Watkins was born in 1971 in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of former Latin teacher mother[2] Myrna Watkins and Syracuse University mathematician father Mark Watkins.[3][4][5] She has two sisters, Rebecca Kent and Sarah Fitts.[3]
Watkins was raised in DeWitt, New York,[6] a suburb of Syracuse, in a Jewish family.[2] After her parents' divorce, Watkins' mother obtained a marketing degree and relocated the family to Boston when Watkins was 15.[2][7]
After theater school, Watkins lived and worked in New York City for a year but struggled to build her career. She moved with a friend to Portland, Oregon.[8] She lived there from 1996 to 2000 and appeared onstage with Portland Center Stage and the defunct improv group Toad City Productions.[9] She traveled around the country doing regional theater, then decided to move to Los Angeles.[8]
She was active in Los Angeles Theatre for many years, taking on roles with Circle X Theatre[10] and 2100 Square Feet.[11]
Regional theater
Portland Center Stage: Hamlet (1999), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (1999), Bus Stop (2000)
Portland Repertory Theatre: Arcadia
Artist Repertory Theatre: The Misanthrope,How I Learned To Drive as well as Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale
triangle productions: Angels in America, The Food Chain
Circle X Theatre: Laura Comstock's Bag Punching Dog (2002) – LA Weekly award,[12]Sperm (2004)
She became a regular performer at The Groundlings,[14] where she was discovered by Saturday Night Live.[15] Watkins said the appeal of sketch work is that she can write her own material.[2]
Television
Saturday Night Live
In November 2008, Watkins joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Watkins said (at that time) that she was the oldest woman they ever hired.[2] Watkins has since been surpassed by Leslie Jones, who was 47 when she joined SNL. Watkins made her first major appearance on the show as Arianna Huffington on the November 22nd Weekend Update.[16][17] Watkins remained on SNL as a featured player throughout the rest of the 2008–2009 season, up to the season finale on May 16, 2009.
However, while SNL was on summer hiatus, the news broke in early September 2009 that Watkins, along with fellow castmate Casey Wilson, were both to be let go from the show[18][19] and would not be returning for the 2009–10 season.[20][21]
Recurring character on SNL
Angie Tempura: A geeky, iced coffee-drinking computer nerd who snarks on celebrities and movies and is the creator of the snarky website "Bitch Pleeze" (www.bitchpleeze.com, which redirects to the SNL site). Though she insults celebrities, Angie was revealed to have a crush on Zac Efron.
In 2015, it was announced that Watkins would star in the Hulu series produced by Jason Reitman called Casual, which would be executive produced by Liz Tigelaar.[26]
In 2018, she recurred on season two of the Amazon Prime series Catastrophe, playing the sister of lead character Rob Norris (Rob Delaney).[27] From 2019 to 2021, she has co-starred on the CBS sitcom The Unicorn.
Producing, writing
Watkins co-created (with writing partner and fellow Groundling, Damon Jones)[28] the short-lived 2014 USA Network comedy series Benched.[29] The series starred Eliza Coupe and Jay Harrington and premiered on October 28, 2014.[30] Watkins and Jones were also executive producers on the show.[31]
In 2020, Watkins appeared in the supporting role of Irene O'Connor in the musical podcast In Strange Woods.[33][34]
Personal life
Watkins is married to Fred Kramer, who is a founding partner of Reason Ventures and General Manager of Critical Mass Studios, Inc.[35] Kramer used to be Executive Director of the Jewish World Watch organization, a Los Angeles-based anti-genocide non-profit, focused on the situations in Sudan and Congo.[36]
^ abWatkins, Mark E. "Mark E. Watkins – My Biography"(PDF). Webpage of Mark E. Watkins, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics. Archived from the original(PDF) on 7 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
