“In 1997, when Ellen’s sitcom was in the height of its popularity, I was in my mother’s basement lifting weights in front of the mirror and thinking, ‘Am I gay?’ And I was, and I still am,” McKinnon said. “But that’s a very scary thing to suddenly know about yourself … the only thing that made it less scary was seeing Ellen on TV.”

The brilliantly funny McKinnon doesn’t seem to be scared any more. Here are five things to know about the LGBTQ+ darling who was born Kate McKinnon Berthold.

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She is only the second openly gay cast member to join Saturday Night Live

Although Terry Sweeney was the first openly gay cast member to join the popular US television show Saturday Night Live in 1985, McKinnon became the first openly gay female cast member when she joined in 2012 (actress Danitra Vance, who was on the show at the same time as Sweeney, didn’t come out as lesbian while on the show and her sexual orientation was not publicly known until after her death).

McKinnon’s comedic portrayals – especially of former US first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the 2016 US election and, most recently, of US Senator Elizabeth Warren – instantly made her a household name.

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Her girlfriend is an actual clown

OK, so she is also an actress who attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and acted in several theatre products, among other credentials. But Jackie Abbott, McKinnon’s girlfriend, has “actor, photographer, clown” on her resume and lists “clowning” as a special skill. The two are almost never seen together – McKinnon doesn’t speak about of her in interviews – and the pair even arrived at the 2017 Emmy Awards separately.

When McKinnon won the best supporting actress in a comedy series for Saturday Night Live, the two embraced, and later, singer and television host Michelle Visage posted a photo including the couple with the caption: “I have SUCH a crush on #KATEMCKINNON SO HAPPY SHE WON!!! Her girlfriend Jackie was just as lovely as she is!!” The couple was last seen together in October 2019 but there are no confirmed reports of whether they are still together.

She’s a multimillionaire

Her estimated worth is between US$8 million and US$10 million, which she earned from acting in television shows (such as The Big Gay Sketch Show, an LGBTQ+-themed sketch comedy on Logo TV), Saturday Night Live (SNL cast members of her calibre earn around US$25,000 per episode, or US$525,000 per year) and movies (she starred in blockbusters such as Rough Night, The Spy Who Dumped Me and most recently Bombshell).

She attended an Ivy League university

McKinnon attended Columbia University and graduated in 2002 with a degree in theatre. She was one of the founding members of the university’s theatre improv group called the Tea Party and a member of the student comedy group Prangstgrüp, which pranked other college students. She also starred in some of the university’s variety shows (Dial D for Deadline, Off-Broadway and The Sound of Muses).

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She and her sister grew up making movies together

McKinnon’s sister, Emily Lynne Berthold (who goes by the name Emily Lynne) is also an actress. Lynne told Refinery29 the siblings used to make lots of “really weird videos” when they were kids growing up in Sea Cliff, Long Island, New York.

“Our first foray into the Long Island thing was – and I just watched this with mum – The Grivadelchkis. Madison and Terry Grivadelchki.” McKinnon added. “She played a little b**ch, and I was her trashy mum.” The sisters went together to the Golden Globes in January where paparazzi mistakenly thought she was McKinnon’s girlfriend.

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