Egobunma Kelechi Nwodim (; born March 10, 1988) is a Nigerian-American actress and comedian. Nwodim has been a cast member on 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 ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

series ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

'' since 2018, beginning with the show's 44th season.

Life and career

In 2006, Nwodim, who is of

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

heritage, graduated from

Eastern Technical High School Eastern Technical High School (ETHS) is a 1997, 2009, and 2010 Maryland Blue Ribbon High School, a 2010 National Blue Ribbon High School, and a 1999 USDE New American High School located in Essex, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Eas ...

Essex, Maryland Essex is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Essex has a long history dating back to 1909. The population was 39,262 at the 2010 census and is growing in population each year. The t ...

, in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

County. She received a biology degree from

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8. ...

. Deciding to pursue a career in comedy, she began taking classes 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 t ...

(UCB) in

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 ...

. Until joining ''SNL'', Nwodim was a regular cast member at UCB, where she also performed her one-woman show ''Great Black Women...and Then There's Me''. Nwodim was named one of the New Faces at the 2016 Just for Laughs festival. Also that year, she performed at the CBS Diversity Showcase. Supporting roles on television for Nwodim include '' Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders'' (a three-episode arc in 2017), ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cumm ...

'', and ''

Living Biblically ''Living Biblically'' is an American television sitcom created by Patrick Walsh and executive produced by Walsh and Johnny Galecki, with co-executive producers Andrew Haas, Spencer Medof, and director Andy Ackerman. The series was based on A. J. ...

''. Impersonating

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

, Nwodim

roasted Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelizati ...

various celebrities and companies in a 2017

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a re ...

sketch. Nwodim has made several guest appearances on podcasts such as ''

Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Hum ...

'' and ''

Spontaneanation ''Spontaneanation with Paul F. Tompkins'' (stylized as ''SPONTANEANATION with Paul F. Tompkins'') was an improv comedy podcast hosted by Paul F. Tompkins on the Earwolf network. Based upon an interview with a special guest, Tompkins and several ...

''. Nwodim's addition to the cast of ''

'', a long-running

sketch-comedy show, as a featured player was announced on September 21, 2018. On September 8, 2020, Nwodim was promoted to a repertory player ahead of the forty-sixth season of ''Saturday Night Live''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * *
Upright Citizens Brigade page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwodim, Ego American people of Nigerian descent American sketch comedians American women comedians Actresses from Baltimore Comedians from Maryland Living people 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians 1988 births American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers University of Southern California alumni African-American actresses African-American female comedians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women