Amy Schumer

Amy Beth Schumer is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. She first gained wide attention through her comedy work before creating, co-producing, co-writing, and starring in the Comedy Central sketch comedy series Inside Amy Schumer from 2013 to 2016. Across her career, she has worked in television, film, stand-up specials, live theatre, and publishing, becoming known for her work across multiple entertainment formats.

Schumer was born on June 1, 1981, in Manhattan, New York City. She grew up in a wealthy household until her father's baby furniture business failed when she was nine years old, after which she moved to Long Island and attended South Side High School in Rockville Centre. She graduated from Towson University with a degree in theater in 2003, later studying at the William Esper Studio in New York City while working as a bartender, waitress, and pedicab driver.

After graduating from college, Schumer began performing stand-up comedy in 2004 at the Gotham Comedy Club. In 2007, she appeared on the NBC reality competition series Last Comic Standing, advancing to the finals and placing fourth. Over the following years, she made recurring television appearances, released the stand-up album Cutting in 2011, and starred in her first Comedy Central special, Mostly Sex Stuff, in 2012. She also acted in independent films, including Price Check, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and Sleepwalk with Me.

Schumer achieved major success with Inside Amy Schumer, which earned her a Peabody Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series in 2015. That same year, she wrote and starred in her feature film debut, Trainwreck, receiving a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She released her stand-up special Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo in 2015, which received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

In 2016, Schumer published her memoir, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, which topped The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. She made her Broadway debut in 2017 in Steve Martin's comedy play Meteor Shower, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. She subsequently starred in the comedy films Snatched in 2017 and I Feel Pretty in 2018, and released the Netflix stand-up special Amy Schumer: Growing in 2019.

In 2020, Schumer executive produced and starred in the HBO Max documentary series Expecting Amy and hosted the Food Network cooking show Amy Schumer Learns to Cook. She later created, wrote, directed, and starred in the Hulu comedy-drama series Life & Beth, appeared in the 2021 film The Humans, and co-hosted the 94th Academy Awards in 2022. Her stand-up special Emergency Contact was released in 2023.