Emily Fortune Feimster (; born July 1, 1980) is an American writer, comedian, and actress. Having made her television debut on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

's ''

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' was an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, then again in 2014 and 2015. The goal of the program was to select a comedian from an initially large group ...

'' in 2010, Feimster starred as Colette on ''

The Mindy Project ''The Mindy Project'' is an American romantic comedy television series created by and starring Mindy Kaling that began airing on Fox in September 2012 and finished its run of six seasons on Hulu in November 2017. The series was co-produced by Uni ...

'' (2015–2017). In July 2019, she began hosting ''What a Joke with Papa and Fortune'' with

Tom Papa Thomas Papa Jr. (born November 10, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and radio host. He hosts the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show ''Come to Papa'' and, in July 2019, he and Fortune Feimster started hosting the Sirius XM show ''What a Joke wi ...

, interviewing comedians and celebrities, the first live programming on the

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

channel

Netflix is a Joke Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a film ...

. Feimster played Heather in '' The L Word: Generation Q'', a reboot of ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

''.

Early life

Feimster was born in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, to Mike and Ginger Feimster; the youngest of three, with two older brothers, Price and Jay. Fortune is her maternal great-grandmother's maiden name. Growing up in

Belmont, North Carolina Belmont is a small suburban city in Gaston County, North Carolina, United States, located about west of uptown Charlotte and east of Gastonia. The population was 10,076 at the 2010 census. Once known as Garibaldi Station, it was named for ...

, she attended Belmont Central Elementary School and Belmont Junior High, subsequently graduating from South Point High School in 1998. That same year, she was presented to society at the Gastonia Debutante Ball. At South Point, she played basketball, softball, and tennis. She attended Peace College, then a women-only university, and was elected student body president, majored in communications, and played soccer and tennis. She graduated summa cum laude and was the student speaker at commencement in 2002. The graduation speaker was Raleigh native actress Emily Procter, with whom Feimster became acquainted after the graduation. After living in Spain for a year, she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in 2003 to become a personal assistant to Procter and pursue comedy. After connecting with Procter's neighbor, a journalist for the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''D ...

'', Feimster began a seven-year career in entertainment journalism. In 2005, she joined

The Groundlings The Groundlings is an American improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school based in Los Angeles. The troupe was formed by Gary Austin in 1974 and uses an improv format influenced by Viola Spolin, whose improvisational theater techniq ...

Theatre, studying improv and sketch comedy. After four years, she was selected to join the Groundlings' Sunday Company.

Personal life

Feimster

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as lesbian in 2005 at age 25. In 2016, she began dating kindergarten teacher Jacquelyn Smith, becoming engaged in early 2018. She and Smith own homes in Los Angeles and

. They married in a small ceremony on Friday, October 23, 2020.

Filmography

Film

Television

* ''

'' (2010) – herself * '' After Lately'' (2011–2013) – herself * ''

Chelsea Lately ''Chelsea Lately'' is an American late night comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced by Handler's production company, Borderl ...

'' (2013–2014) – Round Table Co-host * '' 2 Broke Girls'' (2014) – Sherlock Mary * ''

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' originally ran on Comedy Central from April 6, 2011, to M ...

'' (2014) – Jo * ''

Mulaney ''Mulaney'' is an American sitcom that aired on Fox from October 5, 2014, to February 15, 2015. Stand-up comedian and former ''Saturday Night Live'' writer John Mulaney created the show and starred as a fictionalized version of himself. At the ...

'' (2014) – Mary Jo * ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'' (2015) – Butch Melman * ''Hot Girls Walk By'' (2015) – Ruth * ''

Married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

'' (2015) – Woman on Rascal * ''

'' (2015–2017) – Collette Kimball-Kinney * ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show' ...

'' (2015) – herself * ''

Life in Pieces ''Life in Pieces'' is an American sitcom television series created by Justin Adler and which premiered on CBS on September 21, 2015 and concluded on June 27, 2019. The series was produced by 40 or 50 Years, Inc., Kapital Entertainment in associat ...

'' (2016–2019) – Dougie * '' Go-Go Boy Interrupted'' (

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

) (2016) – Fortune * '' Chelsea'' (2016) –

Ann Coulter Ann Hart Coulter (; born December 8, 1961) is an American conservative media pundit, author, syndicated columnist, and lawyer. She became known as a media pundit in the late 1990s, appearing in print and on cable news as an outspoken critic ...

* ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'' (2017) – herself (S9 E8) * '' The Standups'' in (2017) – herself (S1 E2) * '' Chelsea'' (2017) – Sarah Huckabee Sanders * ''

Craig of the Creek ''Craig of the Creek'' is an American animated television series created by Matt Burnett and Ben Levin for Cartoon Network. The show's pilot episode debuted directly on the official app on December 1, 2017. The series premiered online on Februa ...

'' (2018) – Laura (first voice acting role) * '' Summer Camp Island'' (2018) – Ava (voice acting role) * '' Champions'' (2018) – Ruby * '' Claws'' (2018) – Lauren Zorloni * '' The Fix'' (2018) – herself * ''

'' (2019) – herself * ''

Bless the Harts ''Bless the Harts'' is an American animated sitcom created by Emily Spivey for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Debuting on September 29, 2019, the series is executive produced by Spivey, Andy Bobrow, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Kristen Wi ...

'' (2019–2021) – Brenda (voice acting role; series regular) * ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' (2019) – Evelyn (voice acting role) * '' Sunnyside'' (2019) – Michelle Pinholster * '' The L Word: Generation Q'' (2019) – Heather * ''

Tales of The City ''Tales of the City'' is a series of nine novels written by American author Armistead Maupin from 1978 to 2014, depicting the life of a group of friends in San Francisco, many of whom are LGBT. The stories from ''Tales'' were originally seria ...

'' (2019) – Carlin * ''Sweet and Salty'' (2020) – herself *'' Nailed It!'' (2020) – herself * '' Kenan'' (2021) – Pam Fox *''The Circle – The After Party'' (2021) – herself (co-presenter) *'' Q-Force'' (2021) – Louisa Deck (voice acting role) * '' RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' (2021) – herself * '' Is It Cake?'' (2022) – herself (judge) * '' FUBAR'' (2023) – Ruth / Roo * ''Fortune Feimster: Good Fortune'' (2023) – herself * '' Velma'' (2023) – Olive (voice acting role)

Podcasts

In addition to hosting her own podcast, ''Sincerely Fortune'', Feimster has appeared on the following:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Feimster, Fortune Living people 21st-century American actresses American debutantes American film actresses American stand-up comedians American television actresses American voice actresses American women comedians 1980 births 21st-century American comedians Actresses from North Carolina William Peace University alumni American lesbian actresses Lesbian comedians LGBT people from North Carolina Comedians from North Carolina American LGBT comedians