive as well as Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale, Angels in America, The Food Chain
• Circle X Theatre: Laura Comstock's Bag Punching Dog (2002) - LA Weekly award,Sperm (2004)
• Vineyard Playhouse: Fighting Words by Sunil Kuruvilla (2003)

Improv

She became a regular performer at The Groundlings, where she was discovered by Saturday Night Live. Watkins said the appeal of sketch work is that she can write her own material.

TV

Saturday Night Live

In November 2008, Watkins joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL), along with Abby Elliott. Watkins said (at that time) that she was the oldest woman they ever hired. Watkins has since been surpassed by Leslie Jones, who was 47 when she joined SNL. Watkins made her first major appearance on the show as Arianna Huffington on the November 22nd Weekend Update. Watkins remained on SNL as a featured player throughout the rest of the 2008-2009 season, up to the season finale on May 16, 2009.

However while SNL was on summer hiatus, the news broke in early September 2009, that Watkins, along with fellow castmate Casey Wilson, were both to be let go from the show and would not be returning for the 2009-10 season.

Recurring characters on SNL

• Angie Tempura: A geeky, iced coffee-drinking computer nerd who snarks on celebrities and movies and is the creator of the snarky website "Bitch Pleeze" (www.bitchpleeze.com, which redirects to the SNL site). Though she insults celebrities, Angie was revealed to have a crush on Zac Efron.

Post-Saturday Night Live TV

She has appeared with recurring roles in the comedy programs as Lucy opposite Hamish Linklater in the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened, New Girl, Anger Management. As well as making guest appearances on shows such as Hung, Childrens Hospital, Kroll Show, Key & Peele, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Modern Family.

Watkins most recently starred alongside Malin kerman, Bradley Whitford, and Marcia Gay Harden in the short-lived, but well-received ABC sitcom Trophy Wife. The series aired for one season from September 2013 to May 2014.

In 2015, it was announced that Watkins will star in the Hulu series produced by Jason Reitman called Casual, which will be executive produced by Liz Tigelaar.

Producing, writing

Watkins co-created (with writing partner and fellow Groundling, Damon Jones) the short-lived 2014 USA Network comedy series Benched. The series starred Eliza Coupe and Jay Harrington and premiered on October 28, 2014. Watkins and Jones were also executive producers on the show.

Film

Watkins has appeared with supporting roles in films such as Enough Said, In a World..., Afternoon Delight, The Back-Up Plan, Wanderlust, and They Came Together.

Personal life

Watkins is married to Fred Kramer, who is a founding partner of Reason Ventures and General Manager of Critical Mass Studios, Inc. Kramer used to be Executive Director of the Jewish World Watch organization, a Los Angeles-based anti-genocide non-profit, focused on the situations in Sudan and Congo. They married in July 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Inconceivable	Marcy
2008	Yoga Matt	Jill Goering	Short film
2010	The Back-Up Plan	Mona
	The Prankster	Miss LaFleur
	Welcome to the Jungle Gym	Principal Gilly	Short film
	Worst Enemy	Wooly	Short film
2011	Una Hora Por Favora	Elissa	Short film
2012	Wanderlust	Marisa Gergenblatt
2013	Afternoon Delight	Jennie
	iSteve	Melinda Gates
	In a World...	Dani
	Bunion	Therapist	Short film
	Enough Said	Hillary
2014	They Came Together	Habermeyer
2016	Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie	Ivana Trump
	And Punching the Clown	Mara
2017	Person to Person
	Brigsby Bear
	How to Be a Latin Lover		Completed
	The House		In post-production

Television

Year	Show	Role	First Episode	Notes
2001	Charmed	Andrea	"Death Takes A Halliwell"	1 episode
2003	Miss Match	Susan Scott	"Divorce Happens"	1 episode
	Without A Trace	Marla	"Maple Street"	1 episode
2004	Strong Medicine	Julia	"Bleeding Heart"	1 episode
2006	Medium	Clerk	"Sweet Child O' Mine"	2 episodes
	Modern Men	Amanda	"Pilot"	1 episode
	Grey's Anatomy	Nikki Ratlin	"Superstition"	1 episode
	Malcolm In The Middle	Receptionist	"Hal's Dentist"	1 episode
	7 Deadly Hollywood Sins	Jennifer	"Gluttony"	4 episodes
2007	Revenge	Mary-Louise	"Pilot"	TV Pilot
2008	Man Stroke Woman (US Version)	Various	"Pilot"	TV Pilot
	Frank TV	Julia Roberts	"Episode 2.1"	1 episode
	Californication	Executive	"Coke Dick & First Kick"	2 episodes
2008-2009	Saturday Night Live	Cast Member	"Episode 34.8"	15 episodes
	The New Adventures of Old Christine	Lucy	"How I Hate Your Mother"	7 episodes
2009	Eli Stone	Judge Leigh Rappaport	"Sonoma"	1 episode
2010	Parenthood	Lucy Estman	"Team Braverman"	1 episode
	Miami Medical	Carla	"Time of Death"	1 episode
2011	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Saundra	"The Safe House"	1 episode
	Hung	Judy	"Don't Give Up on Detroit or Hung Like a Horse"	1 episode
	Private Practice	Laura Martin	"Deal with It"	1 episode
2011-2013	Enlightened	Janice Holm	"Now or Never"	9 episodes
2011-2015	New Girl	Gina	"Bad In Bed"	5 episodes
2012	The Life & Times of Tim	Homeless Woman	"Pudding Boy/The Celebrity Who Shall Remain Nameless"	1 episode
	Childrens Hospital	Detective Lacey Briggs	"The Return of the Young Billionaire"	1 episode
	Key & Peele	Mary Magdalene	"Episode 2.1"	1 episode
	Modern Family	Susan	"Schooled"	1 episode
2013	Kroll Show	Various Roles	"Please God"	2 episodes
	Anger Management	Lisa	"Charlie and Kate Do It for Money"	2 episodes
2013-2014	Trophy Wife	Jackie Fisher	Series regular	22 episodes
2014-2015	Married	Stacey	"The Playdate"; "Aftershocks"	2 episodes
	Transparent	Connie/Yetta	"Best New Girl"	4 episodes
2014-2016	Drunk History	Nurse / Julia Child	"New York City"	2 episodes
2015	Marry Me	Janet L'Amour	"Dead Me"	1 episode
	The Goldbergs	Seora Taraborelli	"La Biblioteca es Libros?"; "Happy Mom, Happy Life"	2 episodes
	Veep	Patti	"East Wing"	1 episode
	Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp	Rhonda	Mini-series	8 episodes
2015-present	Casual	Valerie	Series regular	23 episodes
2016	Family Guy	Train-pulling Girl	"Take a Letter"	1 episode
	Angie Tribeca	Melanie Burke	"The Coast Is Fear"	1 episode