Amy Schumer

Early life

Schumer was born on June 1, 1981 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, to Sandra (née Jones) and Gordon Schumer, who owned a baby-furniture company. She has a younger sister, Kim Caramele, who is a comedy writer and a producer, and a half-brother, Jason Stein, who is a musician in Chicago, Illinois. Her father is second cousin to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. Schumer's father was born Jewish and her mother, who is from a Protestant background, converted to Judaism. Schumer was raised Jewish and says she experienced antisemitism as a child.

Through the success of her father's furniture company in Manhattan, Schumer began life in a wealthy family. At age 9, her family went bankrupt, and either then or when she was 12 (sources differ), her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; some Time afterward, her parents divorced. Moving to Long Island, she attended South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York, and was voted both "Class Clown" and "Teacher's Worst Nightmare" upon graduation in 1999. She also attended the Hebrew school of the Central Synagogue of Nassau County, a Reform synagogue in Rockville Centre on whose board her mother served.

Schumer moved to Baltimore, Maryland, after high school where she attended Towson University, graduating with a degree in theater in 2003. She returned to New York City after college, where she studied at the William Esper Studio for two years and worked as a bartender and a waitress.

Career

After graduating with a degree in theater from Towson University in 2003 and moving to New York City, Schumer portrayed a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the off-Broadway black comedy Keeping Abreast. She started doing stand-up comedy on June 1, 2004, when she first performed at Gotham Comedy Club. In 2007, she recorded a Live at Gotham episode for Comedy Central before appearing on Last Comic Standing; she later recalled that she thought of the episode as her "big break."

Rebounding from an unsuccessful audition for an earlier season, she advanced to the finals of the fifth season of the NBC reality television talent show Last Comic Standing and placed fourth. Schumer said in April 2011, "Last Comic was totally fun. I had a great time because there was no pressure on me; I had been doing stand-up around two years. I wasn't supposed to do well. So every time I advanced it was a happy surprise. I kept it honest on the show and it served me well."

Schumer co-starred in the Comedy Central reality show Reality Bites Back in 2008. In 2009, she appeared in an advertising campaign for Butterfinger. Schumer was a recurring guest on Fox News late-night program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld between 2007 and 2012. Her first Comedy Central Presents special aired on April 2, 2010. She served as a co-host of A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus in 2011, later titled Hoppus on Music. She has also written for Cosmopolitan.

Schumer did an episode (#154) of WTF with Marc Maron podcast on March 3, 2011, in which she discusses her early life in more detail. Schumer has appeared in roles on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, the Adult Swim mockumentary series Delocated, and the two HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm and Girls.

She acted in three films in 2012: the independent comedy Price Check, the comedy-drama Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and the independent comedy Sleepwalk with Me. Schumer also appeared on The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen in September 2011, and The Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr in August 2012.

Schumer released a standup comedy album, Cutting, in 2011. Her standup comedy special Mostly Sex Stuff premiered on Comedy Central on August 18, 2012, to positive reviews. Schumer said in February 2012, "I don't like the observational stuff. I like tackling the stuff nobody else talks about, like the darkest, most serious thing about yourself. I talk about life and sex and personal stories and stuff everybody can relate to, and some can't."

In June 2012, Schumer began work on a sketch comedy series for Comedy Central. The show features single-camera vignettes of Schumer playing "heightened versions" of herself. The vignettes are linked together with footage of Schumer's stand-up. The show, Inside Amy Schumer, premiered on Comedy Central on April 30, 2013. Inside Amy Schumer was picked up for a second season that began in 2014. A behind-the-scenes miniseries entitled Behind Amy Schumer premiered in 2012. The third season premiered on April 21, 2015, with a fourth season ordered the same day.

In 2014, Schumer embarked on her Back Door Tour to promote the second season of her show. The show featured closing act Bridget Everett, whom Schumer cites as her favorite live performer. She also appeared as a guest on an episode of comedian Jerry Seinfeld's Internet series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2014.

She hosted the 2015 MTV Movie Awards, which took place on April 11. Schumer wrote and played her first leading film role in Trainwreck, co-starring Bill Hader, which was released on July 17, 2015.

In August 2015, Jennifer Lawrence said she and Schumer planned to co-star in a film for which they and Schumer's sister Kim were co-writing a screenplay. Schumer performed as opening act for Madonna on three New York City dates of the singer's Rebel Heart Tour in September 2015.

On October 17, 2015, Schumer's comedy special Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo premiered on HBO. In 2016, it was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety Special, Writing and Directing.

On June 23, 2016, during her sold out performance at Madison Square Garden, Schumer announced her first world tour starting on August 26 in Dublin.

Schumer is the author of a 2016 memoir entitled The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo. It held the top position on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list for two weeks in September 2016.

Influences

Schumer's comedic influences include Wendy Liebman, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Joan Rivers. Additionally, she called actress-producer Goldie Hawn "one of my complete heroes."

In the media

In 2015, Schumer was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people. In 2015, Schumer was also named to Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People list for 2015. Schumer has received praise for addressing various social issues through comedy. In June 2015, Monica Heisey of The Guardian criticised her for "a shockingly large blind spot around race." Schumer responded on Twitter, stating "I go in and out of playing an irreverent idiot. That includes making dumb jokes involving race... You can call it a 'blind spot for racism' or 'lazy,' but you are wrong. It is a joke ... I am not racist."

Throughout 2015, several of Schumer's skits in Inside Amy Schumer went viral online, sparking think pieces regarding sex, feminism, and rape culture.

After a fatal shooting took place at a showing of Trainwreck in Louisiana, Schumer advocated for stricter gun control laws and increased mental health funding.

On November 30, 2015, The Daily Beast reported that Schumer posed nude for a photo by photographer Annie Leibovitz for 2016 edition of the Pirelli Calendar. Schumer tweeted her photo, writing "Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you."

In January 2016, Schumer was accused of stealing jokes from comedians Tammy Pescatelli, Kathleen Madigan, Wendy Liebman, and Patrice O'Neal. Schumer vehemently denied the allegations. Other comedians, such as Marc Maron and Dave Rubin, stood up for Schumer. Pescatelli later apologized, stating it had "gone too far," and Liebman stated she believed she and Schumer had engaged in parallel thinking.

Personal life

Schumer has dated professional wrestler Nick Nemeth, better known by his ring name Dolph Ziggler, and comedian Anthony Jeselnik. In January 2016, Schumer revealed she was in a relationship with Chicago furniture designer Ben Hanisch. Her representative announced in May 2017 that the relationship had ended.

She has been friends with Taking Back Sunday drummer Mark O'Connell since she was a child.

Discography