Kay Cannon (born August 22, 1974) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and actress. She is best known for writing and producing the ''Pitch Perfect'' film series (2012–2017). She made her directorial debut with the comedy film '' Blockers'' (2018). Cannon was also a writer and producer for the

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 are l ...

comedy series ''

30 Rock ''30 Rock'' is an American satirical sitcom television series created by Tina Fey that originally aired on NBC from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. The series, based on Fey's experiences as head writer for ''Saturday Night Live'', tak ...

'' (2007–2012) and the FOX comedy series ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...

'' (2012–2014). She created, wrote and produced the short-lived

Netflix 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 ...

comedy-drama series '' Girlboss'' (2017).

Early life

Kay Cannon was raised in Custer Park, Illinois, and is the fifth of seven children. She graduated from

Reed-Custer High School Reed-Custer High School is a 4-year public high school located at 249 Comet Drive in Braidwood, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. RCHS is part of the Reed-Custer School District (255U). Notable alumni * Kay Cannon, comedy writer and produ ...

Braidwood, Illinois Braidwood is a city in Will County, Illinois, United States, approximately southwest of Chicago and south of Joliet. The population was 6,191 at the 2010 census. The Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant currently owned ...

, and received her BA in Theatre and MA in Education at

Lewis University Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university in Romeoville, Illinois, United States. The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students. Lewis offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 22 graduate ...

Romeoville, Illinois Romeoville is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village is located southwest of Chicago on the Des Plaines River. Per the 2020 census, the population was 39,863. It is located in the southwest suburban area of Chicago near ...

Career

Acting

Cannon trained at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

, ImprovOlympic, and ComedySportz. One of her first jobs was as a performer at ComedySportz. She has performed sketch and improv for theaters including Boom Chicago in

Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban area ...

in Chicago and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

, ImprovOlympic (West and Chicago) and at The

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

in Los Angeles and New York City. Cannon starred in the independent film ''The Little Tin Man'' (2013). She has guest-starred on

's ''

'', ''

'', and ''

Cristela ''Cristela'' was an American multi-camera sitcom television series that aired from October 10, 2014, through March 6, 2015, on ABC. The series was created by stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo, who also starred in and wrote for the series and ser ...

''. She made a cameo in ''

Pitch Perfect 2 ''Pitch Perfect 2'' is a 2015 American musical comedy film directed and produced by Elizabeth Banks (in her feature directorial debut) and written by Kay Cannon. It is a sequel to the 2012 film ''Pitch Perfect'' and the second installment in th ...

'' (2015) and also appeared in the comedy ''

How to Be Single ''How to Be Single'' is a 2016 American romantic comedy film directed by Christian Ditter and written by Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein and Dana Fox, based on the novel of the same name by Liz Tuccillo. It stars Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Damon ...

'' (2016), starring

Rebel Wilson Rebel Melanie Elizabeth Wilson (born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds; 2 March 1980) is an Australian actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. After graduating from the Australian Theatre for Young People in 2003, Wilson began appearing as Tou ...

and

Dakota Johnson Dakota Mayi Johnson (born October 4, 1989) is an American actress. The daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, she made her film debut at age ten with a minor role in the dark comedy film ''Crazy in Alabama'' (1999) with her mothe ...

Writing

While performing and writing around Chicago, she met actress

Tina Fey Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey (; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and playwright. She is best known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1997–2006) and for creating the ...

, a fellow Second City alumna. When Fey began creating the

comedy ''

'', she brought Cannon to the writing staff. She worked her way up from staff writer to supervising producer. Cannon won the

Writers Guild of America Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility ...

for Best Comedic Series for her work on ''30 Rock'' three times. In 2008, she won a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

for her work on the show. In 2010, Cannon was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series. During this time, Cannon also worked as a co-producer on the feature film, '' Baby Mama'' (2008). She moved from New York City to Los Angeles when she signed an overall development deal with 20th Century Fox. Within that deal, she worked as a co-executive producer on ''

'' and as a consulting producer on ''

''. As part of her development, Cannon sold a workplace comedy, ''The Wrecking Crew'', to Fox and wrote the pilot ''The Runt'' for CBS. She then created, executive produced the show '' Girlboss'' for Netflix based on the real life of Sophia Amoruso. Cannon's first produced feature screenplay was the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

comedy ''

Pitch Perfect ''Pitch Perfect'' is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon. It features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Skylar Astin, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis ...

'' (2012). She wrote and co-produced the film's sequels, ''

'' (2015) and ''

Pitch Perfect 3 ''Pitch Perfect 3'' is a 2017 American musical comedy film directed by Trish Sie and written by Kay Cannon and Mike White. A sequel to ''Pitch Perfect 2'' (2015) and the third and final installment in the ''Pitch Perfect'' franchise, the film f ...

'' (2017).

Directing

Cannon made her directorial debut with '' Blockers''. The film was released by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

on April 6, 2018. On April 9, 2019, it was announced that Cannon would write and direct a musical reimagining of ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' for

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

, starring

Camila Cabello Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao (; ; born March 3, 1997) is a Cuban-born American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in ...

and produced by

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey''. In the ...

and his production company, Fullwell 73.

Personal life

In 2004, Cannon married actor and comedian

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 200 ...

after five years together. They separated in 2008 and divorced in 2010. Cannon and her second husband, comedy writer Eben Russell, had a daughter in October 2013.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon, Kay 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Chicago Film producers from Illinois American television actresses Television producers from Illinois American women television producers American television writers American women screenwriters Lewis University alumni Living people People from Will County, Illinois Place of birth missing (living people) American women film producers American women television writers Writers from Chicago Writers Guild of America Award winners Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers 1974 births Screenwriters from Illinois Comedians from Illinois 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters