Nasim Pedrad

What Tina Fey was to Sarah Palin, Nasim Pedrad became to Kim Kardashian. Both actresses so effectively lampooned their targets on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC 1975- ) that they could be mistaken for them in clips. Nasim Pedrad was a relative anomaly in the entertainment world as an Iranian-American. Born in Tehran, she emigrated with her parents to America two years later and grew up as part of the large Persian community in Irvine, California. After leaving the UCLA School of Theatre, Pedrad was a member of both The Groundlings and Upright Citizens Brigade before she joined SNL in 2009.

In addition to her celebrity impersonations (including Kim Kardashian, Arianna Huffington and Zooey Deschanel) and original characters on "Saturday Night Live," Pedrad performed voices in the animated films "The Lorax" (2012) and "Despicable Me 2" (2013). She also provided voices for "The Awesomes" (Hulu 2013-15) an animated superhero parody series created by Seth Meyers and Michael Shoemaker, which also starred fellow SNL actors Bobby Moynihan, Kenan Thompson, Taran Killam and Cecily Strong, as well as SNL alums Bill Hader and Rachel Dratch. While still appearing on "Saturday Night Live," Pedrad was cast in the pilot for "Mulaney," an autobiographical series created by and starring stand-up comic and former SNL writer John Mulaney. Though NBC did not pick up the pilot, Fox bought the show for the 2014-15 season.