In 2007, McKinnon joined the original cast of
Logo TV's
The Big Gay Sketch Show, where she was a cast member for all three seasons. Since 2008, she has performed live sketch comedy regularly at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. In 2009, McKinnon won a Logo
NewNowNext Award for Best Rising Comic. She was nominated for an
ECNY Emerging Comic Award in 2010. In 2023, she played Weird Barbie in the
Barbie movie. McKinnon has made appearances as a voice actress in series like
The Simpsons (as Hettie in "
Gal of Constant Sorrow") and
Family Guy (as Karen / Heavy Flo in season 14, episode 6 "
Peter's Sister", and additional voices in other episodes), and films such as
Finding Dory,
The Angry Birds Movie,
Ferdinand and
DC League of Super-Pets. McKinnon voiced Fiona Frizzle in
The Magic School Bus Rides Again, a continuation of
The Magic School Bus children's series, from 2017 to 2020. Since 2015, she has voiced Squeeks in the
PBS Kids series
Nature Cat, starring with fellow
SNL cast members
Taran Killam and
Bobby Moynihan. In 2025, she will co-star in the film
The Roses, and has provided voicework for the
Minecraft Movie.
Saturday Night Live McKinnon joined the cast of
Saturday Night Live as a featured player on April 7, 2012, following a March 28, 2012 report of her being hired. She was promoted to repertory status in
season 39 in 2013. In 2013, McKinnon was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Comedy. McKinnon won the 2014
American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress, TV for her work on
SNL. In 2014, she was nominated for an
Emmy Award for
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, as well as for
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics along with four of her colleagues for the song "(Do It On My) Twin Bed". She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the second time in 2015. She won the following year, becoming the first actor from
SNL to win the award since
Dana Carvey in 1993. McKinnon began appearing as
Hillary Clinton on the series leading up to the
2016 presidential election. The real Clinton appeared alongside her in a sketch during the show's
season 41 premiere. McKinnon has said that her impression of Hillary Clinton comes from a deep admiration, and that she "unequivocally want[ed] her to win" the
2016 presidential election. On November 12, 2016, which was the first show after Clinton's loss in the election, she reprised the role to open the show with a solo performance of "
Hallelujah" by
Leonard Cohen, whose death was announced two days before her performance. After the election, McKinnon began to impersonate
Kellyanne Conway alongside
Alec Baldwin as
Donald Trump. On February 11, 2017, she debuted her impression of
Elizabeth Warren during
Weekend Update and
Jeff Sessions in the cold open. McKinnon is known for her
character work of pop singer
Justin Bieber, comedian television host
Ellen DeGeneres, and numerous political figures, including
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Senator
Lindsey Graham,
Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Clinton, Warren,
Robert Mueller,
Angela Merkel, and
Rudy Giuliani. She has been nominated for seven
Primetime Emmy Awards, including one for
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics and six for
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2016 and 2017. McKinnon's return to
season 46 made her the show's longest tenured female cast member, surpassing her cast mates
Cecily Strong and
Aidy Bryant by five episodes. Bryant and McKinnon left the series after
season 47. They had both originally planned on leaving at the end of the
45th season in 2020, but the
COVID-19 pandemic changed their plans and they left at the end of season 47 in 2022. Strong passed McKinnon's record with the December 17, 2022 episode of
season 48.
Saturday Night Live characters •
Olya Povlatsky, a Russian woman who voices her opinions on current events, comparing them to the outrageous struggles she faces in her village. She also appeared in a cold open with
Beck Bennett as
Vladimir Putin reading a prepared statement against her will. •
Sheila Sovage, a heavily intoxicated woman at a bar who meets and hooks up with a heavily intoxicated man or woman, played by the host, at closing time. •
Jodi Cork, The Art of the Encounter and Women in the Workplace co-host with Donna Fingerneck (played by
Cecily Strong). • Barbara DeDrew, a lesbian volunteer at the cat shelter Whiskers R We. • Deenie, a.k.a. "Somebody's Mom", a middle-aged woman who attempts to recap shows she's been watching, but only knows the characters by self-applied nicknames, such as "Big Boobs" and "Mustache." She is always eating some foul concoction out of Tupperware, such as Brussels sprouts and imitation crab, which generally revolts
Weekend Update anchor
Colin Jost. • Mrs. Santini, an apartment dweller who writes passive-aggressive notes to her neighbors. Originally performed as Effie Villalopolus on
Comedy Bang! Bang! • Colleen Rafferty, a 27-year old woman (despite looking middle-aged, implicitly due to her repeated traumas) who appears on panels with two friends. They recount their experience of a shared paranormal event, such as being abducted by aliens. The other two friends always have an idyllic experience, while Rafferty instead experiences significant trauma. • Les Dykawitz, a lesbian cop from the 1970s who works for the Chicago Police Department along with her partner Chubina Fatzarelli (played by
Aidy Bryant) in "Dyke & Fats." •
Debette Goldry, a senile elderly actress whose harsh experiences with being an actress in old Hollywood are more outrageous than what modern actresses have gone through. • A member of Woodbridge High School's theatre troupe that performs solely about
social justice issues they know very little about. •
Noelle LeSoup, the co-host of the French show "America's Funniest Cats" who appears on the American version of the show along with Joelle LaRue (played by
Cecily Strong). • Shud, a crass
mermaid who is based on a
blobfish, and makes sexual advances on an unfortunate marooned sailor. • Dr. Wayne Wenowdis, a strangely accented middle-aged medical doctor, who debuted in 2020, as part of the
Weekend Update segment with
Colin Jost. • Madame Vivelda, a fortune teller who predicts people's 2020 experiences.
Saturday Night Live impressions •
Gillian Anderson •
Julian Assange •
Iggy Azalea •
Amy Coney Barrett •
Joy Behar •
Ingrid Bergman •
Mary Berry •
Justin Bieber •
Mika Brzezinski •
Theresa Caputo •
Liz Cheney •
Emilia Clarke •
Hillary Clinton •
Kellyanne Conway •
Barbara Corcoran •
Penelope Cruz •
Ellen DeGeneres •
Betsy DeVos •
Dido •
Robert Durst •
Elizabeth II •
Edie Falco •
Anthony Fauci •
Jodie Foster •
Cecilia Giménez •
Ruth Bader Ginsburg •
Rudy Giuliani •
Lindsey Graham •
Savannah Guthrie •
Bella Hadid •
Laura Ingraham •
Billie Jean King •
Jemima Kirke •
Heidi Klum •
Lisa Kudrow •
Lorde •
Taylor Louderman •
Lori Loughlin •
Jane Lynch •
Theresa May •
Frances McDormand •
Angela Merkel •
Nancy Pelosi •
Michelle Pfeiffer •
Ann Romney •
Wilbur Ross •
Jeff Sessions •
Maggie Smith •
Martha Stewart •
Tilda Swinton •
Greta Thunberg •
Keith Urban •
Greta Van Susteren •
Yolandi Visser •
Nicolle Wallace •
Elizabeth Warren •
Debbie Wasserman Schultz •
Janet Yellen Work as a creator McKinnon co-created and co-stars in the web series
Notary Publix with her sister Emily Lynne. In addition to
Aidy Bryant (who stars in the series), McKinnon's
SNL co-stars
Beck Bennett,
Jay Pharoah and
SNL writer
Paula Pell all guest-starred in the six-episode first season of the web series.
Other work In 2015, McKinnon appeared in a number of commercials for the
Ford Focus. In 2016, McKinnon co-hosted the
31st Independent Spirit Awards with
Kumail Nanjiani. In 2019, she played a supporting role in the film
Yesterday. s ceremony Her absence from the first seven episodes of
Saturday Night Lives
47th season was due to her filming the
Peacock miniseries
Joe vs. Carole, where she stars as
Carole Baskin. It premiered March 3, 2022. In 2024, McKinnon published a young adult novel, aimed at those in middle school, called
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science. It focuses on events among three sisters from the Porch family and a
mad scientist in the fictional town of Antiquarium. In 2025, she published a second book,
Secrets of the Purple Pearl. In November 2024, McKinnon served as the host of the
National Book Awards in New York City. ==Personal life==