The sketches on NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) go by in a flash. Lights, camera, action, repeat. The cast moves as a unit. They have to, one misstep could affect the flow of the entire show. Veteran members know their movements, tracing the same lines and working with the crew seamlessly. This season, however, a newcomer is figuring out her place in the routine. But she is no stranger to the harried backstage atmosphere, to lightning-fast costume changes or last-minute touch-ups. Because just over a decade ago, she was going through all of the same motions in the wings of the Alan Harvey Theater.
PHS alumna Chloe Fineman has joined the cast of SNL in its 45th season, which premiered on Sept. 28, 2019. Chloe graduated from PHS in 2006, going on to study at New York University and perform with Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings before making her debut on SNL.
Chloe’s father, David Fineman, said that her interest in performing was clear even in her earliest days.
“She did soccer for a little bit, but it was never her,” David said. “At one game, I saw her standing on the sidelines just twirling her hair. I asked her if she was actually interested in [soccer], and she said right away that she would rather be a dancer.”
Though Chloe was always passionate about the performing arts, her interests truly blossomed in her high school theatre classes, David said.
“She was really close to Joe Piazza and Kim Taylor” he said. “They were very formative in those years, and I think their support really drove her to continue with acting.”
Acting teacher Kim Taylor taught Chloe during her junior and senior year, Taylor said.
“Back then, Joe Piazza taught some of the acting classes,” she said. “So he had her in acting freshman and sophomore year, and I had her as [an upperclassman].”
Taylor said that as a student, Chloe sought out any opportunity to get involved in school productions. In both her junior and senior years, when she was not participating in class plays, Chloe took on the task of producing, directing, and starring in plays as an independent project.
“One year, she did “The Vagina Monologues”, and the administration didn’t want the students to do it at the school, so she [made some changes] and then rented the Veterans Hall,” Taylor said. “She was always very driven to do as many plays as possible.”
David said that by the time Chloe was looking into colleges, she had set her sights on acting completely.
“She only applied to one school, [New York University’s] Tisch School for the Arts,” he said. “[The counselors] warned her against it, in case she didn’t get in or she changed her mind, but I told her to go for what she wanted. I think at 17, you should be allowed to reinvent yourself.”
Taylor said that after graduating, Chloe returned to PHS multiple times to help direct some of the intense scenes in productions of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “August, Osage County”.
“She was very good at sort of larger-than-life, cathartic moments as a dramatic actor,” Taylor said.
Taylor said that Claire Neumann, one of Chloe’s best friends during her high school days, recently starred in the national touring cast of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”.
“They were really silly and fun together in class,” Taylor said. “I always thought the two of them were going to be on SNL one day.”
Success, however, was far from instantaneous for Chloe, David said.
“It’s not easy to make it as an entertainer,” he said. “For six years, she sat in Los Angeles traffic every day, going to audition after audition. She was never quite what they were looking for. [The process] really tests your drive. But Chloe has always been driven.”
Throughout her time in Los Angeles, Chloe slowly built an audience on Instagram for her comedic impressions of celebrities and politicians, such as Democratic Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and actor Timothée Chalamet. By the time she joined the SNL cast, she had over 60,000 followers, David said.
“I never really knew her as an impressionist, although she was certainly always a talented comedic actor,” Taylor said. “It’s been interesting to see that develop in her.”
Senior Mia Webb said that she has been watching Chloe’s comedy journey online.
“I was following her on Instagram before she got onto SNL because [Taylor] told us about her in class last year,” she said. “I was just ecstatic when I found out that she was cast.”
Webb said that Chloe’s impressions have kept her watching and giggling for over a year.
“She does this impression of Jojo Siwa— there’s one video that makes me laugh harder every time I see it,” she said. “It just gets funnier and funnier.”
Webb said that as an actor at PHS herself, she is excited to see an alumna rise to stardom.
“We’re all really proud of her,” Webb said. “I can see her finding her place on the cast, and it’s been so cool to watch those little behind-the-scenes moments that she puts on her [Instagram] story.”
Junior Laney Tellegen, a long-time viewer of SNL, also expressed appreciation for Chloe’s performances.
“She’s hilarious, and it’s so cool that someone from our town has made it to the SNL stage,” Tellegen said. “I love everything she’s done so far.”
David said that Chloe has told him all about the whirlwind SNL process that keeps cast members on their toes.
“Starting on Tuesday night, they are up until five a.m. preparing sketch pitches, then they cut those down, and during the rehearsal process, they cut even more for time,” he said. “So everyone’s on pins and needles because [they] don’t know if their material will make it to air. It’s tough, but it’s such an amazing opportunity, learning how to work hard.”
Since Chloe’s SNL debut, she has played a wide variety of characters on the sketch show, including a contestant on a parody commercial for the British reality TV hit “Love Island”, and a satirized version of the World War II figurehead, Rosie the Riveter, according to the NBC website.
Taylor said that whether comedic or dramatic, Chloe is always captivating to watch.
“The thing is that she’s really truthful and authentic, and one of those actors who is always surprising,” Taylor said. “I never knew what she was going to do next. Somebody who can do that, who can make you feel like the scene is always exciting, that’s the kind of performer that people are going to want to keep watching for a long, long time.”