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Andrea Savage

Andrea Savage has built a career around comedy that is sharp, awkward and willing to push a scene into uncomfortable territory. Born in Santa Monica on February 20, 1973, she first took the stage as the title character in a high-school production of Mame. She later graduated cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in government and a minor in law studies. Savage began her screen career as Brazilian exchange student Renata Vargas on Sweet Valley High before joining The Groundlings, where she performed weekly with the theater company. Starring roles in Significant Others and Dog Bites Man followed, establishing the mix of character work and comic commitment that would run through much of her career. On film, Savage played Denise in Step Brothers opposite Will Ferrell and appeared with Woody Harrelson in The Grand. She later featured in Dinner for Schmucks, You’re Not You, Look Both Ways and the animated Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe. Her television work has ranged from the reality-show parody The Hotwives to appearances in Modern Family, House of Lies, The League, Episodes and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Savage has also shaped her own material as a screenwriter and director. Her 2012 directorial debut, Republicans, Get in My Vagina, was a satirical PSA she wrote and starred in alongside Kate Beckinsale and Judy Greer. She went on to create and star in the semi-autobiographical comedy I’m Sorry, which premiered in 2017 and ran for two seasons; a planned third season was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her later roles show her range within comedy and drama. On Veep, she played Senator Laura Montez, who eventually becomes president through the show’s characteristically tangled constitutional maneuvering. In 2022, she took on the role of Stacy Beale opposite Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King. Across acting, writing and directing, Savage’s work is marked by an instinct for finding the joke inside social friction—and staying with it after most characters would politely back away.