{"id":634849,"date":"2026-05-10T14:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634849\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T14:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T14:11:10","slug":"snls-latest-star-ashley-padilla-hails-from-the-deep-bay-area-suburbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/634849\/","title":{"rendered":"‘SNL’s latest star Ashley Padilla hails from the deep Bay Area suburbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ashley Padilla has been on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d for less than two seasons (a blip in\u00a0Kenan Thompson<\/a> Years), but she\u2019s already amassing accolades usually reserved for the likes of Maya Rudolph or Will Ferrell. Vulture<\/a> compared her to a young Tom Brady, the New York Times<\/a> recently published a frame-by-frame breakdown of her comic timing, and Glamour<\/a>\u00a0declared the dawning of the Ashley Padilla Era. The 32-year-old is also the latest in a long line of Bay Area-born \u201cSNL\u201d cast members\u00a0\u2014 a list that includes Will Forte, Rob Schneider, Andy Samberg (plus his Lonely Island bandmates) and Padilla\u2019s current castmate,\u00a0Chloe Fineman.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Padilla spent most of her childhood in Livermore, an outer suburb that isn\u2019t known as a hotbed for burgeoning comedians. But that could change.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it will be now?\u201d mused\u00a0Padilla during a phone call with SFGATE earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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Before moving to Livermore,\u00a0Padilla lived in Oakland and went to the Montclair Elementary School, where she was partial to the gone-but-not-forgotten Montclair Malt Shop<\/a>. Padilla is one of four children, all raised by her single mom.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view of Livermore, Calif.<\/p>\n

JasonDoiy\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cShe worked her way up at a company, and she just did it all without going to college,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

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When Padilla was 10, the family relocated to Livermore to be closer to her grandparents. Her grandmother was a teacher\u2019s aide, and her grandfather worked for the\u00a0Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Despite her eventual career path, Padilla was not a theater kid. She was in one play \u2014 a rendition of \u201cThe Emperor’s New Clothes\u201d \u2014 but didn\u2019t have many other outlets to harness her creativity and drive to perform.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the only thing I really did, other than being annoying,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

To help out her single mom,\u00a0Padilla started working at a Livermore movie theater while still a teenager, though \u201cworking\u201d may be phrasing it generously.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

Ashley Padilla appears at Deadline\u2019s 2026 Contenders Television event, held at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on April 25, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chad Salvador\/Deadline\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a very bad employee … I didn\u2019t know that the schedule was like, your schedule. I thought it was more of a decision on your own behalf,\u201d\u00a0Padilla admitted.<\/p>\n

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She spends most of her time in New York City these days, but\u00a0Padilla still has ties to the Bay Area. Her grandfather lives in the East Bay and still volunteers with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory\u2019s\u00a0\u201cFun with Science\u201d<\/a> education program, and her sister Samantha is a tattoo artist at\u00a0Mirage Tattoo<\/a> in San Francisco\u2019s Hayes Valley neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ever need a tattoo, she\u2019s your girl,\u201d\u00a0Padilla told me.<\/p>\n

Padilla moved to Los Angeles after high school, but she wasn\u2019t chasing any specific dream just yet.<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

Ashley Padilla during the \u201cNew Pitt\u201d sketch on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d on March 14, 2026.<\/p>\n

Nora Rockwell\/NBC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI was lost as hell. And my mom was like, \u2018You\u2019re pretty funny. You could try, you know, taking some comedy classes,\u2019\u201d Padilla said. According to the comedian, Padilla\u2019s mother literally just Googled \u201ccomedy class.\u201d This eventually led her to start taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade and the\u00a0Groundlings, two improv schools that are both established pipelines to \u201cSNL.\u201d Padilla worked her way up to the Groundlings\u2019 main company, where she was noticed by talent manager Naomi Odenkirk (Bob Odenkirk\u2019s wife), who recommended she audition for \u201cSNL.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In an interview with\u00a0Vulture<\/a>,\u00a0Padilla said Lorne Michaels told her, \u201cWe don\u2019t have room.\u201d So she was pleasantly surprised when she learned she\u2019d been hired shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n

Padilla became an instant hit at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Whether she\u2019s playing an office worker with serious gas<\/a>, dancing with Domingo<\/a>, attempting not to break next to Ryan Gosling<\/a>, or being killed by Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>, Padilla has become one of the more widely used cast members. Her humor shines most when her characters are trying their hardest to maintain a sense of normalcy amid increasingly absurd circumstances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Padilla\u00a0hopes to incorporate personalities and experiences from her Bay Area upbringing in the future. But for now, most of her characters are a reflection of herself.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m more pulling from like, \u2018What idiot lives inside me that I want to make fun of?\u2019\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With her increased appearances on the show,\u00a0Padilla has started to be recognized more and more \u2014 and has learned she\u2019s a favorite of a certain demographic that\u2019s near and dear to her heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love talking to people, so it\u2019s definitely allowed me to talk to more people. I love nothing more than when a fan or something is like, \u2018My mom loves you.\u2019 It\u2019s my favorite thing in the world. I don\u2019t know why, I have moms on my side,\u201d Padilla said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ashley<\/p>\n

Ashley Padilla as Kristi Noem, then the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security,\u00a0during the \u201cCabinet Meeting Cold Open\u201d on \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d on Jan. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

Will Heath\/NBC\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Like many \u201cSNL\u201d cast members before her, Padilla hopes to use her success on the show to break into film. She\u2019s currently working on a movie with Pastel, the studio behind 2016 best picture-winner \u201cMoonlight\u201d and 2025\u00a0indie hit \u201cSorry, Baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want to make something where it\u2019s just funny women trying to get things in the world, but maybe they\u2019re not so capable,\u201d\u00a0Padilla said.<\/p>\n

As she broadens her comedy portfolio,\u00a0Padilla\u2019s cross-generational and cross-coastal appearance is sure to pay dividends. Thus far, Padilla hasn\u2019t found that there\u2019s much difference between making New Yorkers laugh versus the Californians she grew up with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want to laugh, and my form of comedy is like, \u2018Laugh at me, I\u2019m an idiot,\u2019\u201d\u00a0Padilla said. \u201cSo I love performing kind of a dumbass. I think that that makes people all over laugh. Thank god, it\u2019s not really niche to California or New York. It\u2019s just like, \u2018Are you a person who has experienced embarrassment? Then you\u2019ll love this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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