Chloe Fineman, One of SNL‘s Newest Cast Members, Is a Master at Celebrity Impressions
On Thursday, Saturday Night Live announced three new featured cast members for it’s 45th season: Shane Gillis, Bowen Yang, and Chloe Fineman. While the three have already made names for themselves in the comedy scene, they’re not quite household names yet. Though, the later has already found quite a following for herself impersonating household names on Instagram. Since studying improv at Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles, Fineman has already established herself so fully on Instagram—her handle is @chloeiscrazy—that Emily Ratajkowski, Gus Kentworthy, Jameela Jamil, Spencer Pratt, Tommy Dorfman, and Zoë Kravitz all lost it in the comments section within hours after Fineman made the announcement.
For the uninitiated, the best place to start might be with Fineman’s most viewed video to date: a truly uncanny impression of the disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes. If you’ve also seen Tavi Gevinson’s Holmes impression, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Fineman does pretty much exactly the same voice for Holmes as she does for Gigi Hadid.
For the past two years, Fineman has made a tradition out of bringing the increasingly unsettling White House Christmas decorations to life via a smoky-eyed Melania Trump. This past year, she also took a page out of Ivanka’s book and observed Hanukkah.
A heads up: If you find Fineman’s Melania unsettling, well, you might not want to watch her terrifying take on the 16-year-old Nebraskan YouTuber Jojo Siwa.
Fineman has already proven her skills when it comes to television, taking on Netflix hits like Natasha Lyonne’s Russian Doll and Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her cinematic oeuvre. Behold Fineman’s take on Drew Barrymore, on a street art tour of Bushwick; Busy Philipps, twirling her hair; Maisie Williams, bushy eyebrowed as ever; and Jennifer Lawrence, reaching unprecedentedly low octaves of laughter.
As you’ve no doubt noticed by now, Fineman’s collection of wigs is truly impressive. But she’s also not afraid go rogue, like that time she pulled an Anna Delvey and stepped into the lobby of 11 Howard.
In case there was any doubt that Fineman has the range, she’s taken on Timothée Chalamet, in all of his shaggy haired glory, too. If fans get their say, it looks like she’ll soon be taking over that role from Pete Davidson—along with Marianne Williamson from Kate McKinnon.
Fineman also does an impeccable Meryl Streep, but she might not land that role so easily. The same happens to be true for Bowen Yang, her soon-to-be castmate.
