Rachel Dratch is an American actress, comedian, producer and writer who is best known for her performances on Saturday Night Live. 

RACHEL DRATCH BIO: AGE, EARLY LIFE, EDUCATION

Dratch was born and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts (age: 56), by parents Paul and Elaine. She attended William Diamond Middle School and Lexington High School where she participated in school plays, generally preferring comedies over dramas.

The multi-faceted performer initially went to Dartmouth College with the goal of becoming a therapist but pursued degrees in both in drama and psychology. While in college, Dratch was part of the improvisational group comedy group Said and Done. Additionally, Dratch attended the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, located in Connecticut, in the fall of 1986.

RACHEL DRATCH BIO: CAREER, RECOGNITION

After graduating college in 1988, Dratch moved to Chicago where she studied with Del Close at Improvolympic, an improv and training center. She later joined the Second City comedy troupe, also based in Chicago. Dratch initially toured with them and eventually leveled up to the Second City Mainstage, in which she was given the opportunity to perform in several revues including “Pinata Full Of Bees,” “Citizen Gates,” “Paradigm Lost” and “Promisekeepers Losers Weepers.” For the latter two, Dratch won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Revue.

Dratch also has musical talent, as she has played the cello on-stage once with Tina Fey for their production of Dratch & Fey, performed at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York. The pair wrote the two-person sketch that was also performed at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2000.

Dratch’s big break was on Saturday Night Live, where she performed from 1999 to 2006, and later from 2017 to the present day. However, Dratch was not hired by SNL until her second audition the year after she was originally turned away. She created and performed as one of her most notable characters, Debbie Downer.

She has made numerous guest appearances on Monk, Frasier, Wizards of Waverly Place, 30 Rock, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Inside Amy Schumer, Ugly Betty, The Middle, The King of Queens and more.

The actress was originally cast for the role of Jenna on 30 Rock, but the role was recast after the pilot, so she made a series of cameos instead.

Dratch has starred in movies Just Go With It (2011), Martin & Orloff (2002), The Hebrew Hammer (2003), Down with Love (2003), Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star (2003), Click (2006), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) and more.

She also performed in a spoof of Jay Z and Alicia Keys‘ Empire State of Mind, titled Forest Hills State of Mind with Billy Eichner in 2010.

In 2004, Dratch was nominated for the Gold Derby Variety Performer Award for her performances on Saturday Night Live. Additionally, she was nominated for the Teen Choice Comedian Award in 2006.

Dratch published her memoir Girl Walks into a Bar . . .: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle in March 2012.

RACHEL DRATCH BIO: INTERVIEW ON ‘GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR,’ ‘SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’

uInterview users got the chance to ask Dratch questions regarding her career and family life in an exclusive interview.

Dratch discussed how she was typecasted for many “manly” lesbian roles after she left SNL. 

“I sort of thought that I would play the wacky best friend, but what I found was that I was sort of too odd to play even the wacky best friend. I kept getting the weird secretary, which is fine. But then I kept on getting – and I am not making this up – but every part was a lesbian.”

Later, Dratch called her pregnancy both a “miracle” and “surprise.”

“Like I had always thought I’d want kids, but as I was getting older, I didn’t want to do it by myself — raise a child by myself,” Dratch said. “So I was kind of starting to let go of the idea. I got to like 42, 43, but then I had the biggest surprise of my life. I got pregnant by surprise at almost age 44. So, it kind of like turned everything around.”

Dratch also revealed that she wasn’t personally offended by being recast on 30 Rock. In fact, it was the media coverage that was more deflating to the actress.

“I didn’t know because she was this diva character, you know, there were parts of it I could do and parts I didn’t feel were some, so that wasn’t the big shock,” Dratch said. “But the bummer of the whole thing was that it just got so picked up by the media. It was reported and I would get asked about it all the time and, you know, that was kind of the bummer part.”

RACHEL DRATCH BIO: PERSONAL LIFE, FAMILY, QUOTES, HEIGHT, SOCIAL MEDIA

Dratch has been married to John Wahl, a California-based consultant to natural foods businesses since 2009 and they have a son named Eli Benjamin Wahl. Dratch had only been seeing Wahl for six months when she got pregnant with their son at 44-years-old. She also has a brother named Daniel Dratch.

She is of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent but does not practice Judaism. Dratch is 5’0″ tall, the second shortest member of the SNL cast to date. Her birthday is February 22, 1966 (Age 52). Dratch has an estimated net worth of $3 million.

Quotes:

“I think for anyone – male or female – in improv, the biggest thing to get over is the fear. I think every improviser has that.”

“I didn’t originally intend on writing a book. I started writing during the day to feel like I was accomplishing something creative.”

“I have no wisdom to share on dating.”

Dratch is on Twitter as @TheRealDratch.

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