Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Newman was part of the original cast of NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from its inception in 1975 until her departure in 1980.^[1]

Newman took an interest at improv at Beverly Hills High School. After graduating in 1970, she studied mime with Marcel Marceau for a year in Paris. She then moved to Los Angeles and became a founding member of comedy improvisational group The Groundlings. She was first hired by Lorne Michaels for a Lily Tomlin TV special in 1974. The next year Newman became one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live, working there from 1975 to 1980 and creating characters like Connie Conehead, proto-Valley girl Sherry, and Christie Christina. In 2017, she and the rest of the original cast members of SNL were among the honorees of the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

She has appeared in movies like Stardust Memories, Problem Child 2, Coneheads, and The Flintstones. She is also a voice actor with appearances in both TV shows and movies, including many Pixar films like Finding Nemo, WALL-E, Up, and Inside Out. In 2021 her memoir May You Live in Interesting Times was released on Audible.

She is the younger sister of writer and musician Tracy Newman and the mother of actress and comedian Hannah Einbinder, and actor Spike Einbinder.

Newman was born on March 2, 1952,^[2][3] in Los Angeles, California,^[4] the granddaughter of a cattle rancher from Arizona. Her family is Jewish.^[5] She is the youngest of four children and has a twin brother Paul. Her sister, Tracy Newman, is an Emmy Award–winning television writer. Newman attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California and graduated from there in 1970. Newman married actor-writer-director Chad Einbinder in 1991; their marriage ended after 25 years. Newman and Einbinder have two children, Spike^[6] and Hannah, who are both actors and comedians.^[7]

The song "Never Let Her Slip Away," written and recorded by Andrew Gold, was about Newman. The two were a couple at the time. The song hit #5 on the UK charts in 1978.^[8]

Newman took her first improvisational theatre classes when she was 15. ^[9] After finishing high school she auditioned for four acting schools in England including the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Bristol Old Vic. She was not accepted after the second round of auditions for all four schools, so she went to Paris to study mime with Marcel Marceau for a year.^[10]

By the age of 19, Newman returned to the United States, and moved to Los Angeles, where she did a brief stint at a secretarial school. Committed to continue performing, she was a founding member of the pioneering comedy improvisational group The Groundlings.^[11] At the same time, Newman was working for a booking agent who worked with rock bands, typing up contracts.^[12]

Newman cites Eve Arden, Madeline Kahn and Richard Pryor as her first major influences, saying "They led me into my life of comedy, they led me into understanding 'The Art of Play.'"^[12]

In 1974, Lorne Michaels hired 22-year-old Newman for a Lily Tomlin special, impressed with her work as founder and original member of The Groundlings. A year later, she became an original cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980.^[13]

During her five years on SNL she became a close friend of co-star Gilda Radner, although there was also a degree of rivalry between them.^[14] The instant success of SNL propelled her to stardom very quickly. Newman recalled being stopped in the street in New York City by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who introduced themselves to her.^[15]

Newman admits that she was "never a good improviser," but when in character, like an angry Jewish poet, a flight attendant, an eccentric chef, or a British groupie, she was "free". Commenting on her early experiences during Saturday Night Live she said: "When I first performed (my characters) and the audience responded, I felt like crying, I mean the idea that what I saw—what other people saw—(meant) I wasn't so alone in my perspective. I hope this doesn't sound too overblown, but it really did feel like a Communion."^[16]

However, by her own account, Newman was unhappy for much of her time with the show. She disliked living in New York, and during her years on SNL, Newman had developed serious eating disorders, as well as a heroin addiction. She spent so much time in her dressing room playing solitaire that for Christmas 1979, castmate Radner gave her a deck of playing cards with a picture of Newman on the face of each card.^[17]

Newman was photographed as a vampire by Francesco Scavullo for the July 1978 issue of High Times. The accompanying interview introduced Newman as the "Skinny spaced-out sex symbol of Saturday Night Live."^[18]

Newman's post-SNL film career has been in both leading and supporting roles, as well as a voice artist in television and features.

In her memoirs Newman recounted dating Dan Aykroyd, Warren Zevon, Peter Cook, Phil Hartman, and P.J. O'Rourke. She was also in a relationship with Mark Mothersbaugh of the new wave band Devo years after the band did a guest spot in the fourth season of SNL. Newman and Mothersbaugh were a couple for years, during which time Newman played Donut Rooter in the band's We're All Devo VHS release (1984). In her memoirs, Newman claimed she was celibate for four years after the end of her relationship with Mothersbaugh.

Newman has been nominated for awards numerous times, most notably for an Emmy in 1979 as a cast member of Saturday Night Live.^[30]