Entertainment TV The Cast of 'Saturday Night Live': Everything to Know From their early work to their offices at 30 Rock, here’s everything to know about the current cast of Saturday Night Live By Lia Beck Lia Beck Lia Beck is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly and Refinery29. People Editorial Guidelines Published on February 23, 2023 02:15PM EST Photo: Nina Westervelt/Variety/Getty The 48th season of Saturday Night Live has been an interesting one. Eight cast members — several of whom had been on the show for years — left the long-running sketch comedy series after season 47 ended in May 2022. Those members were: Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Melissa Villaseñor and first-year player Aristotle Athari. Cecily Strong followed shortly after, exiting the show midway through season 48. Her final appearance, on Dec. 17, 2022, made her the longest-tenured female cast member in SNL history. So, it's no surprise that series creator Lorne Michaels called season 48 a "transition year." "The change years are always difficult," he said backstage at the 2022 Emmy Awards, before noting that it is an "exciting" time for the show. He continued, "There are new people, and things are changing, and a different generation comes into the show." Those changes involved various featured players being bumped up to repertory players and the addition of four brand-new cast members. Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow and Devon Walker debuted as the newest cast additions. From their recognizable roles to their big breaks, here's everything to know about the season 48 cast of Saturday Night Live. Kenan Thompson Frazer Harrison/Getty Cast member Kenan Thompson, 44, is the longest-tenured cast member in SNL history, with season 48 marking his 20th season. He became a featured player in 2003 and was promoted to repertory in 2005. He was also the first regular cast member born after the show's 1975 premiere. Thompson was well-known before joining SNL. As a teen, he starred in the '90s Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That and the sitcom Kenan & Kel. He also appeared in the cult movies Good Burger and Fat Albert. Thompson has since starred in dozens of other projects, including his own sitcom, Kenan, which ran for two seasons. As for his personal life, the comedian has two children, Georgia Marie and Gianna Michelle, with Christina Evangeline, whom he married in 2011. The actor filed for divorce from Evangeline in June 2022. At the 2022 Emmys, which he hosted, Thompson told PEOPLE and Entertainment Weekly that SNL still feels new to him all these years later. "It's always new every time," he said. "It's exciting like that. It's really exciting to find new, funny things, especially when you're further down your tenure."He continued: "[My] season 19 I'm finding a character to do. There's always more to do, and if I'm not in anybody's way or nothing, and they keep calling me, like, what am I supposed to do? Tell them no?" Colin Jost Todd Owyoung/NBC/Getty One of the longest-tenured current cast members in SNL history is Colin Jost, 40. Jost was hired as a writer in 2005 and was a co-head writer from 2012 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2022. While he doesn't appear in many sketches, he has been the co-host of Weekend Update since 2014. Since 2017, Jost has been in a relationship with actress Scarlett Johansson. The pair met on the set of SNL in 2006 when she was hosting, but did not become romantically linked until years later. They got married in 2020 and welcomed their son, Cosmo, in 2021. The couple have since appeared on SNL together on several occasions. When Johansson hosted the show in 2019, she called Jost "the love of my life" and joked about her status as one of the highest-paid actresses."It's so great to be back hosting SNL for the sixth time," she said in her opening monologue. "The sixth time is even more exciting than the fifth because you're not worried anymore. The show is bad, what are they gonna do, fire my fiancé? Oh no, what will we do without his paycheck?" Michael Che John Shearer/Getty Michael Che, 39, began working on SNL as a writer in 2013. He then became the co-anchor of Weekend Update in 2014 and has occasionally appeared in other sketches. From 2017 to 2022, Che was a co-head writer of the show alongside his Weekend Update co-host Jost. Outside of SNL, Che is a stand-up comedian and a former correspondent on The Daily Show. He has also appeared in the movies Lyle and Top Five. In 2018, he co-hosted the 70th Emmy Awards with Jost. While Che has faced some backlash for jokes he's written on SNL, he's not going anywhere — at least not yet. In March 2022, he clarified that he wasn't leaving the series after joking about it at a comedy show. "I'm not leaving SNL," he wrote on Instagram alongside a screenshot of an article quoting his stand-up set. "I said it at a comedy show, and some dork transcribed it & wrote an article." Mikey Day Slaven Vlasic/Getty Mikey Day, 42, joined SNL in 2013 as a writer and became a featured cast member in 2016, before being promoted to repertory player in 2018. In 2016, Day co-wrote the hit David S. Pumpkins sketch starring Tom Hanks, spurring several parodies and a dedicated Halloween special of the character. In a 2017 interview with Uproxx, Day said of the sketch, "I was definitely happy that it became a big deal and it wasn't necessarily topical or tied to anything. It was just kind of its own thing." Prior to SNL, Day was a member of the improvisation theatre group the Groundlings, where many SNL alums began their careers, and a cast member on Wild 'n Out. He is also known for his acting career, having appeared in various movies and TV shows, including Kath & Kim, Brittany Runs a Marathon, Little and Hubie Halloween, among others. Day co-wrote and starred in the 2021 movie Home Sweet Home Alone as well and is currently the host of the Netflix competition series Is It Cake?. Day has a son, born in 2012, with his partner, Paula Christensen. He previously dated his Kath & Kim costar Selma Blair. Chloe Fineman Frazer Harrison/Getty Chloe Fineman, 34, joined SNL as a featured player in 2019 and was promoted to repertory in 2021. Prior to joining the show, Fineman appeared in small roles in episodes of Mozart in the Jungle, Grown-ish and Jane the Virgin. She has since appeared in the TV series Search Party and Dickinson and the movies Father of the Bride, White Noise and Babylon. Fineman is known for her celebrity impressions, mimicking the likes of Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Coolidge and Timothée Chalamet. For PEOPLE's The Beautiful Issue in 2022, Fineman opened up her daily routines and managing her late-night shifts on SNL. "I hate the taste of water. If I could just live on cold brew, I would," the actor shared. "I am an early girl, and so it's really a challenge. I found out I was born at 6:45 in the morning, and maybe I'm making this up, but I get up at that time no matter what, even if I've been up really late. It's definitely a challenge to be on this SNL schedule, hence my cold brew addiction." Andrew Dismukes FilmMagic/FilmMagic Like many cast members, Andrew Dismukes, 27, joined SNL as a writer first. Shortly after he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, Dismukes was asked to audition for the long-running show after he was seen performing at the "New Faces" showcase at Montreal's Just for Laughs Comedy Festival. He joined the writing staff in 2017, became a featured cast member in 2020 and was promoted to repertory player in season 48. In January 2023, Dismukes appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers and spoke about his faux pas during his first SNL table read. "I did have nerves, but I pulled a move that would make people think I was the most confident kid in the world where I showed up to my very first table read in flip flops," Dismukes said. "Which, apparently, not allowed. Not supposed to do that." He said his manager called the next day and told him, "Can't do that. Gotta wear shoes, can't have your feet out." Heidi Gardner Momodu Mansaray/WireImage Heidi Gardner, 39, joined SNL in 2017 as a featured player and became a repertory player in 2019. Since joining the show, Gardner has appeared in the movies Life of the Party, Otherhood and Hustle and on the TV series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Girls5eva and Shrinking. Before starting her career in comedy, Gardner was a hairstylist for nine years, according to an interview with InStyle. Gardner opened up to the outlet about the types of characters she enjoys playing on the show. "I like playing a range of emotions," she told InStyle. "In my own life, I think I've always been a bit of a people pleaser. Maybe the world around me was a little chaotic, so I had to keep my cool. And so I really like playing characters that don't care and just let loose in public with no shame, like cry, yell, roll their eyes." As for her personal life, Gardner has been married to Marvel comic book writer Zeb Wells since 2010. Punkie Johnson Slaven Vlasic/Getty Punkie Johnson, 37, became a featured player on SNL in 2020 and a repertory player in 2022 after getting her start as a stand-up comedian. Johnson has also been featured on the series A Black Lady Sketch Show, Space Force, Love Life and Ghosts. Johnson is the first out Black queer woman to join the cast of SNL. Johnson spoke about being cast on the show during a 2021 interview with NBC News. "It wasn't even a dream because I never thought that I would get there. That's how surprised I was," Johnson said. "I'm just this little lesbian chick from New Orleans who is just enjoying life doing comedy and thinking that's it." Ego Nwodim Theo Wargo/Getty Ego Nwodim, 34, became a featured cast member in 2018 and a repertory player in 2020. Prior to joining the cast, she often performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, where she also performed her one-woman show, Great Black Women…and Then There's Me. Nwodim has been in a number of films, including The Broken Hearts Gallery and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, and on the TV shows Law & Order True Crime, Shrill and Love Life. One of Nwodim's most popular impersonations on SNL is her portrayal of Dionne Warwick. In 2021, Nwodim opened up to PEOPLE about the music legend making a guest appearance in the reoccurring sketch, The Dionne Warwick Talk Show. "Oh my God! ... I kept having to pinch myself. I couldn't believe she was really there," Nwodim said. "And then I was like, 'That's who I look like,' but she's here. It was incredible and so much fun. She's so gracious and wonderful." Bowen Yang Evans Vestal Ward/NBC/Getty Bowen Yang, 32, was hired as a writer for SNL in 2018 and became a featured player the following year. In 2021, he was promoted to repertory player. He is the show's first Asian cast member. Yang is also known for hosting the pop culture podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers since 2016. Since landing his big break at SNL, he's had roles in the movies Fire Island and Bros and on the TV shows Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens and Girls5eva. For PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive issue in 2021, Yang opened up about the famous SNL afterparties, which he described as both "wholesome and debaucherous." He recalled one party in particular, "I drank a bourbon when I went to [host] Kim Kardashian's secret afterparty. I turned around and Khloé Kardashian looked me in the eyes and said, 'What are you drinking? That's so sad. Drink champs with me.' I was like, 'Whatever you say, Khloé Kardashian.' " Sarah Sherman Nathan Congleton/NBC/Getty Sarah Sherman, 29, made her debut as a featured player in 2021. Also known as Sarah Squirm, the stand-up comic became known for her body horror comedy in Chicago, according to Chicago Reader. She was asked to audition for SNL after performing at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. She's adapted her surrealistic and "gross-out" humor for SNL — as evidenced in season 47's sketch "Meatballs." "What's fun now that my audience is broader is that people come to my show thinking, 'I know Sarah Sherman from TV. She has nice brown hair,' " she told Vulture in January 2023. "Then they come to my show and they're like, 'Oh my God.' They're all horrified." James Austin Johnson Mike Coppola/Getty James Austin Johnson, 33, was hired as a featured player in 2021. Prior to SNL, Johnson had appeared in several films and TV shows, including Hail, Caesar!, Adam Ruins Everything and Better Call Saul. He had also gone viral online for his impression of Donald Trump. Johnson welcomed a baby, Homer, with his wife Rebekah Lain in January 2022. During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Johnson discussed booking SNL and moving to New York City all while his wife was pregnant. "If no one has ever told a woman that's six months pregnant that she has to move to New York in the middle of winter, you should do it," he joked. "You should give it a try. Because that is one of my favorite conversations I have ever had." Marcello Hernandez Slaven Vlasic/Getty Featured player Marcello Hernandez, 25, joined the show this season, making his on-air debut in October 2022. Originally from Miami, the comedian found popularity on TikTok before being cast and made Just for Laughs' New Faces of Comedy list in 2022. Growing up, Hernandez was more into soccer than comedy, as he told Hola! in 2022. He shared that a teacher and his mother encouraged him to try out theater, and he eventually gave in. "In my senior year of high school, I finally went to an event which was a big monologue theater-type event and I did well, and I was like, 'Oh, maybe I'm good at this,' " he said. "Then in college, I tried stand-up comedy for the first time, even though I had been a fan, and I was hooked." Molly Kearney Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic When Molly Kearney, 30, joined SNL as a featured player in 2022, they became the show's first nonbinary cast member. In addition to SNL, Kearney has had roles in the series A League of Their Own and The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. They are also a stand-up comedian and were featured in Comedy Central's "Up Next" showcase in 2019. One of Kearney's first appearances on the show was in a pre-recorded sketch called "New Cast Advice." While the other new cast members talked about receiving (relatively) normal advice from Michaels and former cast members, Kearney explained that they were actually hired as part of a mysterious plot to kill Vladimir Putin, with their story getting more outlandish as it went on. Michael Longfellow Slaven Vlasic/Getty Michael Longfellow, 29, became an SNL featured player in 2022. Longfellow is a stand-up comedian and was featured on the NBC reality competition series Bring the Funny before being cast. In 2017, he was selected as a TBS "Comic to Watch" at the New York Comedy Festival and was consequently featured on Conan. Before he graduated from Arizona State University, Longfellow was interviewed for a story on the school's website, in which he talked about his love of comedy and his decision to study English. "I did comedy for the first time as a freshman and immediately realized it was the only thing I really wanted to do," he said. "I knew if I was going to have to go to college, a degree that dealt with words and language would best suit my interests." Devon Walker Sean Zanni/Getty Along with Hernandez, Kearney and Longfellow, Devon Walker, 32, became a featured player in 2022. Before joining the show, the comedian was part of Comedy Central's "Up Next" showcase in 2017. He's also worked as a writer for the shows Big Mouth and Everything's Trash. In 2022, Walker was featured on Vulture's "Comedians You Should and Will Know" list. When the outlet asked if there was a moment from his childhood that led to him becoming a comic, he answered, "I don't know if there's anything from my childhood that explains it ... but I know as an adult I've had a bunch of jobs, and the only one I've ever been good at is being funny."