The Most Successful 'Saturday Night Live' Alumni

Ranker TV
Updated May 15, 2024 112.2K views 134 items
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11 reranks
Voting Rules
Vote up the former 'SNL' cast members who have done the most impressive work after their time on the show.

This list of the most successful Saturday Night Live alumni in the show’s history, has been ranked by SNL fans. In the 45+ seasons SNL has been on the air, there have been hundreds of cast members, each comedian bringing laughter into the homes of millions for multiple generations. Every few years cast members leave to pursue their acting, stand-up comedy, producing, and writing careers, making way for new cast members to become the new faces of sketch comedy. Many of the alumni of Saturday Night Live went on to be some of the most famous actors in movies, television, and theater.

Many comedic actors who are most known for their movies that make hundreds of millions of dollars got their start on SNL, such as Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, and Eddie Murphy. Other former SNL cast mates went on to create and/or star in some of the most successful television shows, such as Tina Fey’s 30 Rock and Amy Poehler’s Parks and Recreation. Jimmy Fallon ended up a late night host.

Which SNL cast members went on to have amazingly successful careers? Whose career simply faded away? Which are the most successful SNL alumni? Of the SNL full cast, there has been a wide range of success. This least features the Saturday Night Live alumni with the most success under their belts, many of which who have (and some who have not) returned to host the show that launched their careers.

 

Most divisive: Sarah Silverman
Over 4.5K Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Most Successful 'Saturday Night Live' Alumni
  • Nancy Carell
    91
    The Daily Show, Angie Tribeca, The Goode Family
    15 votes
    Nancy Ellen Carell (; née Walls; born July 19, 1966) is an American actress, comedian and writer best known for her work on Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show and The Office. In 2016, she co-created the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca with her husband, Steve Carell.
  • Jerry Minor
    92
    The Daily Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Lucky Louie
    15 votes
    Jerry Charles Minor Jr. (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor, comedian and writer known for his comedic roles in numerous television programs such as Mr. Show, Saturday Night Live, Trigger Happy TV, Delocated, Brickleberry, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Crossballs, The Hotwives of Orlando, Carpoolers, Community, and Lucky Louie.
  • Noël Wells
    93
    Saturday Night Live
    15 votes
    Noël Kristi Wells is an American actress, voice actress, and comedian who was most recently a cast member on Saturday Night Live for the 2013–2014 season.
  • Pamela Stephenson
    94
    Not The Nine O'Clock News, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Lost Empires
    17 votes
    Pamela Helen Stephenson, Lady Connolly (born 4 December 1949), is a New Zealand-born psychologist, writer, and performer who is now a resident in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s. She has written several books, which include a biography of her husband Sir Billy Connolly, and presented a psychology-based interview show called Shrink Rap on British and Australian television.
  • Charles Rocket
    95

    Charles Rocket

    Normal, Ohio, Tequila and Bonetti
    17 votes
    Charles Adams Claverie (August 28, 1949 – October 7, 2005), known by such stage names as Charlie Hamburger, Charlie Kennedy, and, most famously, Charles Rocket, was an American actor, comedian and television news reporter. He was best known for his tenure as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, for his role as the villain Nicholas Andre in the film Dumb and Dumber, and for his appearance as Dave Dennison, Max and Dani Dennison's father, in Disney's Hocus Pocus.
  • Aristotle Athari (born July 28, 1991) is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker of Iranian descent. In 2021, Athari joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for its forty-seventh season.
  • Tom Schiller
    97
    17 votes
    Tom Schiller is an American writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live (following the show's original short film makers Albert Brooks and Gary Weis). His films, often featuring members of the original SNL cast, aired on the program in a segment titled, "Schiller's Reel." He is the son of TV comedy writer/producer Bob Schiller.
  • Finesse Mitchell
    98
    Saturday Night Live, A.N.T. Farm
    18 votes
    Alfred Langston "Finesse" Mitchell (born June 12, 1972) is an American actor, author and stand-up comedian. From 2003 to 2006, he was a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Mitchell has also appeared on such television shows as Showtime at the Apollo, BET's ComicView, Comedy Central Presents, Disney's A.N.T. Farm and NBC's Late Friday.
  • Brad Hall
    99
    Brooklyn Bridge, The Single Guy, Watching Ellie
    18 votes
    William Brad Hall (born March 21, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, director and writer. He is best known as a Weekend Update news anchor on Saturday Night Live and for creating the sitcoms The Single Guy and Watching Ellie. Hall was a producer, writer, and director on the Golden Globe winning sitcom Brooklyn Bridge, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He has appeared in various motion pictures, most notably the 1986 cult classic Troll and as Nancy Allen's boyfriend in 1990's Limit Up. In 2012, he directed Picture Paris, which appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, he has guest-starred on series such as Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
  • Brooks Wheelan
    100
    Saturday Night Live
    18 votes
    Brooks Patrick Wheelan is an American stand-up comedian who was most recently a cast member on Saturday Night Live for the 2013–2014 season. Wheelan was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and his hometown is Manchester, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 2009 with a biomedical engineering degree.
  • Melanie Hutsell
    101
    Melanie Kay Hutsell (born August 2, 1968) is an American comedic actress and writer best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1991 to 1993.
  • Laura Kightlinger
    102
    Lucky Louie, Tenacious D, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman
    18 votes
    Laura Kightlinger is an American actress, comedian and writer. She was a writer and consulting producer on Will & Grace, while also occasionally appearing on the show as the character Nurse Sheila. Kightlinger also played the title role in the TV show The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, which she created, wrote and executive produced.
  • Alan Zweibel
    103
    Curb Your Enthusiasm, It's Garry Shandling's Show
    18 votes
    Alan Zweibel (born May 20, 1950) is an American producer and writer who has worked on such productions as Saturday Night Live, PBS' Great Performances, and It's Garry Shandling's Show.
  • Mike O-Brien
    104

    Mike O-Brien

    18 votes
    Mike O-Brien is an actor.
  • Jim Downey
    105
    Saturday Night Live
    18 votes
    James Woodward Downey (born 1952) is an American comedy writer and occasional actor. Downey has written for over 30 seasons of Saturday Night Live.
  • Tim Kazurinsky
    106
    Big City Comedy
    18 votes
    Timothy James "Tim" Kazurinsky (born March 3, 1950) is an American actor and screenwriter best known as a cast member and writer on Saturday Night Live and for his role as Carl Sweetchuck in the Police Academy films.
  • Emily Prager
    107
    18 votes
    Emily Prager is an American author and journalist. Prager grew up in Texas, Taiwan, and Greenwich Village, New York City. She is a graduate of the Brearley School, Barnard College and has a master's degree in Applied Linguistics.
  • Gail Matthius
    108
    Tiny Toon Adventures, Snorks, Bobby's World
    18 votes
    Gail Matthius (born December 14, 1953) is an American actress, voice actress and comedian. She was a cast member of NBC's Saturday Night Live during its critical and ratings low point at the time (the 1980–1981 season headed by Jean Doumanian), and co-anchored the Weekend Update segment with Charles Rocket in 1981.
  • Michaela Watkins
    109
    Trophy Wife, Benched
    20 votes
    Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series Casual and on the short-lived ABC sitcom Trophy Wife, as well as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2009. She has also recurred on television series such as The New Adventures of Old Christine, Enlightened and Transparent, and has had appearances in the films The Back-up Plan (2010), Wanderlust (2012), Enough Said (2013), and Sword of Trust (2019).
  • Danitra Vance
    110
    Danitra Vance (July 13, 1954 – August 21, 1994) was an American comedian and actress best known as a cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live (SNL) during its eleventh season and for work in feature films like Sticky Fingers (1988), Limit Up (1990) and Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992). She performed for The Second City, was an "Off-Broadway favorite", and was the first black woman of the primary SNL cast and tied for the first LGBT member, though she was not openly out. Her comedy and theater work featured themes of social issues, including that of being consistently stereotyped during casting. During her career, she received an Obie Award and an NAACP Image Award. In 1989, Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer. She performed several works through remission and recurrence until her death in 1994. Before her death, she requested her family host her services at an amusement park.
  • Peter Aykroyd
    111
    Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal
    20 votes
    Peter Jonathan Aykroyd (November 19, 1955 – c. November 20, 2021) was a Former Canadian actor, comedian, SNL Cast member and writer.
  • Ellen Cleghorne
    112
    Cleghorne!
    247 votes
    Ellen Cleghorne (born November 29, 1965) is an American actress and comedian, best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1991 to 1995. Cleghorne was the sketch comedy show's second African-American female repertory cast member, succeeding Danitra Vance in its eleventh season, and the first African-American female cast member to stay for more than one season. She returned for its 40th anniversary special on February 15, 2015. Cleghorne was ranked the 69th greatest Saturday Night Live cast member by Rolling Stone magazine.
  • A. Whitney Brown
    113
    The Daily Show
    239 votes
    Alan Whitney Brown (born July 8, 1952) is an American writer and comedian best known for work on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s. In addition to writing for the program, he appeared opposite Dennis Miller in a biting satirical Weekend Update commentary segment called "The Big Picture." He won a 1988 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program, along with Al Franken, Tom Davis, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Lorne Michaels and Conan O'Brien. He was also one of the original correspondents on Comedy Central's The Daily Show from 1996 to 1998.
  • Denny Dillon
    114
    Dream On, Women in Prison, Hot Hero Sandwich
    251 votes
    Denise "Denny" Dillon (born May 18, 1951) is an American actress and comedian. First known as a stage actress, who was nominated for a Tony Award on Broadway, Dillon appeared for a season on Saturday Night Live and has done other television and film acting. In recent years, she has continued to act in theatre and both teaches and performs in improv comedy.
  • Dan Vitale
    115
    15 votes
    Dan Vitale is an actor.
  • Christine Ebersole
    116
    Bobby's World, The Hogan Family, Ryan's Hope
    15 votes
    Christine Ebersole (born February 21, 1953) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in film, television, and on stage. She appeared on Broadway in the musical 42nd Street, winning a Tony Award, and appeared both off-Broadway and on Broadway in the musical Grey Gardens, winning her second Tony Award. She has co-starred on the TBS sitcom Sullivan & Son, in which she played Carol Walsh, and earned an Emmy Award nomination for her work in One Life to Live. Ebersole also appeared in the critically maligned 1988 cult film Mac and Me.
  • Luke Null
    117

    Luke Null

    15 votes
  • Lauren Holt
    118

    Lauren Holt

    15 votes
  • Jon Rudnitsky
    119

    Jon Rudnitsky

    15 votes
  • Morwenna Banks
    120
    Peppa Pig, Saxondale, Monkey Dust
    15 votes
    Tamsin Morwenna Banks (born 20 September 1961) is a British comedy actress, writer and producer known for her roles as Mummy Pig, Madame Gazelle and Dr Hamster in the children's series Peppa Pig.