Andy Samberg

(1978 - )

Andrew David Samberg is a Jewish American actor, comedian, and rapper.

Samberg (born August 18, 1978) was born in Berkeley, California to elementary school teacher Marjorie nee Marrow and photographer Joe Samberg. He was raised Jewish with his two sisters, Johanna and Darrow. Samberg’s maternal grandfather, Alfred J. Marrow, was an industrial psychologist, philanthropist, and former executive chair of the American Jewish Congress.

In 1996, Samberg graduated from Berkeley High School, where he first became interested in creative writing. His fascination with Saturday Night Live (SNL) started earlier in life, and he attended the University of California, Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to New York University to study at its famous film school, where he majored in experimental film.

Before joining the cast of SNL in 2005, Samberg made comedy videos with friends and posted them on the internet, and though initially they did not have high viewership, once YouTube and other free video sharing websites were created, Samberg’s videos became more popular. His membership in the comedy hip-hop group The Lonely Island was part of what helped him land a spot on the SNL cast in 2005. Samberg started the group with Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone in 2001 and they started writing for SNL in 2005, and released their debut album, Incredibad, in 2009.

Samberg has starred in a number of theatrical films, commercials, music videos, and has hosted events such as the 2009 Music Television Movie Awards. He delivered the Class Day speech to Harvard University’s graduating class of 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2012. Also in 2012, he starred with Adam Sandler in the comedic movie That’s My Boy and with Rashida Jones in Celeste and Jesse Forever. Samberg’s latest film is a British Broadcasting Company Three comedy series for television called “Cuckoo” in which he plays the main character.

In 2011 and 2012, Samberg won the Teen Choice Awards for his comedy.

In 2013, Samberg joined a new police comedy show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine. At the 2013 Golden Globe Awards in January 2014, Samberg won the award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series. Brooklyn Nine-Nine also won for Best Musical or Comedy Series.

Samberg is married to Joanna Newsome and lives in California.

Sources: Wikipedia ; USA Today (January 13, 2014)