Kate McKinnon is a comedian and actress who was born in New York on January 6, 1984. She began her career in the entertainment industry in 2007, and she is best known for being a regular cast member in ‘The Big Gay Sketch Show’ and ‘Saturday Night Live’, and for her celebrity impressions. She is also known for her work in films, some of which have included ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’, ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Rough Night’, and ‘Office Christmas Party’. Although she is quite a well-known celebrity, there are many things that people do not know about her. Here are 20 things that you probably didn’t know about Kate McKinnon.
1. She Was Once a Softball Umpire
Prior to working as an entertainer, McKinnon did various odd jobs to make ends meet, says The List. Her first job was a rather surprising one and it is certainly not something you could imagine her doing now. She was a little league softball umpire, but she wasn’t really cut out for the job. McKinnon explained that she lasted for only a few games and that this was predominantly because she wasn’t completely clear about the rules. Considering the main role of the umpire is to implement the rules of the game, it is hardly any wonder that this did not become her lifelong career.
2. McKinnon Was Also a Very Bad Salesperson
Working as a softball umpire is not the only job at which McKinnon has been unsuccessful. According to IMDB, she once worked as a telemarketer at an SAT-prep company. At the time she worked there, it was just after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. McKinnon has said it was awful because she was ringing people in New Orleans post-Katrina and trying to sell them a very expensive SAT class. This was clearly something that most people could not afford at that time. She also admitted that she wasn’t even a very good salesperson.
3. She is Musically Talented
Kate McKinnon is best known for her talents as an actress, comedian, and impressionist. However, this talented woman has many other skills, including many musical talents. Amongst her talents, says Wonderwall, are playing the piano, the guitar, and the cello. These are all instrument that she began to learn as a child. She can also sing, and fans have seen this on her appearances on Saturday Night Live.
4. She Had a Crush on Gillian Anderson
Everyone has had a crush on a celebrity at some point, and Kate McKinnon told Vanity Fair that hers was on Gillian Anderson, says The List. In fact, McKinnon admits that she still has a crush on the former ‘X-Files’ star now. Strangely, the pair have since worked together as they were both in the 2018 film ‘The Spy Who Dumped Me’. Gillian Anderson once posted a picture on Twitter of McKinnon dressed up as her X-Files character Dana Scully, along with a caption about them having something in common.
5. She Was the First Openly Gay Woman to Appear on Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon is a lesbian, and her sexuality has always been something she has been open about. According to Wonderwall, she went down in history when she joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2012 as she was the first openly gay female cast member on the show. She was only the third gay cast member to ever appear on the series, including both men and women.
6. She Has Appeared with Her Mother on Saturday Night Live
Kate McKinnon’s mother is Laura Campbell, who has appeared on Saturday Night Live on several occasion. According to Heavy, one of these occasions involved McKinnon and her mother discussing her childhood and her mother saying it is a good thing that she is weird because it got her where she is now. Laura Campbell has also made several cameo appearances that did not involve Kate McKinnon.
7. She Likes Woodworking
Although she has many interests, Kate McKinnon has said that she loves woodworking, says Your Tango. This is a rather unusual interest for a woman with such a busy schedule to enjoy. However, she has admitted that she is not very good at this craft and that she has yet to make anything useful.
8. Her Sister is Also a Comedian
McKinnon comes from a funny family as her sister, Emily Lynne, is also a comedian. Emily is five years younger than Kate, and has followed in her big sister’s footsteps, says Heavy. McKinnon’s sister studied film at SUNY Purchase, and she is the former editor of a media production company called MultiVu.
9. She Made a Financial Literacy Video
In April 2018, People reported that Kate McKinnon had made a financial literacy video. The video was made in collaboration with Beth Kobliner, a financial journalist and New York Times best-selling author. In the video, she uses some interesting resources to help the children learn about financial literacy, including pizza, sunglasses, and tickets. The tickets were given to the children for them to spend on items of different value, as the aim was to teach them about budgeting. The purpose of the video was to give children an early understanding of taking control of their finances.
10. McKinnon Loves Cats
McKinnon’s favorite animal is cats and she is quite happy to have the label of a cat lady. Her own cat baby is called Nino Positano, a stray that she found at a pizzeria. According to The Richest, McKinnon is now obsessed with her fur baby. In an interview on The Tonight Show, she even refers to her cat as her son. She even has a specially designed hoodie so that she can carry her overweight cat around with her. On her day off work, she just likes to spend time alone with Nino.
11. Breakfast is her Favorite Meal
Despite breakfast being the most important meal of the day, it is the meal that many busy people skip. However, Kate McKinnon never skips breakfast as this is her favorite meal of the day, says The Richest. She likes to take her time over breakfast, so she gets up early to make sure she has time to prepare it and enjoy it properly. She has a daily breakfast ritual and nearly always eats the same meal. This is two poached eggs served with a vegetable quinoa melange and a coffee.
12. She Had an Unusual Pet as a Child
Although she now has a cat, Kate McKinnon had a rather more unusual pet as a child. She told Oprah Magazine that she had a pet iguana when she was growing up. She said that his name was Willy and she had a very contentious relationship with the pet. According to McKinnon, keeping an iguana in a suburban home was not a good idea, because he was always stressed out. This meant that he pooped everywhere and developed eating problems.
13. She Wishes She Could Stop Time
In the same interview with Oprah Magazine, McKinnon says that she would choose the ability to stop time as her superpower. She would use this superpower to freeze time for everyone else but herself. While everyone else was frozen, she would take a nap or go for a walk. She went on to say that this is something she has always wished she could do since she was a child.
14. McKinnon Perfects Her Impressions Using YouTube
Kate McKinnon is famous for her hilarious impressions, especially of Ellen DeGeneres and Hilary Clinton. Although she is naturally talented at doing impressions, she does have a system for perfecting them, she told Glamour. She sits alone in her office watching hour after hour of YouTube videos of the people she is trying to impersonate. This allows her to study their body language and the patterns of their voice.
15. She Dreamed of Being on Saturday Night Live from the Age of 12
McKinnon told Glamour that it was her architect father, Michael Berthold, who introduced her to Saturday Night Live when she was just 12 years of age. From then onwards, it was always her dream to have a role on the show. She was 28 before her dream finally came true.
16. She Takes Sundays Off Work
The only day that McKinnon takes off work is Sundays, she told GQ. She admitted that her days off work are far from eventful as she rarely ever goes out unless it is to buy an avocado from the grocery store. She sleeps in until she wakes naturally, and the big highlight of her day is often emptying her cat’s litter tray. She has said that she only goes out with friends on her day off if they have summoned her to attend an event. McKinnon has often worried that her lack of social life will limit her ability to think of interesting things that have happened in her life that could inspire a script.
17. Kate McKinnon Loves to Paint
One of Kate McKinnon’s passions is painting, and this is something that she loves to do in her free time. She has said that painting in her one-bedroomed apartment fills the room with toxic fumes that sometimes make it difficult to breathe, according to GQ. In the past, she preferred to paint portraits. However, she now paints only still lifes with as much photo-realism as possible.
18. She Finds Theresa May Endearing
In an interview with The Guardian, Kate McKinnon said that she finds Theresa May endearing. She was talking about how she looks for things that she likes about a person she is impersonating when she made this comment. McKinnon elaborated further with regards to what she finds endearing about the British Prime Minister, saying that she seems cheerful.
19. She Often Talks to Herself
According to IMDB, McKinnon has said that one of her worst habits its talking to herself out loud. She does this almost everywhere she goes, from the sidewalk to the subway. She does this at full volume, so people often hear her and, no doubt, give her strange looks. Sometimes, she even laughs at herself if she thinks that what she has said is funny. McKinnon has said that when she is talking to herself is when she comes up with ideas.
20. She Has Been Nominated for Six Primetime Emmy Awards
During her career, Kate McKinnon has been nominated for six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2014, she was nominated for two of these awards for her role in Saturday Night live; one for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, and the other for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She was nominated for the latter again the following year. In 2016, she finally won her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She won the award again in 2017 but was only nominated in 2018. She has also won several other prestigious awards for her role in Saturday Night Live. For her role in Ghostbusters, she was nominated for six awards and won two. The two awards she won were both Women Film Critics Circle Awards; one for Best Comedic Actress and the other for Best Female Action Hero.
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