Saturday Night Live cast members



, the late-night live variety series Saturday Night Live (SNL) has featured 153 cast members. The ensemble was originally referred to as the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players."

Complete list
The list below includes both repertory and featured players past and present, but omits SNL writers and others who were not listed as cast members during the show's credits. The dates given are those of the years they were part of the cast. The chart also shows whether the cast member has served as a guest host, appeared as the anchorperson of the "Weekend Update" segment (by any of its titles), or has been the subject of their own "Best of" home video collection. Many of the cast members were writers as well. "Middle group" performers are introduced after the main cast by the announcer saying "...with" and reading off these performers before ending with featured players.

Timeline
Lighter colors denote "featured players" versus repertory cast members.

Longest tenures
Cast members with the longest tenures include:

Shortest tenures
These cast members spent less than a full 20-episode season on the show.

Oldest cast members
After 14 seasons, Hammond left as the show's oldest active cast member, ending his tenure at 53 years during his final season in 2009. Leslie Jones is the oldest female cast member to have left the show, having left at age 51.

President of the United States impressionists
Portraying the sitting President of the United States is considered "about as high [...] an honor that can be bestowed upon a cast member."

Darrell Hammond had the longest tenure portraying a U.S. president, portraying Bill Clinton from 1995–2001, and George W. Bush during 2003. This makes him one of only three cast members to have portrayed two sitting presidents, with Joe Piscopo and Phil Hartman being the others.

There was a sketch featuring Chris Farley, David Spade, Chris Elliott, Adam Sandler, and Tim Meadows auditioning for the role of Clinton. There was also a gag in a 2001 sketch with Tracy Morgan filling in for Will Ferrell as George W. Bush.

The web short Presidential Reunion, released in 2010 and produced by Funny or Die, reunites six SNL cast members who have portrayed sitting presidents. The cast members span all the sitting presidents that have been portrayed on SNL up to 2010 with the exception of Ronald Reagan. Jim Carrey portrayed Ronald Reagan in the web short because two of the actors who had portrayed Reagan had died, and the remaining three had declined to appear in the reunion. Although he was never a cast member for SNL, Carrey did audition to be a cast member for the 1980–81 season and has hosted the show in May 1996 (he also twice hosted the show after the release of the web short).

George H. W. Bush grew fond of Dana Carvey's impersonation of him. In 1992, after losing the election and during the lame duck period, Bush invited Carvey to headline a White House Christmas party. Two years later, on October 22, 1994, when Carvey hosted the show for the first time, Bush appeared in pre-recorded videos in both the cold open, as well as the opening monologue critiquing Carvey's impersonation of him.

Presidents are not usually portrayed on Saturday Night Live after they leave office. Exceptions are limited to the portrayal of president Richard Nixon who left office prior to the launch of the show in 1975. Dan Aykroyd portrayed Nixon from 1975–79, and Darrell Hammond portrayed on episode 12 of season 34.

In addition to impersonations, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump have all made appearances on the show.

Impersonation of Donald Trump
Donald Trump, having been a public figure before being president, was portrayed by several cast members over the years. He was portrayed by Phil Hartman (1988–90), Darrell Hammond (1999–11, 2015–16), Jason Sudeikis (2012) and Taran Killam (2015). Alec Baldwin started impersonating Trump as a guest during the 42nd season of SNL in late 2016, when Trump was the Republican nominee during the 2016 United States presidential elections. Baldwin continued with the guest impersonations of Trump after the elections when Trump was President-elect of the United States, as well as after Trump was sworn in as president; he continues to impersonate him currently.

Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Donald Trump earned him an Emmy award in 2017, in spite of his public declaration that he "loathes the role". Traditionally, presidents do not comment on their portrayal by Saturday Night Live. However, Trump has criticized Baldwin's portrayal of him on multiple occasions. In response, Baldwin taunted Trump with statements such as "release your tax returns and I’ll stop".

Trump himself hosted the show on April 3, 2004 and November 7, 2015. Trump's hosting in 2015 occurred while he was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. On that episode, Trump praised Killam’s and Hammond’s portrayal of him.

Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards are presented by the American Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. These are the cast members who won or were nominated for an Emmy for their work while in the cast.

Both cast and hosts
34 former SNL cast members have also hosted the show. The first former cast member to come back and host the show was Chevy Chase in February 1978, and the most recent former cast member to join the list was Adam Sandler, who joined in May 2019. Three cast members are part of the Five-Timers Club: Chevy Chase, Tina Fey, and Bill Murray.

Adam Sandler and Dan Aykroyd tie the record of the longest gap between leaving the show as a cast member and the first time coming back to host the show. Both hosted the show for the first time nine days shy of 24 years from last appearance as cast. However, both made appearances on the show during the gap. On the flip side, Chevy Chase holds the record for having the shortest gap between leaving the show and coming back as guest. Chase first hosted the show only 15½ months after leaving the cast.

While the majority of cast members who also hosted the show were first cast members and then hosted after leaving the show, there have been two cast members who have hosted the show prior to joining the cast. Michael McKean and Billy Crystal are the only cast members to have hosted the show prior to joining the cast. Crystal twice hosted the show during the ninth season prior to joining the cast in the tenth season. McKean hosted the show in the tenth season and joined the cast in the nineteenth season.

Eddie Murphy is the only cast member to have hosted the show while still a cast member.

"SNL Curse"
Although SNL is best known as the launchpad for many successful careers, nine former cast members have died before the age of 60. This has given rise to a superstition known as the "Saturday Night Live Curse".