Whatever Happened To Ellie Kemper?

Throughout the 2010s, Ellie Kemper was consistently one of the funniest actors across television. She joined the cast of "The Office" in 2009 as Erin Hannon, the new receptionist at Dunder Mifflin, who increasingly got dumber (yet funnier) as the series went on. Kemper was actually all right with the idea of losing out on her "Office" role since she still got a chance to audition with Ed Helms, but fate had other things in store. Erin was also only supposed to stick around for a few episodes, but she kept getting added to other storylines and remained an integral part of the show until its finale. She parlayed that success into various mainstream comedies on the big screen, like "Bridesmaids" and "21 Jump Street." 

Once "The Office" ended, Kemper got the titular role in Netflix's "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Somehow, this show was even zanier than "The Office," as Kemper plays a woman who escapes a cult and tries to reintegrate back into society. "Kimmy Schmidt" ended in 2019 and got an interactive movie, "Kimmy vs the Reverend," to help close things out in 2020. But after such immense success across multiple TV shows and films, fans might wonder what she's been up to over the last few years. Even if you haven't seen her with the same regularity as when she was on "The Office" and "Kimmy Schmidt," she's still plenty busy these days. 

Anyone wondering what happened to Ellie Kemper probably just hasn't seen her last few projects. She's continued acting since "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" ended, but generally, these have been more low-key films. She plays Pam McKenzie in "Home Sweet Home Alone," who, along with her husband Jeff (Rob Delaney), try to steal a valuable doll from Max Mercer's (Archie Yates) home when he's been left alone by the rest of his family. Pam and Jeff become the burglars falling for all of Max's traps in this reboot, and, honestly, her and Delaney are some of the best parts of "Home Sweet Home Alone." Kemper put her safety on the line for this role, as she actually caught on fire during one of the stunts, and Delaney had to put her out using his Santa hat. She told ScreenRant, "I felt something very hot that, being a dutiful student, I thought, 'Well, this is just part of it.' But it turned out it was fire, and [Delaney] did save me."

Kemper also starred in the 2023 Netflix original movie "Happiness for Beginners." This romantic comedy sees Kemper play Helen, a woman trying to get back on her feet following a divorce, so she signs up for a survivalist course in the Appalachian Trail. It's here she meets Jake (Luke Grimes), and the two begin a whirlwind romance. These movies haven't penetrated the zeitgeist the way "Bridesmaid" did, so it's understandable if a lot of people aren't aware of them. It also probably doesn't help that both films went straight to streaming, with "Home Sweet Home Alone" being a Disney+ project. Kemper's still getting plenty of work, it's just that the projects aren't as readily visible as the stuff she's done in the past. 

Another reason you might not have seen Ellie Kemper recently other than the fact that her more recent movies get buried on streaming services is that she's done a lot of voiceover work lately. She worked on "The Simpsons," for example, voicing Mary in the Season 32 episode "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas." The episode takes aim at how all those Hallmark Christmas movies follow the same predictable plot, with Kemper's Mary traveling to Springfield to check on a Christmas movie production. She winds up getting wrapped up in a romance plot with Principal Skinner of all people.

Kemper voiced Ingrid Witherstrop in the "Central Park" episode "Where There's Smoke," and she also had a recurring part in "Eureka!" The latter is a Disney Junior series about a young girl in prehistoric times who wants to better the world through her various inventions. Kemper voices Chee, the school librarian. All of these recent voiceover roles are nothing new for Kemper: She's been part of many cartoons, including "We Bare Bears" and "Sofia the First." She's also lent her voiceover talents to both "Secret Life of Pets" movies as Katie, the human owner of Max and Duke, and "The Lego Batman Movie," in which she plays Phyllis, the sentient 2x4 brick who acts as the the gatekeeper of the Phantom Zone.

Shortly after Ellie Kemper starred in "Bridesmaids," she went straight to being a bride: She married writer Michael Koman in 2012. It's a match made in comedy heaven, as Koman has worked on "Saturday Night Live," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Important Things with Demetri Martin," "and "Nathan for You," among others. Korman helped pen some of the best "Nathan for You" business plans, like the haunted house that made people think they contracted a deadly disease.

The couple has two children together. The first was born in 2016 while the second came in 2019, meaning both pregnancies impacted her time on "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Her first pregnancy happened while filming Season 2. Kemper said on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" that she told the show's co-creator, Tina Fey, about it, and they had to come up with a story about how she had a back injury so that she didn't have to do a scene on a roller coaster. However, she's not a good liar, as she explained to Fallon. "I could not act like I had a back injury," Kemper said. "I'm an actress, presumably. Someone would ask what's wrong and words escaped me, like, 'Oh, I sprained my spine.'"

Her second pregnancy coincided with the filming of the "Kimmy vs. the Reverend" special, and she admitted on "Ellen" that she felt bad for her co-star Daniel Radcliffe. "I felt so bad he had to kiss this old pregnant lady over and over again," she explained. "There was a moment when he grazed my belly ... It felt wrong, but he's a trooper. He's very lovely." This is all to say that, in addition to continuing to act since 2019, she's also been busy raising her children. 

From watching her numerous interviews, it's clear Ellie Kemper has an infectiously bubbly personality. She always seems to be having the time of her life, which makes it appropriate that in 2023 she started a podcast called "Born to Love." Along with her co-host, Scott Eckert, the pair have a celebrity guest most weeks, and they discuss what the guest loves most in the world. Kemper's "Office" co-star Jenna Fischer appeared on an episode to talk about the best Keanu Reeves movies while Randall Park (who played Asian Jim on "The Office") joined them to talk about how much he enjoys the New York City Marathon. 

Kemper said on "The Bobby Bones Show" that she really wanted to do something with her long-time friend, Eckert, and this specific podcast seemed like a great idea to her. "He lives in L.A., I'm in New York, so it's an easy thing to accomplish long distance," she explained. However, the podcast is way more than an excuse for two friends to work together. "This is corny, but we actually wanted to make something that was buoyant and joyful," Kemper said. "There's a lot going on in the world, so we wanted this to be a really nice little escape where people — wonderful personalities — come on and talk about things that bring them joy."

Other guests include Justin Long (who came on to talk about his love of gardening), Gail Simmons (who is obsessed with time travel fiction), Roz Chast (who goes into detail about her love of leftovers), and Samantha Bee (who does a deep dive on her very relatable love of cats).

Ellie Kemper is a true multihyphenate. In addition to being an actor and podcaster, she also published her own book in 2018 called "My Squirrel Days." The book's a collection of essays about Kemper growing up in Missouri and then the trials and tribulations she faced trying to make it in Hollywood. While there are chapters dedicated to her time working on "The Office" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," it's more about offering a comprehensive portrayal of Kemper and all of the jobs she worked prior to her big break. 

Fans of Kemper's work will likely be delighted by all the interesting trivia and tidbits in the book. For example, Kemper reveals that she auditioned for the role of Donna on "Parks and Recreation" that eventually went to Retta, and this led to her landing her "Office" gig. She also confirms that the original title for "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" was "Tooken" (like "Taken," but silly). She even goes into detail about the advice she received from Steve Carell, Tina Fey, and Ricky Gervais early in her career. Writing the book was also a chance for Kemper to re-contextualize moments from years ago, as she explained to St. Louis Magazine: "I seem to remember myself as being much more timid, but when I revisited these episodes both in my mind and through old emails, letters, and scrapbooks and such, I found that I had a lot more verve than I remember myself as having."

Kemper also helped bring the world of Kimmy Schmidt to life by narrating the audiobook version of "The Legends of Greemulax." The book that Kimmy wrote in the world of the show was released for real in 2019, but while Kimmy's name is on the cover, it was actually written by Montreal native Sarah Mlynowski, the author of the "Whatever After" series.

In 2023, Ellie Kemper made her Broadway debut with a limited engagement for "Peter Pan Goes Wrong." As the title suggests, this is a comedic play in which a drama association attempts to put on a production of J.M. Barrie's famous tale but gets thwarted at every turn, with technical issues and rivalries between cast members threatening to derail the whole thing. Kemper filled in for Neil Patrick Harris in the role of Francis for performances between June 20 and 25 that year, and she proved to be the perfect choice. Francis plays both the Narrator and the pirate Cecco in the play-within-the-play, and also works tirelessly to keep everything afloat.

In a statement announcing her temporary casting (via Playbill), the producers said: "We are excited to welcome Ellie to the show and especially thrilled that she has previous experience portraying an unbreakable person. This talent should serve her well in 'Peter Pan Goes Wrong.'" Kemper was naturally ecstatic over her big Broadway debut. She posted a picture of herself backstage on Instagram along with the caption: "This is one of those 'not a big deal' photos of a (Broadway) actress backstage in her (Broadway) dressing room getting ready for her first (Broadway) rehearsal - for her first run on (Broadway)!"

Despite having a bubbly personality and playing adorable characters, Ellie Kemper's career hasn't been totally absent of controversy. In 2021, Kemper found herself in a firestorm when social media users uncovered articles about how she was crowned the Queen of the St. Louis Veiled Prophet Ball in 1999, when she was 19 years old. The Veiled Prophet organization has racist and sexist origins dating back to 1878. On top of crowning a Queen, "the ball features a Veiled Prophet, an anonymous man in a costume resembling KKK garbs," the St. Louis law firm Kennedy Hunt confirms. "What's more, Black men weren't allowed into VP until 1979."

The organization continues to be affiliated with white supremacist and patriarchal ideologies, so Kemper naturally came under fire for her affiliation with the group's annual beauty pageant, which has existed since its founding. Kemper quickly denounced the organization on Instagram with a lengthy apology and explanation: "The century-old organization that hosted the debutante ball had an unquestionably racist, sexist, and elitist past. I was not aware of this history at the time, but ignorance is no excuse. I was old enough to have educated myself before getting involved." This will no doubt be remembered as one of the many controversial things actors have done that fans won't soon forget. 

Ellie Kemper is clearly a woman of many passions, from acting and writing to podcasting. She's also quite the fitness buff, and in 2022, she took her fitness goals to the next level by running the New York City marathon. She posted the accomplishment to her Instagram and then discussed it during a "Today" appearance where she admitted to texting her sister partway through the race to say: "This is the worst day of my life." However, she had changed her tune by the time she crossed the finish line. "I was like, that was the best day of my life. I did it. One way or another, I finished."

It turns out that she's always been into eating healthy and working out, as she thrives on the buzz that exercise brings. However, she's had to adjust her approach to training as she's gotten older. When she sat down for a candid interview with The Cut, she said: "As I've grown into an older woman, I take the message about balance more seriously. When I was younger, it was more about go, go, go and trying to burn the candle from both ends. Now I'm more okay with not always doing everything at 110 percent." That's a smart approach no matter your age, and is likely part of the reason Kemper is still so full of energy in her 40s.

In 2023, it was reported that Ellie Kemper was set to star in and produce a new comedy series tentatively titled "Drop Off," a U.S. adaptation of the BAFTA-nominated British sitcom "Motherland." The original, which debuted in 2017, was a big hit across the Atlantic, scoring rave reviews (the first season has a Certified Fresh rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes). "Drop Off" received a pilot order from ABC according to Variety, which also shared the logline: "Julia (Ellie Kemper) is a working mom for whom nothing is working so she goes looking for her village. With the help of new friends Calvin and Liz, Julia discovers she just might succeed at balancing work and parenting from time to time."

Shortly after news of the American remake broke, some more casting announcements trickled in, with Judy Greer ("Jurassic World") getting the role of another mom, Amanda, who seems to have her life together in contrast to Kemper's Julia. According to The Wrap, Amanda is an "an expert at the art of a compliment that's actually an insult." Karan Soni ("Safety Not Guaranteed") and Michaela Conlin ("Bones") were also cast as the aforementioned Calvin and Liz, respectively. 

All of this news came out in 2023, and since that time, there haven't been any updates as to whether the pilot was filmed or if it's been picked up for more episodes. It could very well be dead in the water, which would be sad news for fans of Kemper. However, sometimes it takes a while for these projects to get significant momentum. Regardless, Kemper is still very busy being both a performer and mother while pursuing other creative avenues, and her next big project could be right around the corner.