(1981-)

Who Is Amy Schumer?

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer began her stand-up career in the mid-2000s. She followed a steady rise to fame, placing fourth on NBC’s Last Comic Standing in 2007, and releasing her first album four years later. In 2013 her show Inside Amy Schumer debutedon Comedy Central, winning an Emmy two years later. She wrote and starred in the 2015 summer comedy hit Trainwreck, and earned a Tony nomination following her 2017 Broadway debut in Meteor Shower.

Early Years

Amy Beth Schumer was born June 1, 1981, in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. She is one of three children and the oldest daughter of Sandra and Gordon Schumer, who owned a successful baby furniture company in New York City. Gordon is also the cousin of United States Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

In her early years, Schumer’s life was defined by her father’s success. But the family’s fortunes quickly changed when Gordon was struck by multiple sclerosis. The business went bankrupt, and shortly after moving the family to Long Island, Schumer’s parents divorced. Her father’s physical demise and the resulting change to her family’s status greatly affected Schumer and her approach to life.

“To see them – to see their descent, to watch his body sort of decompose, it’s pretty – it really darkens you and it really lets you know that you have no control over life,” Schumer revealed in a 2013 interview with NPR. “When I’m dating someone I think would I want to push their wheelchair? Would this guy push my wheelchair? My mind goes there if I’ve been dating somebody for a year or two, and I don’t think that happens to people unless they’ve taken care of a sick relative.”

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Finding an outlet in being the center of attention, Schumer was voted class clown during her senior year of high school in 1999. She majored in theater at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland, and then continued her studies at the esteemed William Esper Studio in New York City.

Comedy Career

In the mid-2000s, Schumer began testing the waters as a stand-up comic, steadily working her way up the comedy club chain at venues such as New York’s Comedy Cellar.

‘Inside Amy Schumer’

Her first national exposure came in 2007 when she placed fourth on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. In 2011, she released her debut stand-up album, Cutting, and gained more recognition after killing it on The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. A year later, Comedy Central gave her the platform for her first comedy special, Mostly Sex Stuff. The cable network then turned the keys over to her for a comedy show, Inside Amy Schumer, in 2013. The much talked about series won its first Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.

‘Trainwreck’

Schumer’s comedy is cutting and revealing, touching on sex, relationships and gender inequality in a way that few comics have dared to try. Along with other actresses like Kristen Wiig, she’s helped shed the Hollywood bias that female comics are best suited for character roles. She demonstrated her ability to carry a film with her 2015 summer hit, Trainwreck, a semi-biographical portrait that co-starred Bill Hader and was directed by Judd Apatow.

“I was falling in love with a guy and scared out of my mind,” Schumer told Entertainment Weekly, while describing the film’s inspiration. “Judd and I talked about how all these defense mechanisms that get you through things start to bite you in the ass. I was trying to sabotage the relationship because I was afraid of getting hurt.”

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Book and Broadway’s ‘Meteor Shower’

Schumer’s 2016 memoir, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, landed on The New York Times Best Sellers list. In 2017 she starred in the mother-daughter comedy Snatched, with comedy legend Goldie Hawn, and also made her debut on Broadway with a Tony-nominated role in Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower.

‘I Feel Pretty’ and Podcast

In 2018 Schumer starred in the comedy I Feel Pretty, opposite Michelle Williams, as main character Renee Barrett who goes from flawed-to-fearless after waking up from a terrible fall. That year she also launched the podcast 3 Girls, 1 Keith, with fellow comedians Rachel Feinstein, Bridget Everett and Keith Robinson.

‘Growing’ and ‘Amy Schumer Learns to Cook’

Schumer returned to stand-up in 2019 with the Netflix special Growing, her pregnancy a central focus of the set. The following year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, she took a page from the home-produced shows of late-night hosts like Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel and teamed with her husband to create the Food Network’s Amy Schumer Learns to Cook.

Gun Control Advocacy

Schumer has not been afraid to leverage her celebrity to shed light on important causes to her. In August 2015, she teamed up with Senator Schumer to push for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill.

For Schumer, the issue became personal after a mentally ill gunman killed two people and wounded nine others at a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater that was showing Trainwreck.

“I’ve thought about these victims each day since the tragedy,” Schumer said. [The shooter] shouldn’t have been able to put his hand on a gun in the first place.”

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Personal Life

After splitting from furniture designer Ben Hanisch in May 2017, Schumer began dating chef Chris Fischer. Rarely spotted together, they finally went public with their relationship by posting a romantic Instagram photo on February 11, 2018. Two days later, the couple tied the knot in a private ceremony in Malibu, before a group that included Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Lawrence, Larry David and David Spade.

On October 22, 2018, the pair announced that they were expecting their first child. One week after disclosing the baby’s gender, Schumer gave birth to her son, Gene Attell Fischer, on May 5, 2019. The following year, she revealed that the baby’s middle name had been changed to David.

QUICK FACTS

  • Birth Year: 1981
  • Birth date: June 1, 1981
  • Birth State: New York
  • Birth City: New York
  • Birth Country: United States
  • Gender: Female
  • Best Known For: Stand-up comic and actress Amy Schumer is best known for creating the hit show ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ and the 2015 movie ‘Trainwreck.’
  • Industries
    • Film
    • Television
  • Astrological Sign: Gemini
  • Schools
    • Towson University

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CITATION INFORMATION

  • Article Title: Amy Schumer Biography
  • Author: Biography.com Editors
  • Website Name: The Biography.com website
  • Url: https://www.biography.com/actors/amy-schumer
  • Access Date:
  • Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
  • Last Updated: May 13, 2021
  • Original Published Date: September 9, 2015

QUOTES

  • Boxing is like stand-up. Getting hit in boxing really made me feel stronger as a stand-up, because it’s like having your worst fears happen to you. That gives you power, because you’re no longer scared of it happening anymore. You got hit, and it hurt, but you’re okay.