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 a talented American comedian, writer, and actress. She is known for hosting her own late-night talk show called The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock. Since 2014, she has also been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers. When she joined that show, she made history as the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States.

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

Growing Up and School

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

Amber Ruffin's Career Journey

In 2001, Amber Ruffin started performing in plays and doing improv comedy in Omaha. While performing with her improv group in Chicago, she met a famous comedian named Charna Halpern. Halpern encouraged Ruffin to move to Chicago. She believed Ruffin would soon have a full-time job in comedy.

In 2008, after taking classes at the iO Theater, Ruffin moved to Amsterdam. There, she worked as a writer and performer for the improv comedy group Boom Chicago Amsterdam.

Comedy Stages and TV Appearances

After returning to the United States, Amber Ruffin performed with The Second City in both Denver and Chicago. This is where she first met Jenny Hagel, who would later become her co-writer on Late Night. In 2011, Ruffin moved to Los Angeles. She joined a YouTube comedy group called RobotDown. She also appeared in an episode of the popular show Key & Peele.

Ruffin also performed with the nationally known sketch and musical comedy group Story Pirates. With this group, she acted in sketches based on stories written by kids. She was also part of the Sacred Fools Theater Company. There, she performed in a musical parody called King of Kong: A Musical Parody. This show was co-written by Ruffin and won awards at the New York International Fringe Festival and the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Joining Late Night with Seth Meyers

In 2013, the show Saturday Night Live was criticized for not having any Black women in its cast. Amber Ruffin auditioned for the show in 2014. Other comedians like Tiffany Haddish and Leslie Jones also auditioned. Ruffin did not get a spot on Saturday Night Live.

However, just a few days later, Seth Meyers called her. He asked her to be a writer for his new late-night show. Amber Ruffin has been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since it began in 2014. Besides writing, she also appears in several funny parts of the show. These include "Amber Says What?", "Amber's Minute of Fury", and "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" with Jenny Hagel.

When the George Floyd protests started, Ruffin began a week of shows by sharing her own experiences with police officers. Seth Meyers also interviewed Ruffin as a special guest for the show's 1,000th episode.

New Shows and Books

In 2017, Ruffin worked on a comedy show called Going Dutch, but it was not picked up. She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award for her comedy writing. In February 2018, Amber Ruffin hosted the 70th Writers Guild of America awards ceremony.

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

On September 25, 2020, 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 and instead focused on funny sketches about current events. The show was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award and an Emmy Award for its writing.

Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar released their book, You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism, on January 12, 2021. It quickly became a New York Times Best Seller.

In February 2021, it was announced that Ruffin would help write the musical version of Some Like It Hot for Broadway. She received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination for her work on the show. In September 2022, Ruffin became the voice of Purple, a new character for M&M's candies.

Personal Life

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

Filmography

Television

Podcasts

See also

In Spanish: Amber Ruffin para niños

• New Yorkers in journalism