EXCLUSIVE: We have the first cast departure following Season 51 of Saturday Night Live, and it’s a big one. Chloe Fineman, one of the NBC sketch comedy’s standout performers in the past few years, is leaving after seven seasons.
Fineman already has lined up her next project: she is in negotiations to join Colin Woodell, KJ Apa and Diane Guerrero in Myron Bolitar, Netflix’s drama series inspired by Harlan Coben’s book series, sources said. A rep for the streamer declined comment.
Fineman joined SNL as a featured player at the start of the 2019-20 season, which was disrupted by the pandemic. She came into her own in the show’s remote spring 2020 episodes with her made-at-home segments showcasing her great impersonation skills that became her SNL calling card.
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The roster of celebrities she has memorably portrayed on the show includes Drew Barrymore, Britney Spears, Nicole Kidman, Timothée Chalamet, JoJo Siwa, Sydney Sweeney, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Coolidge Phoebe Dynevor, convicted felon Anna Delvey as well as SNL‘s own Kate McKinnon.
Other sketches with her that have gone viral include Snack Homiez, Forever 31 as well as the Sleepover series and the Domingo franchise alongside Marcello Hernandez. (You can watch some of her top performances below.)
UPDATE: Following Deadline’s report, Fineman announced her departure from SNL with a heartfelt note on Instagram next to a carousel of photos and videos from her time on the show. She listed highlights from her tenure and thanked SNL boss Lorne Michaels.
After 7 wonderful seasons at SNL I have decided it’s time for my next chapter.
It’s cliche to say this but working at SNL has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t really believe I got to be a part of it. I fell in love with the place the second I walked through the door. Lorne (if you’re reading this on your burner account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.
Every day I was lucky enough to be surrounded by the best people in the business, and I was constantly amazed watching them work. Sewing a JoJo Siwa costume in 10 hours. Writing a cold open at 2pm on a Saturday. Finishing the VFX of a video minutes before dress (I don’t know if “finishing VFX” is the right technical term but you get the idea).I’m definitely not the first to make this observation but it really is funny looking back at it all now, because at the show you get so invested in everything you work on. You sob uncontrollably when your sketch isn’t picked. You storm into a producers office telling them they just made the biggest mistake of their lives. You call everyone you know to complain. And then you look back a few years later and it was a sketch called “lipstick for thicc dogs.”
In the most recent Season 51, Fineman was the longest-tenured SNL female cast member following the departures last summer of Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner.
With her exit, Fineman follows the standard trajectory for successful SNL cast members who leave after the end of their initial seven-year contract.
That practice has evolved over the past decade, with some established performers staying longer. For instance, Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che have been on the show for 13 and 12 seasons, respectively; Mikey Day, a writer behind some of SNL‘s most popular sketches in recent years, for 10. Then there is Kenan Thompson, the longest-tenured cast member ever and an SNL institution, at 23 years (and counting).
While she was on SNL, Fineman did voice work, including on Netflix’s Big Mouth and in Despicable Me 4. She also did an arc on Laid and appeared in Freakier Friday and Megalopolis.
