A New Cast Member Joins Saturday Night Live

January 6, 2014

While watching ABC News today, Diane Sawyer immediately had my attention when she mentioned Saturday Night Live, a show I love, had a special announcement. I was excited to hear that Saturday Night Live has added a new female cast member, Sasheer Zamata! She will be entering season 39 of Saturday Night Live as the newest featured cast member. To give you a little insight on her acting background, she graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in drama and acted at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She has also appeared on Comedy Central in “Inside Amy Schumer” and the FX show “Totally Blissed with Kamau Bell”. Zamata should enter Saturday Night Live with a bang January, 18, 2014 with host and musical guest, Drake.

In 2013, the lack of diversity on season 39 of Saturday Night Live started to make headlines. Cast member, Kenan Thompson also commented on this issue. Lorne Michaels, executive producer of Saturday Night Live, stated to The New York Times that a new cast member would be added to the show in early 2014. Sasheer Zamata will be the first female African American cast member in five years since Maya Rudolph’s departure in 2007. Michaels also told The New York Times that it was “100 percent good for the show to have an African-American woman” added to the cast. The show poked fun at the issue of diversity in the cast when the star of Scandal, Kerry Washington, hosted and played several female African-American characters in the opening skit.

I’m happy that Sasheer Zamata will be joining the cast of Saturday Night Live and I’m excited to see her in action. Remember to tune in on January 18, 2014 on NBC to see Zamata’s debut!