Childhood & Early Life
Amy was born on June 1, 1981, in Manhattan, New York, US, to Gordon David Schumer and Sandra Jane (née Jones). Her father is a first cousin of US Senator Chuck Schumer and was born into a Ukrainian Jewish family. Amy, too, was raised according to Jewish beliefs.
Her father ran a successful Manhattan-based baby-furniture company. Thus, Schumer grew up in a wealthy household in her early childhood. The company, however, failed soon. As a result, her father became bankrupt when she was 9 years old. Things turned worse after her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Soon, her parents divorced.
She then started living in Rockville Centre, New York, with her mother. There, she studied at the ‘South Side High School’ and graduated in 1999.
Her mother served the board of the Hebrew school of the ‘Central Synagogue’ of Nassau County, where Schumer also studied.
Schumer later relocated close to Baltimore, Maryland. In 2003, she obtained a degree in theater from ‘Towson University.’ She then went back to New York and studied at the ‘William Esper Studio’ for a couple of years. She also worked as a server and a bartender for a while.
Her younger sister, Kim Caramele, is a comedy writer and a producer, while Jason Stein, her half-brother, is a musician in Chicago, Illinois.
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Career in Showbiz
After relocating to New York City, Amy bagged the role of a young lady diagnosed with breast cancer in the stage production of ‘Keeping Abreast,’ an ‘Off-Broadway’ black comedy.
On June 1, 2004, she did her first stand-up comedy at the New York-based comedy club ‘Gotham Comedy Club.’
In 2006, she featured in the 10-minute short drama ‘Sense Memory.’
She also appeared in the fifth season of the American reality talent show ‘Last Comic Standing,’ in the summer of 2007. The season was hosted by Bill Bellamy and premiered on ‘NBC’ on June 13 that year. Schumer appeared in seven episodes of the season and was eliminated based on votes in the 11th episode, thus ending up fourth in the competition.
The second season of the ‘Comedy Central’ stand-up comedy TV show ‘Live at Gotham’ featured her in an episode in 2007.
From 2007 to 2012, she remained a recurring guest on the ‘Fox News’ talk show ‘Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.’
The reality show ‘Reality Bites Back,’ which premiered on ‘Comedy Central’ on July 17, 2008, and ran for a season, till September 4, 2008, featured Schumer as one of its 10 comedians. She was the runner-up on the show, while Theo Vonkurnatowski emerged as the winner.
She appeared in an episode of ‘Comedy Central Presents,’ the main half-hour stand-up comedy program of ‘Comedy Central,’ in April 2010. The show featured Schumer in her first special of the series.
In 2011, she appeared as a co-host of the talk show ‘A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus’ (presently called ‘Hoppus on Music’). On March 3 that year, she appeared in an episode of the weekly podcast and radio show ‘WTF with Marc Maron.’ She wrote for ‘Cosmopolitan,’ too.
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She appeared as a roaster on the ‘Comedy Central Roast’ of Charlie Sheen in September 2011. The roast had Seth MacFarlane as the roast master.
She played ‘Trish’ in 8 episodes of the American TV series ‘Delocated,’ in 2012. On August 12 that year, she appeared as a roaster on ‘The Comedy Central Roast’ of Roseanne Barr, with Jane Lynch as the roast master. She also appeared in a few films that year, such as ‘Price Check’ and ‘Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.’
In 2013, she landed up with the most remarkable work of her career: the American sketch-comedy TV series ‘Inside Amy Schumer.’ The series catapulted her to fame and made her a household name. The show, presently on a hiatus, premiered on ‘Comedy Central’ on April 30 that year and ran for four seasons, encompassing 39 episodes, till June 16, 2016.
She contributed as the creator, writer, and executive producer of ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ and earned a number of honors, such as a ‘Peabody Award’ in 2014. She also earned several ‘Primetime Emmy’ nominations and won the ’Emmy’ for ‘Outstanding Variety Sketch Series’ in 2015.
Her first major role in films was in the American romantic comedy ‘Trainwreck,’ where she played ‘Amy Townsend,’ opposite Bill Hader. She also contributed as the writer of the film. The film premiered on March 15, 2015, at the ‘South by Southwest Film Festival’ and released theatrically in the US on July 17 that year.
She advocated for enhanced mental-health funding and stricter gun-control laws, following the unfortunate fatal shooting incident during the screening of ‘Trainwreck’ at the ‘Grand 16’ movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, on July 23, 2015. That year, ‘Time’ magazine mentioned her as part of ‘Time 100,’ the annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
‘Trainwreck’ became a blockbuster hit, grossing $140.8 million at the box office and furthering Schumer’s fame. Her brilliant performance in the film brought her several award nominations, including a ‘Golden Globe Award’ nomination. She also won two ‘Critics' Choice Movie Awards’ in 2016.
On August 16, 2016, she published her humorous autobiographical book, ‘The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo.’ The book topped ‘The New York Times Best Seller’ list for a couple of weeks in September 2016. The audiobook of the memoir read by her won her a ‘Grammy Award’ nomination for the ‘Best Spoken Word Album,’ in 2017. That year, she earned another ‘Grammy Award’ nomination, for the ‘Best Comedy Album,’ for her 2016 album ‘Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.’
She portrayed ‘Emily Middleton,’ alongside Goldie Hawn, in the 2017 comedy ‘Snatched.’
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Schumer made her ‘Broadway’ debut with the comedy ‘Meteor Shower,’ written by Steve Martin. The preview of the play premiered on ‘Broadway’ on November 1, 2017. It premiered officially on November 29 that year at the ‘Booth Theatre’ and closed on January 21, 2018. Her remarkable performance as ‘Corky’ earned her a ‘Tony Award’ nomination for the ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play,’ in 2018. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on June 10, 2018.
She appeared as ‘Renee Barrett’ in the 2018 comedy ‘I Feel Pretty.’
She hosted the ‘MTV Movie Awards’ held on April 12, 2015. She also released the album ‘Cutting’ (2011) and the stand-up special ‘Amy Schumer: The Leather Special (2017).
