Jon Rudnitsky

Not to be confused with John Rudnicki.

Jon Rudnitsky
Rudnitsky performing in July 2016
Born	(1989-11-22) November 22, 1989 (age 34) Harrington Park, New Jersey, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, film, television
Years active	2011–present

Jon Rudnitsky (born November 22, 1989) ^[1] is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Rudnitsky garnered widespread attention for his brief stint as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live during the show's 41st season between 2015 and 2016. Since his departure from SNL, he has also played McWatt in the 2019 miniseries Catch-22 .

Early life

Rudnitsky is a native of Harrington Park, New Jersey. ^[2] His mother, Karen, is a social worker at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey, ^[3] and his father, Steven, is a businessman in the hospitality industry. ^[4]

Rudnitsky attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan. ^[5] He subsequently studied acting at the University of Southern California. His maternal uncle is Michael Oren, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States. ^[6] Rudnitsky is Jewish. ^[7]

Career

Rudnitsky performed with the Groundlings. ^[8] On August 31, 2015, it was announced that Rudnitsky would join the cast of Saturday Night Live as a featured player for the show's forty-first season. ^{[9] [10]} In the third episode of that season, Rudnitsky portrayed Anderson Cooper in a sketch, acting as moderator for a Democratic presidential debate, for which he received criticism from Cooper. ^[11] He has also done impressions of Wolf Blitzer, John Mayer, Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, and Vladimir Putin (in a dress rehearsal sketch on the season 41 episode hosted by Donald Trump), while also doing a Dirty Dancing sketch for Weekend Update, which was seen as one of his high points for the season. ^[12] On August 9, 2016, it was reported that Rudnitsky would not be returning to the show for the following season. ^[13]

In 2017, Rudnitsky starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in the romantic comedy film Home Again . ^[14] In 2018, Jon played Mike in the Netflix release Set It Up .

He starred alongside Jane Lynch and Genevieve Angelson in the NBC pilot Relatively Happy, which was not picked up. ^[15]

In March 2020, Rudnitsky was cast as Mike Devries in the musical comedy-drama television series The Big Leap , which premiered on Fox on September 20, 2021. ^{[16] [17]}

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2011	A Made Man	Voice	Short film
2013	The Jewish Hunger Games	Peeta Hummus / Effie Trinket	Short film
2014	Legends of the Hidden Temple: The Movie	Bar Patron	Short film
	Two-Bit Waltz	The Boy
	The Great American Comedy Tour	Laugh Factory Host	Short film
2015	Clint Howard Reboots Pippi Longstocking with Milla Jovovich and Fred Willard	Assius	Short film
	Patchwork	Lance
2017	Home Again	George
2018	Summer Days, Summer Nights	Mello
	Set It Up	Mike
	Nobody's Fool	Benji
2020	All My Life	Chris (Bartender)
2023	The Young Wife	Dave
	Under the Boardwalk	Jimmy	Voice
	Wish	Dario	Voice
2024	I Love You Forever	Lucas
	Our Little Secret	TBA	Post-production
	Stealing Pulp Fiction	TBA	Post-production

Television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Criminal Minds	Kyle Owens	Episode: "Perennials"
2013	JewDate	Jake	Episode: "Jenga!"
2015–2016	Saturday Night Live	Various	Featured player
2017	Better Briefs	Kyle	Episode: "Locked Out in Your Underwear"
	Red Oaks	Brett	Episode: "Paroled"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Waiter	Episode: "Namaste"; Uncredited
	Relatively Happy	Henry Pepper	TV pilot
2018	Champions	Asher	Recurring role
	Big Hero 6: The Series	Ned Ludd (voice)	3 episodes
2019	Catch-22	McWatt	Miniseries
2020	The Big Leap	Mike	Main role
2021	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Asa	Episode: "Irma Kostroski"
2022	Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous	Cyrus (voice)	Guest role: Season 5

References

1. "Jon Rudnitsky Joins SNL Cast | Blog". NBC. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
2. Zhu, Danielle (2015-08-31). "Meet Jon Rudnitsky, SNL's newest cast member". Entertainment Weekly .
3. "Michael Oren's parents recall his 'out-there' youth".
4. "CI Capital takes a stake in WTS International – Steven Rudnitsky named as vice chair". spa business. November 14, 2019. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
5. Sheridan, Angeline. "Here's What's Buzzing in Bergen This Week", Macaroni Kid Northeast Bergen, September 3, 2015. Accessed September 8, 2015. "NBC recently announced the addition of 25 year old Jon Rudnitsky as a featured player on Saturday Night Live. Rudnitsky, who grew up in Harrington Park, is a stand-up comedian who got his start at Northern Valley Old Tappan High School."
6. "MK Michael Oren congratulates nephew on joining cast of SNL – Israel News – Jerusalem Post". Jpost.com. 5 September 2015. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
7. Bloom, Nate (18 September 2015). "celebrity jews". J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
8. Andreeva, Nellie (2015-08-31). "'Saturday Night Live' Adds Comedian Jon Rudnitsky To Cast As Featured Player". Deadline.com.
9. Arkin, Daniel (2015-08-31). "Jon Rudnitsky, Stand-Up Comic, Joins 'Saturday Night Live' as Featured Player". NBC News .
10. Gus Wezerek (2019-12-14). "The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2019-12-16. Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.
11. "Anderson Cooper offended by 'SNL' newcomer's impression". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 2016-07-02.
12. LaScala, Marisa (7 February 2016). "'SNL' Newbie Jon Rudnitsky Finally Makes His Mark On The Show With A 'Dirty Dancing' Parody". Bustle.com.
13. Andreeva, Nellie (9 August 2016). "'Saturday Night Live' Featured Player Jon Rudnitsky To Depart". Deadline.com.
14. "'SNL' Alum Jon Rudnitsky Joins Reese Witherspoon in 'Home Again' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
15. Schwindt, Oriana (2017-03-14). "Jane Lynch Joins NBC Pilot 'Relatively Happy'". Variety. Retrieved 2017-07-17.
16. "'The Big Leap': Simone Recasner & Jon Rudnitsky Join Fox Dramedy Pilot". Deadline. March 11, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
17. "Fox previews The Big Leap during Network Upfronts". | Reel Chicago - At the intersection of Chicago Advertising, Entertainment, Media and Production. May 17, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2021.

External links

• Jon Rudnitsky at IMDb