Ellie Kemper (born Elizabeth Claire Kemper, May 2, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She is best known for her role as Erin Hannon in the NBC series The Office, as well as her supporting roles in the films Bridesmaids and 21 Jump Street. She currently plays the title role in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, for which she has received critical acclaim. In the summer of 2015, she joined NBC News as a temporary co-host on NBC's morning news program, The Today Show.


Early life

Kemper was born in Kansas City, Missouri, – the second of four children born to Dorothy "Dotty" Ann (Jannarone) and David Woods Kemper, one of the wealthiest families in the State of Missouri. She is the granddaughter of Mildred Lane Kemper, the namesake of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis, for which the family donated $5 million. Kemper's father was the chairman and chief executive officer of Commerce Bancshares, a bank holding company founded by the Kemper family (her paternal great-great-grandfather was banker William Thornton Kemper, Sr.). She is also the older sister of television writer Carrie Kemper. Kemper has Italian (from her maternal grandfather), English, and German ancestry.

The family moved to St. Louis when Kemper was five years old. She attended Conway Elementary School in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue and then high school at John Burroughs School, where she developed an interest in theater and improvisational comedy. One of her teachers was actor Jon Hamm, with whom she appeared in a school play. In 1999, while she was making her formal debut, she was named the Queen of St. Louis's annual Veiled Prophet Ball.


Personal life

Kemper is a Roman Catholic. In 2011, she became engaged to her boyfriend Michael Koman, a former writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the co-creator of the Adult Swim series Eagleheart and Comedy Central series Nathan for You. The couple married on July 7, 2012.





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