Movies

Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the improv and comedy scene.

Following early acting and stand-up roles on television, Slate gained recognition for her live variety shows in New York City and for co-creating, writing, and producing the children's short film and book series Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2010–present). She became known to a mainstream audience after featuring as a cast member on the 35th season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live between 2009 and 2010. Her distinctive voice landed her the role of Tammy Larsen on the critically acclaimed animated sitcom Bob's Burgers (2012–present). She gained further recognition for her recurring roles as Mona-Lisa Saperstein on the NBC comedy television series Parks and Recreation (2013–2015) and Sarah Guggenheim on the Showtime comedy series House of Lies (2013–2015) and for the sketch comedy series Kroll Show (2013–2015). From 2017 to 2020, Slate provided the voice for Missy Foreman-Greenwald on the animated Netflix series Big Mouth. In 2020, Slate handed voiceover duties for Missy to actor Ayo Edebiri as she felt an African-American character should be voiced by an African-American actor. Despite no longer providing the voice for Missy, Slate has continued to voice a number of other various characters on the show.

Slate's breakout role came with her leading performance in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film Obvious Child (2014), for which she won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Independent Film Award. She lent voice performances to the animated films The Lorax (2012), Zootopia (2016), The Secret Life of Pets film franchise (2016-2019), The Lego Batman Movie, and Despicable Me 3 (both 2017), and she ventured into dramatic roles with her supporting performance as Bonnie in Gifted (2017). She also appeared in the critically acclaimed science-fiction film Everything Everywhere All At Once.