Caitlin Reilly (born September 12, 1989) is an American actress and comedian. She became known for social media videos in which she does impressions of dislikeable archetypes. She has appeared on TV shows such as ''

Hacks Hacks may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Hacks'' (1997 film), a 1997 American comedy film * ''Hacks'' (2002 film), a 2002 independent American film * ''Hacks'' (2012 film), a 2012 British telemovie starring Michael Kitchen * '' ...

'', '' Loot'', ''

Dead Boy Detectives The Dead Boy Detectives are a fictional supernatural detective duo who have appeared in comic books published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. They were created by writer Neil Gaiman and artists Matt Wagner and Malcolm Jones III in '' The Sandman ...

'', and '' In the Know''.

Early life and education

Reilly grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displa ...

. Her father, John Reilly, was a longtime soap opera actor best known as Sean Donely on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...

''; her mother, Liz, is a Swedish model-turned-businesswoman; and she has four sisters. Her family runs a children's clothing store in

Larchmont Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York. Larchmont is a suburb of New York City, located approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village is 6,453 as of the W ...

. After her father died in 2021, Reilly appeared on ''General Hospital'' in his tribute as his character's daughter, Annie (previously played by Courtney Halverson). When she was ten, Reilly wanted to leave school to become a child actor, but her parents refused. She attended Immaculate Heart High School in

Los Feliz LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

, where she acted in school plays. She studied

method acting Method acting, known as the Method, is a range of rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, understanding, and expe ...

at the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

, graduating in 2010.

Career

After graduating from acting school, Reilly spent many years struggling to get acting work and found other employment at a nanny agency and as a waitress. She appeared in several short films in 2014 and 2015, including ''Love and Paint'', ''Downstairs'', and ''Die! Sitter! Die!: Rupert''. In 2020, she took a break from acting, becoming the personal assistant to a real estate agent, but soon left the job when the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

began. Stuck at home during the pandemic, Reilly started a

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

account and began making short comedy videos in which she parodies a range of disagreeable types of people. Her videos went viral, with early hits including "

WASP A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

Mom" and "The Coworker You Hate on

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''Zoom'' (2006 film), starring Tim Allen * ''Zoom'' (2015 film), a Canada-Brazil film by Pedro Morelli * ''Zoom'' (2016 Kannada film), a Kannada film * ''Zoom'' (2016 Sinhala film), a Sr ...

", and earned her more than one million TikTok followers before the end of the year. She drew inspiration from observations of life in Los Angeles and other personae on social media. ''

PopSugar PopSugar Inc. is an American media and technology company that is the parent to the media property PopSugar (stylized POPSUGAR) and a monthly subscription business PopSugar Must Have. The company was founded in 2006 by married couple Brian and Lis ...

'' credited the power of Reilly's impressions to her "rotating blend of cringe-worthy facial expressions, spot-on vocal inflections, and impeccable comedic timing". She had more than two million TikTok followers by the end of the following year. Because of her TikTok success, Reilly was signed by WME and got cast by series co-creator

Lucia Aniello Lucia Aniello (born 1983) is an Italian-born American director, writer, and producer best known for her work on '' Hacks'', for which she won multiple Emmy Awards, and ''Broad City.'' She has directed and written episodes of both shows, as well a ...

on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

comedy series ''

'', playing network executive Jessica on the second season in 2022. She then had other supporting roles, including on '' High School Musical: The Musical: The Series'', the

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

show '' Loot'', and the

Darren Aronofsky Darren Aronofsky (born February 12, 1969) is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker. His films are noted for their surreal, dramatic, and often disturbing elements, frequently in the form of psychological realism. His accolades include a Golden Lion ...

-produced film '' Little Death''. She became a contestant on the Dropout game show '' Make Some Noise'' beginning in 2022. Reilly played a recurring role as one of the dandelion sprites on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

show ''

'', released in 2024. The same year, she voiced one of the main characters on the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

stop-motion series '' In the Know'', her first

voiceover Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

role.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, Caitlin Living people 1989 births 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians Actresses from Los Angeles Comedians from Los Angeles American TikTokers YouTubers from Los Angeles American television actresses American film actresses American web series actresses American people of Swedish descent Immaculate Heart High School (Los Angeles) alumni American Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni American women comedians