Television and film Saturday Night Live Rudolph was in the
improv troupe
the Groundlings, where she met future
Saturday Night Live cast member
Will Forte. She joined the cast of
Saturday Night Live as a featured player for the final three episodes of the
1999–2000 season and stayed until 2007. Her impersonations while on the show included
Oprah Winfrey,
Christina Aguilera, and
Donatella Versace. She has made several cameo appearances over the years. Since the
45th-season premiere, she has occasionally portrayed
Vice President Kamala Harris, a performance acknowledged by Harris. After Harris became the
presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Rudolph agreed to portray Harris on
SNL through the 2024 election; pre-production on season 3 of her show
Loot was postponed to accommodate her role. For her portrayal of Harris, she won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
Other roles Rudolph appeared in many other television shows, including the
CBS medical drama series
City of Angels and
Chicago Hope. She had small parts in
Gattaca (1997),
As Good as It Gets (1997),
Chuck & Buck (2000),
Duets (2000),
Duplex (2003), and
50 First Dates (2004); she was also a music supervisor for
Duets. Her first prominent film role came in 2006 with
A Prairie Home Companion. That same year, she co-starred with
Luke Wilson in the
Mike Judge sci-fi comedy
Idiocracy, although the film was only given a limited release. She also guest-starred as Rapunzel in the 2007
DreamWorks animated film
Shrek the Third. She guest-starred as Julia in
The Simpsons episode "
The Homer of Seville". Rudolph guest-starred as character Athena Scooberman in NBC's
Kath & Kim, and starred in the 2009 film
Away We Go with
The Office star
John Krasinski. In 2010, she appeared in
Grown Ups starring
Adam Sandler, where she played the wife of
Chris Rock's character, and returned for the 2013 sequel,
Grown Ups 2. In 2011, she appeared in
Bridesmaids with
Saturday Night Live colleague
Kristen Wiig, and in 2013 she played a supporting role in
The Way, Way Back as the girlfriend of
Sam Rockwell's character. From 2011 to 2012, she co-starred in the NBC sitcom
Up All Night, with
Christina Applegate and
Will Arnett. In 2013, she voiced Burn in the
DreamWorks Animation film
Turbo. Rudolph's self-titled
variety show television pilot aired on May 19, 2014, but the show did not go beyond that. Also in 2014, she voiced Precious in the animated film
The Nut Job, as well as in the 2017 sequel
The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature, and voiced Aunt Cass in the
Disney animated film
Big Hero 6. She also starred in
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2014 crime comedy-drama
Inherent Vice, and the 2015 comedy
Sisters, where she reunited with former
SNL colleagues
Tina Fey and
Amy Poehler. It was later announced that she would star in an NBC variety series
Maya & Marty with
Martin Short, which debuted on May 31, 2016. Her next series,
Forever, premiered on September 14, 2018, on
Amazon Video. As a voice actress, she voiced Matilda in
The Angry Birds Movie (2016) and
The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), voiced Smiler in the animated
The Emoji Movie (2017), and had various roles in the
Netflix animated series
Big Mouth, premiering in 2017. In 2018, she performed in advertisements for
Ruby Tuesday and
Seventh Generation. Also in 2018, she played Christine, the best friend of
Melissa McCarthy's character, in the 2018 comedy film
Life of the Party. From 2018 to 2020, Rudolph played a judge in the comedy series
The Good Place, and received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her role. In 2019 she appeared as the mother in
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. In 2021 she voiced Linda Mitchell, mother of two, in Sony Pictures'
The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and Daniela Paguro in the
Pixar film
Luca. Rudolph has a production company called Animal Pictures with
Natasha Lyonne which has produced
Russian Doll,
Poker Face, Loot, and
The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy. As of October 3, 2023, Rudolph reportedly separated amicably from Animal Pictures to produce independently. In 2023, it was announced that Rudolph would be the spokesperson for
M&M's after owner
Mars Inc. supposedly pulled its "Spokescandies" in light of criticism for its depictions of gender. Rudolph is set to make her Broadway debut in April 2026, taking over the role of
Mary Todd Lincoln in
Oh, Mary! for an eight-week engagement.
Music Prior to joining
Saturday Night Live, Rudolph was a
backing vocalist from 1995 to 1999 and a keyboardist in
the Rentals, with whom she toured. She performed "Together in Pooping" and "Little Roundworm" with
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (Robert Smigel) on his album
Come Poop With Me. She is in a
Prince cover band called Princess with friend
Gretchen Lieberum. ==Personal life==