Ellie Kemper (born May 2, 1980) is an American actress, writer and comedian, best known for her role as Erin Hannon in NBC's The Office.

Biography

Kemper was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended high school at John Burroughs School. Kemper was introduced to improvisational comedy as a student at Princeton University, where she participated in the Quipfire! improv troupe and the Princeton Triangle Club. She also played field hockey at Princeton, although she said she sat on the bench "roughly 97 percent" of the time. Kemper graduated from Princeton in 2002 with a degree in English, then studied English for a year at the University of Oxford.

She has appeared on comedy sketches on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and an episode of E! Television's The Gastineau Girls, which has been described as her "breakout role". She has appeared on Fuse TV's The P.A. In October 2008, Kemper appeared on The Colbert Report in a PSA for Teen Voter Abstinence. Kemper has written several sketch comedy shows, many of them with her comedy partner Scott Eckert, a fellow Princeton grad.

Kemper is a contributing writer for the national satirical newspaper The Onion and for McSweeney's, the literary journal founded by Dave Eggers. Her essays for McSweeney's included "Listen, Kid, The Biggest Thing You've Got Going For You Is Your Rack", "Following My Creative Writing Teacher's Advice To Write 'Like My Parents Are Dead'", and "Some Relatively Recent College Grads Discuss Their Maids". Kemper has also appeared in several national commercials. One was a radio spot for Dunkin' Donuts. In a commercial for KMart, Kemper is featured as a camper with a live tarantula crawling over her face.

"I'm the most comfortable when I'm playing a naturalistic character. I auditioned for Saturday Night Live, and when I was doing the biggest characters, I felt the least comfortable. I'm just more comfortable when it's some version of myself."
Ellie Kemper

Upon moving to New York City, Kemper participated in the People’s Improv Theatre and the city troupe of Upright Citizens Brigade, an improvisational comedy and sketch comedy theater. She has appeared in several shows for the Brigade, including Death and/or Despair, Listen Kid, Gang Bang and The Improvised Mystery. At the UCB, she performed with the house improv teams Mailer Daemon and fwand. At the PIT, she performs with the house improv team Big Black Car.. In August 2008, she auditioned for a spot on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, but was not cast. In July 2009, Kemper was named one of Variety magazine's "10 Comics To Watch". Big Black Car teammate Kristen Schaal was also named.

Kemper gained some Internet fame in August 2007 for her part in "Blowjob Girl", a humor video on the sketch comedy site Derrick Comedy. The video, which was circulated on the popular site CollegeHumor, was a two-minute close-up of Kemper offering to perform oral sex on her boyfriend, but startling him by promising to bite and smash his genitals, which she seems to believe is arousing. As of February 2010, the video has been viewed by more than 16 million people on YouTube. Kemper herself has said she feels "a bit uncomfortable" about the video because "I always think of my family seeing it". She also co-starred in the fake iPhone commercial on Late Night With Conan O'Brien in January 2007, six months before the first iPhone was released by Apple Inc.

In 2007, she appeared in How to Kick People, a performance combining stand-up comedy and literary performances. In March 2008, she wrote and performed in the one-woman show "Dumb Girls" through the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She also performed in the one-woman show "Feeling Sad/Mad with Ellie Kemper" and has appeared in comedy sketches on Funny or Die, the comedy website started by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's production company, Gary Sanchez Productions.

Kemper will co-star in the upcoming 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek, a Nicholas Stoller comedy starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, and the Sofia Coppola comedy-drama Somewhere.