Amy Poehler's Real Name: Amy Poehler

Quick answer: Amy Poehler performs under her own name. She was born on September 16, 1971, in Massachusetts and grew up in Burlington. She was a Saturday Night Live cast member from 2001 to 2008 and co-anchored "Weekend Update." She then starred as Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation (2009–15) and voiced Joy in Pixar's Inside Out (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Poehler, Amy, 1971-." Its citations read "b. Sept. 16, 1971 in Burlington, Mass." Britannica gives the same date but names Newton, Massachusetts, as her birthplace and says she grew up in Burlington. Neither source records a middle name or a different birth name. A middle name circulates in online databases, but it is not documented in the library and encyclopedia sources used here, so this page uses Amy Poehler.

According to Britannica, her parents, Bill and Eileen (née Milmore) Poehler, were both schoolteachers. At Boston College she joined the improv group My Mother's Fleabag, and she graduated in 1993 with a degree in media and communications. She then moved to Chicago to study improv at ImprovOlympic and the Second City. There she met Tina Fey, and she joined the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB).

Career highlights

In 1996 Poehler moved with the UCB to New York. The troupe opened its own theater and training center and had a Comedy Central show from 1998 to 2000. She also made surprise appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Stacy, the supposed little sister of Andy Richter.

She joined SNL in 2001. In 2004 she and Fey became the first two women to anchor "Weekend Update" together, and she later co-anchored with Seth Meyers. Her impressions included Hillary Clinton, notably opposite Fey's Sarah Palin in 2008. She also appeared in Mean Girls (2004), Arrested Development, and Blades of Glory (2007).

On Parks and Recreation, a mockumentary sitcom set in Pawnee, Indiana, she played the earnest deputy parks director Leslie Knope and served as a producer. She and Fey cohosted the Golden Globe Awards starting in 2013. Her memoir, Yes Please, appeared in 2014. She voiced Joy in Inside Out (2015), which won the Oscar for best animated feature, and in Inside Out 2 (2024). As a producer, her credits include Broad City and Russian Doll.

Name notes for searchers

Amy is her given first name, and Poehler is her family surname, inherited from her father, Bill Poehler. She has never used a stage name. Sources differ on her birthplace, giving either Newton or Burlington, Massachusetts.