Kristen Schaal


Kristen Joy Schaal is an American actress, voice actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her voice roles as Louise Belcher on Bob's Burgers and Mabel Pines on Gravity Falls, as well as for playing Mel on Flight of the Conchords, Hurshe Heartshe on The Heart, She Holler and Carol Pilbasian on The Last Man on Earth.
She provides several voices for BoJack Horseman, most notably for the character of Sarah Lynn, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance. Other roles include Amanda Simmons on The Hotwives of Orlando, Hazel Wassername on 30 Rock, Victoria Best on WordGirl, Trixie in the Toy Story franchise, and Anne on Wilfred. She was an occasional commentator on The Daily Show from 2008 to 2016. She voiced Sayrna in the 2019 EA video game, Anthem.

Early life

Schaal was born in Longmont, Colorado, to a Lutheran family of Dutch ancestry. She was raised on her family's cattle ranch, in a rural area near Boulder, Colorado. Her father is a construction worker and her mother is a secretary.
Schaal attended Skyline High School where she graduated in 1996. She has a brother, David, who is three years older. She graduated from Northwestern University and then moved to New York in 2000 to pursue a comedy career. In 2005, she had her first break when she was included in the New York article "The Ten Funniest New Yorkers You've Never Heard Of".

Career

Live comedy

In 2006, Schaal performed at the 2006 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, where she won the award for "Best Alternative Comedian". She was also the winner of the second annual Andy Kaufman Award, Best Female Stand-up at the 2006 Nightlife Awards in New York City, and "Best Female Stand Up Comedian" at the 2007 ECNY Awards. At the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, she won the Barry Award for her show Kristen Schaal As You Have Probably Never Seen Her Before, tying with Nina Conti. Also in 2006, Schaal appeared on the first season of the Comedy Central show Live at Gotham. She co-hosts the weekly variety show Hot Tub in Los Angeles, which was voted "Best Variety Show of 2005" by Time-Out New York's readers poll. She also performs at the Peoples Improv Theater on the improv team, "Big Black Car", which was awarded best improv troupe of 2005 at the Emerging Comics of New York Awards. She is a founding member of the theatre company The Striking Viking Story Pirates, which adapts stories by children into sketches and songs.
Schaal performed live at the Edinburgh Fringe 2007 in Scotland, where she was one of six acts requested to perform at the US Consul General-sponsored "Fringe USA" Showcase.
On her return to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2008, Schaal was nominated for the If.comedy award for Kristen Schaal And Kurt Braunohler: Double Down Hearts.
Schaal has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London, as part of The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 in aid of Amnesty International, and at the Bonnaroo 2009 music festival. In 2010, Schaal appeared as a stand-up comic on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show and at the Solid Sound Festival at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.

Film, TV and radio

Schaal appeared on HBO's Flight of the Conchords as the stalker-fan Mel, a role which earned her an EWwy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2009. She was also a credited consultant and writer for Season 11 of South Park, appeared on the BBC's Never Mind the Buzzcocks and played the boss in Fuse's mockumentary The Intern. She made her first appearance as a "special commentator" on Comedy Central's The Daily Show on March 13, 2008, often presented in recurring appearances as its news team's "Senior Women's Issues Correspondent". On April 13, 2008, she made an appearance on Good News Week during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and in October 2008 she appeared in Amnesty International's The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008. She also appeared on an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about sexual education, talking about abstinence and non-abstinence only education.
Her other film and television credits include Kate and Leopold, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Snake 'n' Bacon, Norbit, Get Him to the Greek, Conviction, Cheap Seats, Freak Show, ', Adam and Steve, ', Delirious, Australian show Good News Week, ', ', The Education of Max Bickford, Comedy Central's Contest Searchlight, Ugly Betty, How I Met Your Mother, MTV's Human Giant and Mad Men. She was also a contributor to the sketch/music series The Nighttime Clap on the Fuse music network. She also appeared on Fuse's original comedy series The P.A. Schaal appeared in two TV pilots written and directed by Jersey City comedian Dan McNamara -- The Calderons and Redeeming Rainbow, both of which were screened as official selections at the 2006 and 2007 New York Television Festivals. She was also in television commercials for Wendy's, RadioShack, Starburst and Zaxby's. She made an appearance, in April 2008, on the IFC sketch comedy show The Whitest Kids U' Know. On April 3, 2009 she taped an episode of Comedy Central Presents. In 2010, she added her voice to the PBS Kids GO! series WordGirl as Victoria Best, a child prodigy whose parents taught her to be the best at everything that she does. Schaal voiced 13-year-old Mabel Pines on Disney Channel's hit TV series Gravity Falls. She currently voices the character Louise on the FOX Network series Bob's Burgers.
She also stars in A. D. Miles' MyDamnChannel.com series Horrible People. In October 2008, Schaal appeared in an episode of Spicks and Specks. On June 10, 2009, Schaal broadcast her first radio show, High Five!!, on Sirius XM Radio's 'RawDog' channel with co-host Kurt Braunohler. She played Gertha Teeth in the 2009 movie The Vampire's Assistant. Schaal stars in her own web series, Penelope Princess of Pets, one episode of which doubled as the video for the New Pornographers' "Mutiny, I Promise You". She voiced Trixie the Triceratops in Toy Story 3 and Pumpkin Witch and Palace Witch in Shrek Forever After. She was also in the music video for Joey Ramone's "New York City". She also guest starred in the Modern Family episode "Fifteen Percent", as well as the music video for "Conversation 16" by The National. Schaal guest starred on the MC Frontalot album Solved. She was featured with Kurt Braunohler on the Radiolab episode "Loops". Schaal was in a commercial for the Xperia Play version of Minecraft.
Schaal guest starred on The Simpsons May 8, 2011 episode "Homer Scissorhands" in which she plays Taffy, a love interest of Milhouse. She is incorrectly listed in the credits as "Kristen Schall". This prompted Simpsons writers to issue her a unique apology on the next week's episode in which Bart's chalkboard joke in the intro to the show states "It's Kristen Schaal, not Kristen Schall." Schaal also appeared in a music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2014 song "Tacky", a parody of Pharrell Williams's "Happy".
In 2013, Schaal guest starred in the two part episode "Sea Tunt" of Archer, lending her voice to a character named Tiffy.
In 2014, Schaal co-starred alongside Casey Wilson, Danielle Schneider, Tymberlee Hill, Andrea Savage, and Angela Kinsey in the first season of the Hulu original series The Hotwives of Orlando. She co-starred alongside Will Forte in the FOX comedy The Last Man on Earth, which premiered on March 1, 2015.
Schaal also voices the character Sarah Lynn in the Netflix original animated series BoJack Horseman. In 2017, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for her performance as Sarah Lynn.
Schaal appeared in A Walk in the Woods as hiker Mary Ellen.
In 2016, Schaal was a panelist on episode 1 of the British comedy show The Big Fat Quiz of Everything, a spinoff of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
In 2017, Schaal was on Episode 49 of called

Books

Schaal wrote a book of humor, The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex, with her husband, former Daily Show writer Rich Blomquist. It was published in July 2010 by Chronicle Books. She originally intended for them to write the book under pseudonyms, "because I don't want anyone to imagine me doing those things," but realized it would be harder to promote the book without using their real names.

Personal life

Schaal has been married to former Daily Show staff writer Rich Blomquist since 2012. On February 11, 2018, Schaal announced on Instagram that she had given birth to a daughter named Ruby.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2000Ntune: The Life of a BoybandMelissa ColbyShort
2001, 2002The Education of Max BickfordValerie Holmes3 episodes
2004'AbbyEpisode: "Brotherhood"
2005Cheap Seats: Without Ron ParkerEmilyEpisode: "Dog Show/World Beard and Mustache Championship"
2006Six DegreesGail2 episodes
2006ConvictionAllie RubinoffEpisode: "Madness"
2006Ugly BettyNancyEpisode: "Pilot"
2006Freak ShowVarious voices7 episodes
2007Scott Bateman PresentsVarious voices2 episodes
2007'Alana BinderEpisode: "30 |30"
2007Human GiantGirl in Doritos CommercialEpisode: "Lil 9-11"
2007Mad MenNannetteEpisode: "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
2007How I Met Your MotherLaura GirardEpisode: "The Platinum Rule"
2007–09Flight of the ConchordsMel21 episodes
2008Aqua Teen Hunger ForceTammy Tangerine Episode: "Bible Fruit"
2008The Whitest Kids U'KnowHomeless WomanEpisode: "2.9"
2008–16The Daily ShowHerself 31 episodes
2009'Various voicesEpisode: "Going Normal"
2009Snake 'n' BaconThe Green FairyEpisode: "Pilot"
2009Comedy ShowcaseTouristEpisode: "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret"
2010Modern FamilyWhitneyEpisode: "Fifteen Percent"
2010Comedy LabPenelopeEpisode: "Penelope Princess of Pets"
2010Fact Checkers UnitPaulaEpisode: "One Groundhog Day Dog"
2010Scared ShreklessSugar the Gingerbread Girl Short
2010–15WordGirlVictoria Best 5 episodes
2011The Penguins of MadagascarMuffy, Buffy, and Fluffy Episode: "Operation: Neighbor Swap"
2011Soul Quest OverdriveTammy 5 episodes
2011, 2012American Dad!Librarian and Girl 2 episodes
2011–14The Heart, She HollerHershe Heartshe6 episodes
2011, 2018The SimpsonsTaffy and Louise Belcher 2 episodes
2011–presentBob's BurgersLouise Belcher Lead role
Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production
2012, 201330 RockHazel Wassername11 episodes
2012–14Adventure TimeJake Jr. 4 episodes
2012–16Gravity FallsMabel Pines Lead role; 40 episodes
2013, 2016Comedy Bang! Bang!Herself / Gina Guppies2 episodes
2013ArcherTiffy 2 episodes
2013WilfredAnne4 episodes
2013'DeborahEpisode: "Trading Faces"
2013Toy Story of TerrorTrixie Short
2014Toy Story That Time ForgotTrixie Short
2014The Hotwives of OrlandoAmanda SimmonsSeries regular; 7 episodes
2014GleeMary HalloranEpisode: "The Untitled Rachel Berry Project"
2014–20BoJack HorsemanSarah Lynn, various voices14 episodes
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance
2015Axe CopGod Episode: "Axe Cop Saves God"
2015The Hotwives of Las VegasAmanda SimmonsEpisode: "Old Friends, New Enemies"
2015–18The Last Man on EarthCarol PilbasianMain role; 65 episodes
Also director: "Gender Friender"
2016Wander Over YonderMavis Episode: "The Cartoon"
2016Brad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio PeepioVarious voicesEpisode: "For Sarandon"
2016Great Minds with Dan HarmonAmelia EarhartEpisode: "Amelia Earhart"
2016'Chickadee Episode: "Camp Cody"
2018Ask the StoryBotsBiologistEpisode: "How Many Types of Animals Are There?"
2019Future ManScrewEpisode: "Guess Who's Coming to Lunch"
2019What We Do in the ShadowsThe GuideEpisode: "The Trial"
2019SquintersTina6 episodes
2019Forky Asks A QuestionTrixie 2 episodes
2020The Green Beret's Guide to Surviving the ApocalypseHerselfEpisode: "Big Ones"
2020AmphibiaBella the BellhopEpisode: "The Planters Check In"

YearTitleVoice role
2010'Trixie
2019Anthem''Sayrna