Jenny Slate Biography

Jenny Sarah Slate was born on March 25, 1982, in Milton, an affluent town located in the suburb of Boston, USA. Her father, Ron Slate, is a successful businessman, a lauded poet and essayist, while her mother, Nancy née Gilson, is a homemaker, who also makes ceramic pottery.

Born second of her parents’ three children, she has two sisters, Abigail and Stacey. Raised in a rambling colonial house on Canton Avenue, she was educated at Milton School from kindergarten through high school, serving as class president, graduating from there in 2000 as the valedictorian.

She used to make people laugh even as a child. By the age of seven, she had started watching established comedians like Gilda Radner and John Belushi and dreamt of landing a role on the Saturday Night Show someday.

In 2000, she moved to New York City to attend Columbia University, where she helped to establish an improvisational theatre group called Fruit Paunch. Concurrently she also started starring in Varsity Shows, meeting her would-be-comedy-partner Gabe Liedman in one such show in 2001.

In 2004, Jenny Slate graduated from Columbia University with degrees in English and Comparative Literature. Shortly she began her career at the New York alternative comedy scene, launching a comedy duo with Gabe Liedman, performing live stand-up shows with him. Quickly Gabe & Jenny became a favorite among the audience.

In 2008, Gabe & Jenny launched a new show with Max Silvestri. Titled Big Terrific, it was named that year’s best new variety show by Time Out New York and ran until 2015, when their busy schedules forced them to call it off.

Also in 2008, she launched her one-woman show, Jenny Slate: Dead Millionaire, which ran for two years. In the same year, she appeared in her second television show, a sketch comedy called The Whitest Kids U' Know. Her first appearance was in an uncredited role in Starved.

In 2009, she appeared in several television productions, including Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, enacting the role of NBC Page Jenny in eight of its episodes. The work might have attracted the attention of the Saturday Night Live (SNL) makers and she was soon asked to join its cast.

Jenny Slate worked for Saturday Night Live show for the 2009-2010 season only, impersonating celebrities like Hoda Kotb, Lady Gaga, Kristen Stewart, Ashley Olsen, and Olympia Snowe etc. Also during this period, she appeared as Stella in five episodes of Bored to Death.

In 2010, while waiting for her call from SNL, she started writing the script for a short called Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, later she also lent her voice to Marcel. Released online in August 2010, it was premiered theatrically at AFI FEST 2010, eventually winning several prestigious awards.

In 2011, she debuted in films with Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, starring in it as Zoe. In November, they released Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Two. Also in 2011, she released a children book on the same theme.

In 2012, she began lending voice to Tammy Larsen, a recurring character in Bob's Burgers, continuing to do so for the next eleven seasons. Her other important television works of this period include Kroll Show (2013-2015), House of Lies (2013-2016), Parks and Recreation (2013-2017), Married (2014-2015), all of which earned her critical acclaim.

In 2014, she starred as Donna Stern, a comedian who works at a book store, in the romantic comedy-drama film Obvious Child. It was followed by several others, in which she appeared in important, but side roles. 

In 2016, she got her next star role, appearing as Rose in the romantic comedy drama film, My Blind Brother. It was followed by several other star roles: playing Margo in Brain on Fire (2016), Dana Jacobs in Landline (2017), Bonnie in Gifted (2017), Morgan in Hotel Artemis (2018) etc.

In mid 2010s, she appeared in voice roles in several animated films like Zootopia (2016), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017). Equally active on television, she also earned acclaim for her voice acting in Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2015-2019), Adventure Time (2016-2018), Big Mouth (2017-present) etc.

In 2019, she tried her hand in film production, producing and acting in The Sunlit Night. Concurrently, she continued to take up both voice and performance roles, lending voice to Miss Nancy in 69 episodes of Muppet Babies from 2018 to 2022.  Meanwhile in 2019, she released a stand-up comedy special, Stage Fright, on Netflix.

Also in 2019, she published her fourth book, Little Weirds, in which she talked about her struggles and also her thoughts, on life and relationships. While her first book was Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things About Me, published in 2011, her second book, Marcel the Shell: The Most Surprised I've Ever Been was released in 2014. Her third book About the House, was co-written with her father and was published in 2016.

In 2021, she co-wrote the script for a live-action/animated coming-of-age mockumentary comedy film titled Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, reprising her voice role as Marcel in it.  Also from 2021, she started lending her voice to Judy, a series regular, in the television series The Great North.

In 2022, she has had three films released, namely, I Want You Back, Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Bob's Burgers Movie. A fourth film, The Ark and the Aardvark, is currently in post-production stage.

Jenny Slate is possibly best known for her performance in the 2014 romantic comedy drama film, Obvious Child, appearing in it as Donna, the main character around whom the story revolves. The film not only grossed $3.3 million, but also earned her several awards and nominations.

On 15 September, 2012, Jenny Slate married filmmaker Dean Fleischer-Camp, the director of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. The union ended in a divorce in May 2016 without producing any children.

In September 2019, she announced her engagement to art curator Ben Shattuc. However, because of the Covid-19 situation, they could not get married immediately, and eventually tied the knot on December 31, 2021. Meanwhile, she gave birth to their daughter, Ida Lupine, sometime in late 2020.