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, comedian, and writer. She is well-known for her voice acting in popular animated movies like Zootopia, The Secret Life of Pets, and The Lorax. She also voices characters in TV shows such as Bob's Burgers.

Jenny Slate first became famous for her live comedy shows in New York City. She also helped create the children's short films and book series Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. From 2009 to 2010, she was a cast member on the TV show Saturday Night Live. Later, she had important roles in sitcoms like Parks and Recreation and Kroll Show.

Her big break in movies came with her main role in the film Obvious Child (2014). For this, she won an award for Best Actress in a Comedy. She also appeared in the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won a special award for its cast.

Early Life and School

Jenny Slate was born on March 25, 1982, in Milton, Massachusetts. Her father, Ron Slate, was a businessman and poet. Her mother, Nancy, was a homemaker and artist. Jenny is the middle child, with an older sister named Abigail and a younger sister named Stacey. Her family is Jewish. One of her grandmothers was born in Cuba and grew up in France.

After finishing high school at Milton Academy as the top student, Jenny went to Columbia University. She studied literature there. At Columbia, she helped start an improv comedy group called Fruit Paunch. She also met Gabe Liedman, who would become her comedy partner. Jenny graduated from Columbia in 2004.

Her Career in Entertainment

Jenny Slate and Gabe Liedman formed a comedy team called Gabe & Jenny. Their stand-up comedy shows, called "Big Terrific", were named the best new variety show in New York in 2008. They stopped the show in 2015 because they were both very busy, but they still perform together sometimes.

Jenny Slate with her comedy partner Gabe Liedman in 2007

Jenny Slate was a regular guest on many TV shows where she gave funny comments. In 2009, she appeared several times on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. She also had a repeating role in the show Bored to Death. Jenny has made guest appearances on other TV shows like Girls and Raising Hope.

Saturday Night Live

Jenny Slate joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 2009–2010 season. On the show, she played many different characters and imitated famous people like Lady Gaga and Kristen Stewart. She was especially known for a character named Tina-Tina Cheneuse, who sold funny personalized doorbells. Jenny's contract was not renewed for another season. She has said that it was simply because "I didn't click" with the show.

Voice Acting and Movies

In 2010, Jenny Slate co-wrote and voiced the animated short film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. This short film became very popular and led to a second one. Jenny also wrote a children's book about Marcel, which came out in 2011.

Her first big movie role was in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. In 2012, she voiced Ted's mother in the animated movie The Lorax. She also voiced Dawn Bellwether in the Disney film Zootopia (2016) and Gidget in The Secret Life of Pets (2016).

In 2014, Jenny Slate starred in the movie Obvious Child. This film was about a young stand-up comedian. For her acting in this movie, Jenny won several awards, including the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

Jenny also appeared in the TV series Married and played many characters in Kroll Show. In 2017, she starred in the movie Gifted as a teacher named Bonnie Stevenson.

In 2019, Jenny Slate released a stand-up comedy special on Netflix called Stage Fright. She also published a book called Little Weirds, which shares her thoughts about life and relationships.

From 2017 to 2020, Jenny voiced the character Missy Foreman-Greenwald on the animated Netflix series Big Mouth. She later decided to leave the role because she felt that Black characters on an animated show should be voiced by Black actors.

In 2022, Jenny Slate appeared in the science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once. She played a character named Debbie the Dog Mom. The cast of this movie, including Jenny, won a Screen Actors Guild Award for their performance.

Personal Life

Jenny Slate used to live in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, but later moved to Los Angeles. In 2012, she married filmmaker Dean Fleischer Camp. They worked together on the Marcel the Shell with Shoes On projects. They separated in 2016.

In 2019, Jenny announced that she was engaged to art curator and author Ben Shattuck. In late 2020, she gave birth to their daughter. Jenny and Ben got married in their living room on New Year's Eve 2021. They had planned to get married three other times, but their plans were canceled because of 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

Jenny Slate has won several awards for her acting and voice work. Here are some of her notable awards and nominations:

See also

In Spanish: Jenny Slate para niños