She might be one of the most recognisable faces in comedy,
but Amy Poehler is more than just a performer.
She's also a writer, producer, author,
and, as of 2019,
feature film director.
Her latest release, Moxie,
is available to watch on Netflix UK and Ireland now.
But where did her impressive career begin?
Let's take a look.
I can pack my own grocery bag.
Yeah, I remember you.
Like many of her US comedy colleagues,
Poehler started out on the improv circuit,
where she met her friend and future collaborator Tina Fey.
After spending time in various Chicago comedy troupes,
she joined the Upright Citizens Brigade in 1991
as a loose collective of improv and sketch performers,
most of whom studied under the comedy guru Del Close.
In 1996,
four key members of the group, including Poehler,
decided to make the jump from Chicago to New York,
and the UCB four performed shows at small venues around the city.
By 1998, Poehler was making semi-regular appearances
on Late Night with Conan O'Brien,
playing her recurring role as Andy Richter's unhinged
orthodontically-challenged little sister, Stacy,
who often struggled with rejection from her talk show crush.
Like a cold worm on a hook!
But this worm has returned
as a cobra.
The same year, the Upright Citizens Brigade
got its own slot on Comedy Central,
an eponymous half-hour sketch comedy series
that ran for three seasons.
It's around now Poehler started making film appearances,
and her performance as Ruth in 1999's Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
is perhaps most notable.
Shove it up your ass!
She was cast in the film Wet Hot American Summer
the following year,
the debut feature from David Wain,
who included Poehler based on her work with the Upright Citizens Brigade.
You probably know what happened next.
One day, I'm going to look at a camera and I'm going to scream:
Live from New York,
it's Saturday night!
Poehler joined the cast of Saturday Night Live
at the start of the 2001 to 2002 season
after years of lobbying by her friend
and improv alumnus Tina Fey.
It didn't take long to prove Fey right.
Poehler was promoted from featured player to full cast member
in her first season on the show,
only the second cast member after Eddie Murphy
to earn this distinction.
Poehler took over Weekend Update when Jimmy Fallon left in 2004,
forever changing the dynamic of the show and setting her on the path
to becoming one of the most recognisable comics in the world.
Even bigger things beckoned.
Poehler appeared in 2004's Mean Girls, written by Tina Fey,
who created the role
of self-described "Cool Mom" Mrs George with Poehler in mind.
I'm not like a regular mom, I'm a cool mom.
-Right, Regina? -Please stop talking.
The same year, Poehler also began a recurring role in Arrested Development,
appearing as the unnamed wife of Gob,
played by then-husband Will Arnett.
They appeared together again in 2007's Blades of Glory,
the same year Poehler got her breakthrough voice-acting role
as Snow White in Shrek the Third.
Got you the biggest one, I love you the most.
A year later, in 2008,
she was reunited with Tina Fey for Baby Mama,
in which she plays Angie Ostrowski,
hired by Fey's character, Kate, to be her child's surrogate mother.
While this was happening, NBC was working on a new show
from producers Greg Daniels and Michael Schur,
meant to capitalise on the success of The Office.
Poehler and Schur were friends from their time together at SNL,
where Schur worked as a writer,
and he wanted her in his new project so much
that it was delayed so Poehler could have her first child.
And on July 21st, 2008,
NBC announced Poehler's new series, Parks and Recreation,
in which she stars as the irrepressible Leslie Knope.
Although the series wasn't a direct spin-off,
you can see the influence of The Office's Michael Scott
in the earliest iterations of Knope.
But by the second season, she'd grown into a unique comic creation
with a wider cultural relevance.
Galentine's Day,
which Leslie celebrates with her friends in an episode from Season 2,
transcended the show and is now celebrated IRL on the 13th of February.
As well as starring in the show, Poehler wrote and directed
some of its most critically acclaimed episodes.
Parks and Rec ran for seven seasons,
wrapping up in 2015,
just in time for Poehler to reunite with Tina Fey for Sisters,
a film about two very different siblings summoned back to their childhood home.
She starred in Pixar's Inside Out the same year,
providing the voice of Joy, an emotion living inside the head
of an 11-year-old girl.
Poehler remained busy for the next few years,
but it's worth calling out Russian Doll,
which is technically her first collaboration with Netflix.
Poehler created and exec-produced the show
alongside Natasha Lyonne and Leslye Headland.
An idea that was born seven years earlier
after Poehler remarked Lyonne was "the oldest girl in the world."
What a concept!
Poehler made her feature film directorial debut,
Wine Country, in 2019.
And now she's following it up with Moxie,
available to watch on Netflix UK and Ireland.
It's a film adaptation of the 2017 novel by Jennifer Mathieu
about a shy 16-year-old who rails against the sexist status quo at her high school
by anonymously publishing a zine that sparks a school-wide revolution.
Do you have a favourite Amy Poehler role? Let us know in the comments.
Subscribe to the channel for more features
about your favourite shows, movies and stars.