Amber Ruffin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Amber Ruffin
Ruffin in February 2021
Born	Amber Mildred Ruffin (1979-01-09) January 9, 1979 (age 46) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupation	Host comedian writer actress author playwright
Years active	2001–present
Spouse(s)	Jan Schiltmeijer ​ ​ (m. 2010; div. 2023)​

Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979) is an American comedian, writer, and actress. She hosted her own late-night talk show called The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock. She has also been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014. When she joined that show, she became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States.

In January 2021, Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar wrote a book together. It was called You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism. This book became a New York Times Best Seller. They released a second book, The World Record Book of Racist Stories, in 2022. In 2022, Ruffin and her writing partner Jenny Hagel started their own production company called Straight to Cards.

Early Life and Education

Amber Ruffin was born in Omaha, Nebraska. She finished high school at Benson High School in 1996. She is the youngest of five children. When she was a child, Ruffin learned Signing Exact English. This helped her talk with a neighbor who was deaf.

Comedy Career

In 2001, Amber Ruffin started performing in plays and doing improv comedy in Omaha. Improv is when actors make up scenes on the spot. While performing in Chicago, Ruffin met a comedian named Charna Halpern. Halpern told Ruffin to move to Chicago. She believed Ruffin would get a full-time comedy job within a year. In 2008, after taking classes, Ruffin moved to Amsterdam. There, she worked as a writer and performer for an improv group called Boom Chicago Amsterdam.

After returning to the United States, Ruffin performed with The Second City. She worked in both Denver and Chicago. In Chicago, she met Jenny Hagel, who would later write with her for Late Night. In 2011, Ruffin moved to Los Angeles. She joined a YouTube comedy group called RobotDown. She also appeared on an episode of Key & Peele. Ruffin also joined the Story Pirates. This group performs comedy sketches based on stories written by kids.

In 2013, the TV show Saturday Night Live was criticized for not having any Black women on its cast. Ruffin auditioned for the show in 2014. A few days later, Seth Meyers called her. He asked her to be a writer for his new late-night show. Ruffin has been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since it started in 2014. Besides writing, she also appears in several parts of the show. These include "Amber Says What?", "Amber's Minute of Fury", and "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" (with Jenny Hagel). When people protested about unfair treatment by police, Ruffin shared her own experiences. She talked about how police officers had treated her. Seth Meyers also interviewed Ruffin as a guest for the show's 1,000th episode.

When she was not writing for Late Night, Ruffin wrote for the Comedy Central show Detroiters. She was also a regular storyteller on the Comedy Central show ... History. In 2017, Ruffin created a comedy show idea called Going Dutch. However, the show was not made. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in 2017 for her comedy writing.

In February 2018, Ruffin hosted the 70th Writers Guild of America awards ceremony.

In 2019, NBC ordered a test episode for Ruffin's comedy series Village Gazette. In the same year, Ruffin was a writer for the first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO.

On September 25, 2020, Amber Ruffin's late-night talk show, The Amber Ruffin Show, started on NBC's streaming service Peacock. This show was different from typical late-night shows. It did not have guests. Instead, it focused on funny sketches about current events. The show was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in 2021. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

In February 2021, it was announced that Ruffin would help write a musical. It was a Broadway musical based on the movie Some Like It Hot. She received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination for her work on the show.

In September 2022, it was shared that Ruffin would be the voice of Purple. Purple is a new character for M&M's candies.

In February 2025, the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) announced that Ruffin would be the entertainer for their dinner on April 26. However, on March 29, the WHCA decided to cancel her performance. They said they wanted the focus to be on other things.

Personal Life

Amber Ruffin was married to Dutch artist Jan Schiltmeijer from 2010 until their divorce in 2023.

Filmography

Television

Podcasts

Honors and Awards

• 2018: Crain's New York Business, 40 Under 40 (This award recognizes successful people under 40 years old.)
• 2021: New York Times Best Seller, Hardcover Nonfiction (Her book was a best seller.)
• 2021: Time100 Next (She was named one of the next 100 influential people.)

See also

In Spanish: Amber Ruffin para niños

• New Yorkers in journalism