Biography
Date of Birth
18 December 1978, Berkeley, California, USA
Birth Name
Andrew David Samberg
Nickname
Ardy
Height
5' 9½" (1.77 m)
Mini Biography
Andy Samberg was born in Berkeley, California, to Marjorie (Marrow), a teacher, and Joe Samberg, a photographer. With Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer, Samberg is one of three Los Angeles, California-based writer-performer-filmmakers--all childhood friends--dubbed The Lonely Island, whose short films were showcased on the popular untelevised television network show and website. Some of their popular shorts included The O.C. (2003) parody "The 'Bu" and their full-length pilot, "Awesometown." They met Jimmy Fallon while writing for 2004 MTV Video Music Awards (2004), who then suggested that they audition for Saturday Night Live (1975). Andy was then cast as a featured performer, and Samberg's Lonely Island cohorts Jorma and Akiva were hired as writers for the show. The group's most notable contributions include The Lonely Island: Lazy Sunday (2005), The Lonely Island Feat. Justin Timberlake: Dick in a Box (2006), and The Lonely Island Feat. T-Pain: I'm on a Boat (2009).
Near the end of his first season of SNL, Andy started filming the lead role in the film Hot Rod (2007), the first major motion picture by the Lonely Island team, with the production support of Lorne Michaels.
In 2012, after seven years of working on SNL, Samberg resigned from the show. He was originally not looking to join a television series as a regular cast member, but after seeing the script for Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), he couldn't pass it up. Andy plays Jake Peralta, the best detective in Brooklyn's 99th police precinct, who also happens to be the most immature. In 2013 Samberg received the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Television Series Musical or Comedy for his performance.
In 2016, Andy starred in the pop music mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016). Taccone and Schaffer co-starred in and co-directed the film.
Samberg married singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom on 21 September, 2013, in Big Sur, California. In August 2017, they announced the birth of their baby daughter.
Trivia
The Lonely Island's "Lazy Sunday" video was downloaded over a million times, the day after it aired on Saturday Night Live (1975).
Has two sisters.
Graduated from Berkeley High School in 1996.
Received a Grammy nomination (as member of The Lonely Island) for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for the song "I'm on a Boat" (feat. T-Pain) in 2010.
The Lonely Island's "Incredibad" was the 8th highest selling Hip Hop album of 2009 in the US.
On February 7, 2007, Samberg joined Justin Timberlake at one of Timberlake's tour concerts in Madison Square Garden to perform their song, "Dick In A Box" (from one of The Lonely Island's digital shorts for Saturday Night Live (1975)). They both performed in character.
Andy attended NYU Film School and the University of California, Santa Cruz as a film student.
In his first season on Saturday Night Live (1975), Samberg appeared on more non-live SNL segments than actual live sketches.
His favorite album is Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks" (1975).
The real Mark Zuckerberg praised his performance as him on SNL.
Engaged to Joanna Newsom [February 25, 2013].
As the co-star Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013), Samberg found himself working in the very same Los Angeles studio lot where he had once labored earlier in his career as a gofer-like production assistant on Spin City (1996). "And now I have my own parking space.".
He is of three quarters Ashkenazi Jewish and one quarter Italian (Sicilian) descent. Andy's paternal grandparents, David P. Samberg and Sylvia Conviser, were both from Russian Jewish/Polish Jewish families, and his grandfather was born in the Russian Empire. Andy's mother was adopted, and Andy's adoptive maternal grandfather, Alfred J. Marrow, was an industrial psychologist and philanthropist; Alfred served as an executive chair of the American Jewish Congress. On the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012), Andy discovered his mother's biological parents, through DNA research and genealogical work. Andy's biological maternal grandfather, Salvatore "Samuel" Maida, was Italian (Sicilian), from Alimena, while Andy's maternal grandmother, Ellen Philipsborn, an artist, was a German Jew, from Nowawes, who had come to the U.S. as a refugee in 1938 with her family, because of the Nazi regime. Through his adoptive grandfather, Andy's third cousin is Tammy Baldwin, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (Andy's maternal grandfather and Tammy's maternal grandfather, biochemist David Ezra Green, were first cousins).
Steve Carell was the Saturday Night Live (1975) host for Samberg's opening appearance on the show.
Is a fan of the BBC mystery, Sherlock (2010).
Went to elementary school with Chelsea Peretti.
Andy's mother was adopted and did not know who her biological parents were. Over the years she tried to find out, but never found out much. Andy went on the genealogy show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. (2019) and they were able to find her parents. His biological grandmother was a German Jewish woman who came over to the U.S. as a teen and went to Berkeley while his biological grandfather was originally from Sicily and met Andy's grandmother when he took a class at a school she attended in California. After finding the information out Andy and his mother met with their new family including the half-brothers of Andy's mother.
Trademarks:
Impersonations of Michael Sessions, the 18-year-old mayor of Hillsdale, Michigan, and surfer/singer Jack Johnson.
His "Lazy Sunday" hip-hop parody video with Chris Parnell
His shaggy hair
Doing digital shorts on Saturday Night Live (1975).
Comedic hip hop songs that start on mundane subject matter, then grow increasingly bizarre and profane until ending on a point of near surrealism.
Often plays immature characters with childish hobbies
Big wild smile
Quotes
[re new season of Saturday Night Live (1975)] I think, in a certain sense, everyone that's new is doing well. I have nothing to compare it to, but it certainly feels like there's been a sense of excitement all through this season.
I check it [my IMDB profile] just to make sure I'm still on the show.
If had a penny for every strange look I've gotten from strangers on the street I'd have about 10 to 15 dollars, which is a lot when you're dealing with pennies.
I can go out in public. Most people know me as the dude from "Dick in a Box" that's not Justin Timberlake.
I've always felt that if something is polarizing, that's usually the stuff I like the most. If something is taking a chance and is willing to be weird, that's my favorite thing. I know there's somebody out there who hates it.
No matter how much it's growing, the Internet still is a pretty specific demographic. It doesn't necessarily represent the general populace. There is stuff that is blown up on the Internet that isn't hugely successful with the entire world, and vice versa. I don't put a tremendous amount of stock in it, but at the same time, you always want people to like what you're doing. Certainly, to have come from an Internet background, we want to stay faithful and have people be supportive and happy with what we're doing.
I didn't realize how much people liked to bash SNL [Saturday Night Live (1975)] until I was on. I've always just liked it, and I've always watched it and been into it. But I try to make comedy, so I think I'm more sensitive to that. If I watch an episode of SNL, and there's one thing that I liked, then that's a good episode. It's been on 31 years; it's an institution. It's not always going to feel like the freshest thing you've ever seen, but if you take any episode of 'SNL' ever made, there's something great in every one of them. That's the definition of a variety show, especially if there's 30 years of fans of the show. That's such a wide spectrum of tastes that you're trying to appeal to. That's why you can have "Roy Rules" and a really smart James Downey piece about politics in the same show. The odds of there being one person who's really into both things is not super high. I mean, I am, but I love comedy.
[re creation of some of his Saturday Night Live (1975) short films] Oftentimes, we wouldn't know what we were doing until Thursday late. Or Friday early. Or Friday late. And you can tell the ones that were thought of Friday late.
The immediacy and the creative freedom of 'SNL' is unlike any other job, unless you have your own YouTube channel, and that's what you do for a living.
When a cast generally gels and gets along off-camera as well as have chemistry on-camera, it's what you're always hoping for. Obviously, I think it's a huge testament to our show runners and Allison Jones, who cast our pilot. They just picked a really good group and tailored it like the best sports teams where everybody has a role, no one's getting in each other's way, everybody can kind of score while making each other look good. We have good performers, generous performers who are daring and willing to try things. Everybody's getting better. - on Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013)
