Jenny Slate facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jenny Slate
Slate at the 2014 Obvious Child premiere
Born	(1982-03-25) March 25, 1982 (age 43) Milton, Massachusetts, United States
Education	Columbia University (BA)
Occupation	Actress comedian television writer
Years active	2005–present
Spouse(s)	Dean Fleischer Camp ​ ​ (m. 2012; div. 2016)​ Ben Shattuck ​ ​ (m. 2021)​
Children	1

Jenny Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. Following her early acting and stand-up roles on television, Slate gained recognition for her live variety shows in New York City and for co-creating the children's short film and book series Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2010–2014) with Dean Fleischer Camp, whom she was married to from 2012 to 2016. Slate became more widely known as a cast member on the 35th season of Saturday Night Live in 2009, followed by her roles in the sitcoms Bob's Burgers (2012–present), Parks and Recreation (2013–2015), House of Lies (2013–2015), and Kroll Show (2013–2015).

Slate's breakout role came with her leading performance in Gillian Robespierre's coming-of-age dramedy film Obvious Child (2014), for which she won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. She lent her voice performances in the animated films The Lorax (2012), Zootopia (2016), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), and Despicable Me 3 (2017), and ventured into dramatic roles with her supporting performance in Gifted (2017). She also appeared in the Daniels' critically acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All at Once, winning the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Early life and education

Slate was born on March 25, 1982, in Milton, Massachusetts, to Ron Slate, a businessman and poet who worked as vice president of global communications for the EMC Corporation and later as CEO of a biotech startup, and Nancy (née Gilson), a housewife who also made pottery. She is the middle child of three, with an older sister, Abigail, and younger sister, Stacey. She and her family are Jewish. One of her grandmothers was born in Cuba and was raised in France. After graduating from Milton Academy as the valedictorian, Slate attended Columbia University as a literature major, where she helped form the improv group Fruit Paunch, starred in the Varsity Show and met Gabe Liedman, who would become her comedy partner. Slate graduated from Columbia in 2004.

Career

She and Gabe Liedman formed the comedy duo Gabe & Jenny. Their stand-up shows with Max Silvestri, "Big Terrific", were named best new variety show of 2008 by Time Out New York. In 2015, Slate, Liedman, and Silvestri ended the show, citing their busy schedules, though they have since occasionally performed together.

Slate first met Liedman in 2000 while attending Columbia University. They describe their relationship as a "nonsexual romance"; Slate says, "I like to think of us as kind of like [Seinfeld characters] Elaine Benes and George Costanza, but we like each other." Throughout 2008 and 2009, Slate regularly performed her one-woman show Jenny Slate: Dead Millionaire at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCBT) in New York City.

Slate with comedy partner Gabe Liedman in 2007

Slate was a regular commentator on many VH1 "talking head" commentary programs. In early 2009, she had made several appearances on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon recurring sketch "7th Floor West", where she played an NBC page also named Jenny, who was later promoted to Fallon's assistant. She had a recurring role in Bored to Death. Slate's guest appearances on television programs include Bob's Burgers, Girls, The Whitest Kids U' Know, Important Things with Demetri Martin and Raising Hope.

Slate joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 2009–10 season. In various sketches, she impersonated Hoda Kotb, Lady Gaga, Kristen Stewart, Ashley Olsen, and Olympia Snowe. She was best known for Tina-Tina Cheneuse, an infomercial pitchwoman who advertises personalized doorbells, car horns, and alarm clocks. Slate's contract was not renewed for another season. Despite rumors to the contrary, Slate has insisted that her SNL termination was not due to cursing but rather simply because "I didn't click."

In August 2010, she co-wrote and voiced the animated short film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. This led to Marcel the Shell with Shoes on, Two. Slate also wrote a "Marcel"-themed children's book that was released on November 1, 2011. Her first major film role was as Zoe in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked; more films followed in 2012, including the voice of Ted's mother in The Lorax.

Her first appearance in Parks and Recreation was in the 2013 episode "Bailout", in which she portrayed Mona-Lisa Saperstein. Following her success on the NBC show, Slate released and starred in a 12-episode mini-series on YouTube called Catherine, celebrating late 1980s and early 1990s soap-opera aesthetics.

In 2014, Slate starred in the comedy-drama film Obvious Child, which follows the life of a young stand-up comic. Slate went on to win the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy, Best Breakout Performance at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Virtuosos Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and Best Comedic Actress at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards for her performance in the film.

Slate co-starred with Judy Greer and Nat Faxon in the first season of the FX series Married. She left the series as a series regular in season two, but still appeared in a few episodes. Sarah Burns took her place in the series.

Slate appeared as Liz B. in the recurring "PubLIZity" sketches in Kroll Show, as well as many other recurring and one-off characters, performing in some capacity in almost every episode until the series ended in 2015. In 2016, Slate voiced Dawn Bellwether in the Disney animated comedy-adventure film Zootopia and Gidget in the animated feature The Secret Life of Pets.

Slate and her father co-wrote a book titled About the House, about their time living in Slate's childhood home in Milton, Massachusetts, which was published in December 2016.

In 2017, Slate starred in the film Gifted as Bonnie Stevenson, the teacher of a 7-year-old mathematical genius.

In October 2019, Slate released a stand-up comedy special on Netflix, titled Stage Fright.

Slate published her book titled Little Weirds, about her struggles with and thoughts about life and relationships, in 2019.

From 2017 until 2019, Slate voiced the biracial character Missy Foreman-Greenwald on the animated Netflix series Big Mouth. Slate exited the role on June 24, 2020, writing on Instagram that "At the start of the show, I reasoned with myself that it was permissible for me to play Missy because her mom is Jewish and White — as am I. But Missy is also Black and Black characters on an animated show should be played by Black people."

In 2022, Slate appeared in the critically acclaimed science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once as Big Nose. Her character's original name was changed to Debbie the Dog Mom for the film's digital release due to its association with Jewish stereotypes. For her performance, she won, along with the rest of the cast, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Personal life

Slate lived in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, before moving with filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp to Los Angeles in the early 2010s. In September 2012, Slate married Fleischer-Camp. They collaborated on the Marcel the Shell with Shoes On franchise, including the books, the short films, and later, the 2021 feature film. The pair announced their separation in May 2016, after which she briefly dated fellow actor Chris Evans.

In September 2019, Slate announced her engagement to art curator and author Ben Shattuck, owner of Davolls General Store. On February 3, 2021, Slate announced that she had given birth to a daughter in late 2020. Shattuck and Slate married in their living room on New Year's Eve 2021, their fourth attempt at a wedding after the first three were canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2010	Marcel the Shell with Shoes On	Marcel (voice)	Short film; also writer
2011	Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Two
	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	Zoe
2012	This Means War	Emily
	The Lorax	Mrs. Wiggins (voice)
2014	Obvious Child	Donna Stern	Also executive producer
	The Longest Week	Jocelyn
	Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Three	Marcel (voice)	Short film; also writer
2015	Digging for Fire	Yoga Couple
2016	Joshy	Jodi
	Zootopia	Dawn Bellwether (voice)
	My Blind Brother	Rose
	The Secret Life of Pets	Gidget (voice)
	Brain on Fire	Margo
2017	Landline	Dana Jacobs	Also executive producer
	The Polka King	Marla Lewan
	The Lego Batman Movie	Harley Quinn (voice)
	Gifted	Bonnie Stevenson
	Aardvark	Emily Milburton
	Batman is Just Not That Into You	Harley Quinn (voice)	Short film
	Despicable Me 3	Valerie Da Vinci (voice)
2018	Hotel Artemis	Morgan Daniels
	Venom	Dr. Dora Skirth
2019	The Sunlit Night	Frances	Also producer
	The Secret Life of Pets 2	Gidget (voice)
	Super Gidget		Short film
2020	On the Rocks	Vanessa
2021	Marcel the Shell with Shoes On	Marcel (voice)	Also writer and producer
2022	I Want You Back	Emma
	Everything Everywhere All at Once	Debbie the Dog Mom
	The Bob's Burgers Movie	Tammy Larsen (voice)
2024	It Ends with Us	Allysa
2025	The Electric State	Penny Pal (voice)	Post-production
TBA	At the Sea	TBA	Post-production
	The Ark and the Aardvark	Mitzi (voice)	Post-production

Television

Music videos

Podcasts

• Earth Break

Awards and nominations