Jon Rudnitsky (born November 22, 1989) is an American comedian and actor. 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. His mother, Karen, is a social worker at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and his father, Steven, is a businessman in the hospitality industry.
Rudnitsky attended Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan.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." He subsequently studied acting at the University of Southern California. His maternal uncle is Michael Oren, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United States. Rudnitsky is Jewish.
Career Rudnitsky performed with the Groundlings. 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 41st season. 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. 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. On August 9, 2016, it was reported that Rudnitsky would not be returning to the show for the following season.
In 2017, Rudnitsky starred alongside Reese Witherspoon in the romantic comedy film Home Again. In 2018, he 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.
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.
Filmography Film Year Title RoleNotes 2014 Two-Bit Waltz The Boy2015 Clint Howard Reboots Pippi Longstocking with Milla Jovovich and Fred Willard Assius Short film Patchwork Lance 2017 Home Again George2018 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 Voice2024 I Love You Forever Lucas Stealing Pulp Fiction Jonathan Red One Influencer at Mall Our Little Secret Cameron 2026 Super Troopers 3 TBA Post-production
Television Year Title RoleNotes 2012 Criminal Minds Kyle Owens Episode: "Perennials" 2013 JewDate Jake Episode: "Jenga!" 2015–2016 Saturday Night Live Various Featured player2017 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 pilot2018 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
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