Amy Schumer

Amy Beth Schumer (born June 1, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, producer, director, and actress. She is the star of the sketch comedy series Inside Amy Schumer, which has been airing on Comedy Central since 2013. She placed fourth on the fifth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and placed second on Comedy Central's Reality Bites Back. In 2012, she held a recurring role on the Adult Swim series Delocated. Schumer's first lead role in a film was 2015's Trainwreck, which she also wrote. Early life Schumer was born on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, to Sandra (née Jones) and Gordon Schumer, who owned a baby furniture company. She has a younger sister, Kimberly, who is a comedy writer and a producer, and a brother, Jason Stein, who is a musician in Chicago, Illinois. Her father is second cousin to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer's father is Jewish and her mother is from a Protestant background. Schumer was raised Jewish. Through the success of her father's furniture company in Manhattan, Schumer began life in a wealthy family. But at age nine, her family went bankrupt, and her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; her parents divorced three years later. Moving to Long Island, she attended South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York and was voted both "Class Clown" and "Teacher's Worst Nightmare" upon graduation in 1999. Schumer moved to Baltimore, Maryland after high school where she attended Towson University, graduating with a degree in theater in 2003. She returned to New York City after college, where she studied at the William Esper Studio for two years and worked as a bartender and a waitress. Career She portrayed a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the off-Broadway black comedy Keeping Abreast. She started doing stand-up comedy on June 1, 2004, when she first performed at Gotham Comedy Club. She recorded a Live at Gotham episode for Comedy Central before appearing on Last Comic Standing; she said in August 2012 that she thought of the episode as her "big break." After not passing an audition for an earlier season, she advanced to the finals of the fifth season of the NBC reality television talent show Last Comic Standing and placed fourth. Schumer said in April 2011, "Last Comic was totally fun. I had a great time because there was no pressure on me; I had been doing stand-up around two years. I wasn't supposed to do well. So every time I advanced it was a happy surprise. I kept it honest on the show and it served me well." Schumer co-starred in the Comedy Central reality show Reality Bites Back in 2008. In 2009, she appeared in an advertising campaign for Butterfinger. Schumer was a recurring guest on Fox News late-night program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld between 2007 and 2012. Her first Comedy Central Presents special aired on April 2, 2010. She served as a co-host of A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus (later titled Hoppus on Music) in 2011. She has also written for Cosmopolitan. Schumer did an episode (#154) of WTF with Marc Maron podcast on March 3, 2011, in which she discusses her early life in more detail. Schumer has appeared in roles on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, the Adult Swim mockumentary series Delocated, and the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm and Girls. She acted in three films in 2012: the independent comedy Price Check, the comedy-drama Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and the independent comedy Sleepwalk with Me. Schumer also appeared on The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen in September 2011, and The Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr in August 2012. Schumer's debut standup comedy album Cutting was released on April 25, 2011. Her standup comedy special Mostly Sex Stuff premiered on Comedy Central on August 18, 2012, to positive reviews. Schumer said in February 2012, "I don't like the observational stuff. I like tackling the stuff nobody else talks about, like the darkest, most serious thing about yourself. I talk about life and sex and personal stories and stuff everybody can relate to, and some can't." In June 2012, Schumer began work on a sketch comedy series for Comedy Central. The show features single-camera vignettes of Schumer playing "heightened versions" of herself. The vignettes are linked together with footage of Schumer's stand-up. The show, titled Inside Amy Schumer, premiered on Comedy Central on April 30, 2013. Inside Amy Schumer was picked up for a second season that began in 2014. A behind-the-scenes miniseries entitled Behind Amy Schumer premiered in 2012. The third season premiered on April 21, 2015, with a fourth season ordered the same day. In 2014, Schumer embarked on her Back Door Tour to promote the second season of her show. The show featured closing act Bridget Everett, whom Schumer cites as her favorite live performer. She also appeared as a guest on an episode of comedian Jerry Seinfeld's internet series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2014. She hosted the 2015 MTV Movie Awards, which took place on April 11. Schumer wrote and played her first leading film role in Trainwreck, co-starring Bill Hader, which was released on July 17, 2015. After a fatal shooting took place at a showing of the film in Louisiana, Schumer became an advocate for stricter gun control laws and increased mental health funding. Schumer has received much praise for the subversive feminism of her comedy, but she has also faced criticism for having "a shockingly large blind spot around race." In June 2015, Schumer responded to critics, saying "I enjoy playing the girl who time to time says the dumbest thing possible... Trust me. I am not racist." Personal life Schumer has dated professional wrestler Dolph Ziggler, as well as comedian Anthony Jeselnik.