She’s donned a jabot and hurled “Ginsburns” and yelled at Matt Damon’s Brett Kavanaugh while wearing a prosthetic turkey neck as Lindsey Graham: Kate McKinnon, the longest-serving female cast member of Saturday Night Live, made history in 2012 when she signed onto the show as the first openly lesbian cast member.
McKinnon is best known for her celebrity impressions: Hillary Clinton, Justin Bieber, and Jeff Sessions, just to name a few. However, before she joined SNL, she was a regular cast member on The Big Gay Sketch Show from 2007-2010. She also performed live sketch comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City after she graduated from Columbia University with a degree in theater.
Her other work includes Vag Magazine, a web series about a group of feminists that start their own magazine. In 2016, she starred in Ghostbusters alongside Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Leslie Jones in her first blockbuster debut. She has since played Morgan in The Spy Who Dumped Me, which features Mila Kunis, Hasan Minhaj, and Justin Theroux as well.
Though she keeps a relatively low profile and chooses not to use social media, she’s always been open about the impact of her sexuality: “As minorities, we’re on the fringe, and there’s just something so wonderful about that perspective, something so inspiring. If you’re part of that minority, you can make fun of those people while respecting them and lifting them up.”
Media Resources: Bustle 5/8/15
