There’s a lot more to Amy Poehler than her role as deputy director (and future POTUS) Leslie Knope in 2009–2015’s Parks and Recreation (a character that was especially created for the Saturday Night Live comedian by the creators of the American Office).
After graduating from university in 1991, Poehler joined a travelling improv group with 30 Rock’s Tina Fey, who, in 2001, went on to recruit Poehler for SNL where she performs as Hillary Clinton, Sharon Osbourne, Britney Spears, Madonna and many others. Poehler was nominated for nine Emmys, three Golden Globes and three Screen Actors Guild awards for her role in Parks and Recreation, eventually winning a Golden Globe for best actress in 2013.
Poehler features in 1999’s Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (as Deuce’s client with Tourette syndrome), in Tina Fey’s 2004 Mean Girls (as Rachel McAdams’ reckless mother), and provides voices for Snow White in 2007’s Shrek the Third and lead character, Joy, in Pixar’s 2015 Inside Out.
Poehler also stars opposite Arrested Development’s Will Arnett as Gob’s forgotten wife and in 2007’s Blades of Glory as Arnett’s character’s sister. Poehler and Arnett married in 2003 and had two sons but divorced in 2012 (a break-up that, earlier this month, Arnett told the Guardian had left him “crying for an hour at the side of the road.”)
So, erm, let’s be delicate about that, perhaps.
In 2019, Poehler directed her first film, Wine Country, in which she reunites with Tiny Fey, reviewed by the Guardian as a four star “wine-soaked gem”.
And anything wine-soaked sounds good to us.
Now she’s back in the director’s chair with a new documentary – Lucy and Desi, the tale of I Love Lucy’s Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz – that was very well received at this year’s Sundance film festival.
So! Get BS-ing (“brainstorming” – Leslie Knope) your questions for Poehler in the comments below by midday Thursday 23 February and we’ll be back with her answers in Film&Music, online and in print on Friday 11 March. As Parks and Rec’s Jean-Ralphio would say: “K to the N to the O P E, she’s the dopest little shorty in all Pawnee …”
• Lucy and Desi is on Amazon Prime from 4 March.
