Lisa Beasley (born 1986) is an American actress, comedian, and writer based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois. She is known for her original comedy videos shared on social media, including her satirical impressions of

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

and

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the mayor of Chicago#List of mayors, 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she ...

, and for the original character Corporate Erin.

Early life and education

Beasley was born and raised in Gary, Indiana and attended high school at Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts. She completed her bachelor's degree in jazz in 2008, then moved to Los Angeles and completed the musical/theater program at

American Musical and Dramatic Academy The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) is a private conservatory for the performing arts in New York City and Los Angeles, California. The conservatory offers master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates ...

Career

Beasley began her professional acting career in

as a performer at the Black-owned theater company ETA Creative Arts Foundation. She was next hired at Black Ensemble Theater for both children's performances and the main stage. She also worked as a freelance graphic designer. Beasley went on to train and work at

the Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

. In 2015 she was a touring member for the Second City's National Touring Company team BlueCo. She was also a member of the improv group 3peat, who created the viral sketch "The Blackening" (the source material for the 2022 film adaptation), which was produced for

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. She continued to work and perform and left for a time in 2016 due to frustration with the working conditions. She began to gain attention for posting comedic videos to her social media accounts in 2020. Her impression of

went viral in fall 2020. In particular, her TikTok parody videos of then-mayor

(as the character "Lory Litefoot") began to go viral. The videos were partly inspired by Beasley's frustration with the mayor's performance. She was hired around the city to perform as the character. After one of her viral videos about Lightfoot's skirmishes with the

Chicago Public School Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

(CPS) parents and

teachers union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...

, she sponsored The Teachers' Appreciation Comedy Show at

the Laugh Factory Laugh Factory is a chain of comedy clubs in the United States. The chain is owned by Laugh Factory Inc., and the founder and current chief executive is Jamie Masada. Endurance record The Laugh Factory keeps track of an endurance record for ...

to benefit CPS teachers. Her character Corporate Erin, a satire of passive aggressive micromanagers that overuse jargon and constantly deliver bad news, first appeared in 2021 but went viral in late 2023. One video has approximately nine million views on

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 ...

in part because the character feels familiar to many viewers. She appeared in character as Erin on '' WGN Morning News''. Beasley has acted on ''

Chicago Med ''Chicago Med'' is an American medical drama series broadcast by NBC and created by Dick Wolf as the third installment of the ''Chicago'' franchise. It stars Nick Gehlfuss, Yaya DaCosta, Torrey DeVitto, Rachel DiPillo, Colin Donnell, ...

'' and in original sketch videos with the improv troupe 3peat. She was a recurring character on the series '' South Side''.

Personal life

Beasley resides on the South Side of

. She has a daughter.

Accolades

* 2024 – People's Voice Winner (Social - Comedy),

Webby Awards The Webby Awards (colloquially referred to as the Webbys) are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over three thousand industry experts a ...

References

External links

Official website
*
Lisa Beasley
as Corporate Erin on '' the Tamron Hall Show'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Beasley, Lisa 1986 births Living people African-American actresses African-American female comedians African-American comedians Comedians from Indiana Writers from Gary, Indiana African-American women writers American Musical and Dramatic Academy alumni Entertainers from Indiana American TikTokers American satirists American women satirists American impressionists (entertainers) Webby Award winners