Ellie Kemper

Elizabeth Claire Kemper is an American actress and comedian best known for her television roles as Erin Hannon in the sitcom The Office and the title character in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Beyond her major television roles, she has appeared in films such as Bridesmaids, 21 Jump Street, Sex Tape, Somewhere, and Home Sweet Home Alone. In 2018, she published her debut book, a collection titled My Squirrel Days.

Kemper was born on May 2, 1980, in Kansas City, Missouri, to Dorothy Ann and David Woods Kemper. Raised in a practicing Roman Catholic household, her family moved to St. Louis when she was five years old. She attended Conway Elementary School and John Burroughs School, where she developed an interest in theater and improvisational comedy. Kemper graduated from Princeton University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, where she played on the 1998 national championship field hockey team as a freshman before focusing on comedy troupes like Quipfire! and the Princeton Triangle Club. She later studied toward a master's degree in English literature at Worcester College, Oxford.

Early in her career, Kemper moved to New York City and performed with the Upright Citizens Brigade and the People's Improv Theater. She regularly appeared in comedy sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and contributed writing to satirical publications such as The Onion and McSweeney's. She gained early on-screen experience through commercials, guest roles, and sketch comedy videos, including work with Derrick Comedy and Funny or Die, as well as one-woman shows like Dumb Girls.

Kemper's breakthrough arrived in April 2009 when she joined the cast of The Office during its fifth season. Originally hired for a four-episode guest arc as secretary Erin Hannon, she was promoted to a series regular starting in the sixth season and remained with the show until its conclusion in 2013. Following her success on The Office, she was cast as the lead character in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which ran from 2015 to 2019.

Over the course of her career, Kemper has earned significant industry recognition. Her lead role in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt garnered two consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Additionally, she has earned nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards, three Satellite Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In addition to her core television and film work, Kemper served as a temporary co-host on Today in 2015, appeared as a guest judge on America's Got Talent in 2019, and recorded audiobooks for works including A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo. In 2023, she made her Broadway debut in a limited engagement of the play Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and in 2025, she became a spokesperson for Kohl's Department Stores.