Ashley Padilla was shopping with her mother at Glendale’s Americana at Brand outdoor mall in September 2024 when the news was announced. She had just been added to “Saturday Night Live” as a featured contestant.
Padilla had just co-authored a new book, “Fashion First,” with his former boss Diane Keaton, and was shopping at Barnes & Noble when he received word that the news was about to be released. “It was scary,” she recalls. “I was scared that people would say, ‘Oh, her! Why that face? Why that person?'” So I bought the book at Barnes & Noble and sat and waited. I feel sick thinking about it! ”
It was Padilla’s mother who broke the ice by talking to the woman sitting next to her, who had been chatting unnecessarily. “I told her about the book I had just created, and she ended up giving it to me that I had bought,” Padilla recalled. “Then my mom said, ‘You’re going to be on SNL soon!'” Then the woman took a picture with me. That was the first person we talked to! ”
The woman may not realize it, but her impromptu photo with Padilla may now be a collector’s item. Padilla joined “SNL” during its landmark 50th season in fall 2024 and quickly became a breakout star on the sketch series.
Padilla joined Variety’s Awards Circuit podcast to discuss her journey and also took a 10-question quiz. Listen below!
According to Latenighter.com, Padilla was crowned the show’s most featured and featured cast member in the recently concluded season 51. This is the first time that a notable player has led that record. Among this year’s highlights is Padilla playing a suburban mother who slowly and painfully admits that her mind about Donald Trump may be changing.
The Livermore, Calif., native moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue comedy, but says it wasn’t necessarily planned out. “I was just following something interesting,” she says. “I thought, ‘This is where I excel. I like this. I really like acting as a character.'”
Padilla established herself as a member of the famous troupe, the Groundlings, which she calls a “comedy college.”
“With Groundlings, you do a lot of levels where you’re just improvising with people, and then you get to a level where they’re like, ‘Okay, now I need to write my thoughts, I need to write jokes,'” she says. “It was very scary, but it taught me to write my own sketches, which I now bring to the show.”
The Groundling’s training clearly paid off on “SNL.” Padilla admits that she still feels “shocked” to be cast in the legendary series and that the response to her has been overwhelmingly positive.
“It really freaked me out because I really just want to do my job,” she says. “I thought people would say, ‘Look, we hate her, that’s not going to happen to us.’ You write sketches, but it’s also your brain that you’re laying out on the table. You’re saying, ‘This is what I think is interesting,’ and that’s very vulnerable.” So the fact that people enjoy it is something I could never have asked for. ”
Padilla also likes to remain a very private person, which can be a bit overwhelming. She mostly avoids social media and doesn’t take much pleasure in posting elements of her life. “I do my best work when I’m focused and free of distractions, but I find that place online can feel a bit distracting.
“I think that’s why I have such a boring life,” she says of her limited online presence. “What are we going to show you? Watching ‘Survivor’ again and eating tuna?” In fact, this sounds like a pretty good “SNL” sketch.
10 Questions with Ashley Padilla:
1. Childhood nickname: “My sister used to call me ‘wee-pee.'” Instead of Ashley. It’s hurtful and people shouldn’t be called that! ”
2. Something you loved as a kid but can’t believe you’re into now: “When I was really young, I loved pretending to be a witch. So that’s weird. I promise I won’t do that anymore. It’s the same weird thing I did, thinking I liked making potions and stuff!”
3. Song you go to karaoke or sing in the shower: “Anything that’s playing, or a lot of Ariana Grande.”
4. Please give me another title for your show: (Not asked)
5. What’s your secret talent?: “I can do this with my tongue. I should have done that on the ‘SNL’ test.”
6. Favorite ice cream flavor: Vegan cookie dough.
7. The one item I can’t live without: “I said my brain was my family, but it’s not this.”
8. What TV show in history do you wish you were a part of?: “‘The Office.’ I watch it, and I watch it over and over again, and I watch it again.”
9. Fictional character you most admire: Carrie Bradshaw.
10. Your personal opinion: “Maybe my opinion is that we should all just leave each other alone and stop being mean to each other. It’s a very boring opinion. That’s a good opinion, but we don’t need to beat anyone’s ass about anything. I don’t know, maybe we should stop being mean to each other.”
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, hosted by Clayton Davis, Jazz Tunkay, Emily Longeretta and Michael Schneider, who also serves as a producer, is your one-stop destination for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each episode’s “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talents and creators, discussions and debates about the awards race and industry headlines. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you download your podcasts.
