Noël Wells

Noël Wells

Wells in November 2015
Born (1986-12-23) December 23, 1986
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Residence New York City
Los Angeles, California
Occupation Actress, comedian, filmmaker, rapper
Years active 2010–present

Noël Kristi Wells (born December 23, 1986)[1][2] is an American actress, comedian and filmmaker. She is known for her role as Rachel on Master of None and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live for the 2013–2014 season.

Early life

Wells was born in San Antonio, Texas.[3] Her father is a Tunisian immigrant, and her mother is of half Mexican descent.[4][5][6] She attended Memorial High School in Victoria, Texas, where she was active in speech and debate and graduated as salutatorian.[7] She graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 2010[8] with degrees in Plan II Honors and Radio-Television-Film.[9] While attending college, she was a cast member of Esther’s Follies,[10] Austin’s long-running musical satire show, where she performed in sketches and as a magician's assistant.[11] Before becoming an actress, she worked as an editor and did motion graphics. She says her parents named her Noël because she was born two days before Christmas.[12]

Career

In 2010, Wells moved to Los Angeles and performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre with the sketch team "New Money".[13][14] She has appeared in numerous Cracked.com and CollegeHumor videos,[15] and is also known for her own sketch and parody videos which have over 15 million views on YouTube.[16]

In 2013, Wells joined the cast of Saturday Night Live during its 39th season as a featured player along with fellow Upright Citizens Brigade performers John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, and Beck Bennett, as well as writer Mike O'Brien and stand-up Brooks Wheelan.[17][18][19] On July 15, 2014, it was announced that Wells would not be returning for a second season.[20][21]

Wells has made guest appearances on television programs such as The Aquabats! Super Show! and Comedy Bang! Bang!, as well as doing recurring voice work on Hulu's The Awesomes and Disney XD's Wander Over Yonder. In 2013, Wells starred in the independent film Forev which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.[22]

Wells at the Master of None premiere

In 2015, she co-starred on the critically acclaimed Netflix comedy Master of None, created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang. Wells played Rachel, the love-interest of Ansari's character. Hitfix's Alan Sepinwall said the "Dev/Rachel story is so smartly developed, with such strong chemistry between Ansari and Wells”, while Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson said her portrayal of Rachel was a “star-making...performance. it’s subtle, but not minimalist or deadpan”.[23][24][25] All 10 episodes premiered on November 6, 2015 and it won the 2016 Critics' Choice Award for Best Comedy.[26][27]

As of August 2015, Wells and partner Flint Wainess are developing a sitcom pilot for Comedy Central titled Bad Couple, which Wells would star in if ordered to series. Wells and Wainess are also consulting writers on the upcoming Netflix animated children's series Green Eggs and Ham, based on the popular Dr. Seuss book.[28]

In March 2017, Wells wrote, directed, and starred in the feature film Mr. Roosevelt which premiered at the SXSW film festival in Narrative Spotlight and won the Audience Award and Lewis Black Lone Star Jury Award.[29][30]

Personal life

Wells is an avid photographer and has had her photography featured in exhibitions and the literary magazine Oxford American.[31] She has lived in Los Angeles and New York.[32]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes Awards
2013 Forev Sophie
2016 Dreamland Joanna
2017 The Incredible Jessica James Tasha
2017 Infinity Baby Theresa
2017 Mr. Roosevelt Emily Martin Also writer and director SXSW Lone Star Award; SXSW Audience Award; DIFF Texas Award
2017 F*cking People Zoe Post-production
2017 The Adventures of Drunky (voice) Post-production
2017 Happy Anniversary Mollie Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2013 The Aquabats! Super Show! Rachel Moonbug Episode: "The Anti-Bats!"
2013–14 Saturday Night Live Various 21 episodes
2014 The Awesomes Cait Walker / Knight Light Voice
3 episodes
2014–16 Gentleman Lobsters Shell Voice
7 episodes
2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Aiden Tomasseto Episode: "Kid Cudi Wears a Denim Shirt and Red Sneakers"
2015–16 Wander Over Yonder Lord Dominator Voice
13 episodes
2015, 2017 Master of None Rachel 8 episodes
2016 The UCB Show Trish/Willow Episode: "Feel the Bern"
2016 Loosely Exactly Nicole Blix Episode: "Big Break"
2016 American Dad! DreamSmith Entertainment Announcer Voice
Episode: "Fight and Flight"

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Noel Wells Bio | Featured Player | Saturday Night Live". NBC. Archived from the original on 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2013-09-29.
  3. ↑ "Noel Wells". Notcommonpeople.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  4. ↑ "Noël Wells Master of None Interview". Cosmopolitan.com. 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  5. ↑  Sep 12, 2016 3:50PM EDT (2016-09-12). "Meet Melissa Villaseñor, 'SNL's' First Latina Cast Member". Colorlines. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  6. ↑ "As ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast reboots, questions about diversity emerge" Paul Farhi, Washington Post, October 3, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Local Girl Makes Big Time". Crossroadstoday.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-05. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  8. ↑ Abromavitch, Seth (11 September 2013). "How 'Saturday Night Live' Found 5 New Castmembers". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "RTF Student Noël Wells Thanks Family for IFC Internship". Radio Television Film College of Communications.
  10. ↑ Kiest, Jim. "UT grad may join ‘SNL’ cast". My San Antonio. Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  11. ↑ Tinkham, Chris. "Noël Wells - 2013 LA Film Fest Interview". Under the Radar Mag. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  12. ↑ "Noël Wells Rings In the Holidays With Saturday Night Live's Christmas Special". TV Guide. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  13. ↑ "Noel Wells". Upright Citizen Brigade Theater. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  14. ↑ Seth Abramovitch, Seth (11 September 2013). "Cheat Sheet: Get to Know the 5 New Faces of 'SNL'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. ↑ "Noel Wells". Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  16. ↑ "Noël". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  17. ↑ Carter, Bill (September 15, 2013). "New Course for ‘Update,’ and All of ‘SNL’". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  18. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie. "Michael Patrick O'Brien, Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennett, John Milhiser & Noël Wells Poised to Join Saturday Night Live Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  19. ↑ Luippold, Ross (2013-08-23). "'SNL' Cast Rumored To Add Noël Wells, Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien (UPDATE)". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
  20. ↑ "Noël Wells & John Milhiser Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ - Deadline". Deadline. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  21. ↑ O'Neal, Sean (July 14, 2014). "Noël Wells and John Milhiser Are Also Leaving Saturday Night Live". The A.V. Club.
  22. ↑ "Forev (2013) Movie Review". Film School Rejects. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  23. ↑ "Watch: Aziz Ansari Navigates Romance in Netflix's 'Master of None' Trailer". Variety. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  24. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan (November 3, 2015). "Review: Aziz Ansari is a 'Master of None' in fantastic new Netflix comedy". Hitfix.com. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  25. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (April 21, 2015). "Aziz Ansari Comedy Series A Go At Netflix". Deadline.com. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Master of None Trailer: Aziz Ansari Gets a Netflix Show". Slashfilm. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  27. ↑ "Master of None". 6 November 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2016 – via IMDb.
  28. ↑ Wright, Megh (2015-08-03). "Comedy Central Orders ‘Bad Couple’ Pilot Starring Noël Wells". Splitsider. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  29. ↑ O'Neill, Tyler. "‘Most Beautiful Island,’ ‘Mr. Roosevelt’ Steal the Show at 2017 SXSW". Backstage.com.
  30. ↑ Kelley, Seth. "SXSW Announces 2017 Audience Award Winners". Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Oxford American Best of the South". Flickr. Noel Wells. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  32. ↑ Tuck, Lauren. "5 Things You Need to Know About 'SNL' New Girl". Yahoo. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
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