“Boxing is like stand-up. Getting hit in boxing really made me feel stronger as a stand-up, because it’s like having your worst fears happen to you. That gives you power, because you’re no longer scared of it happening anymore. You got hit, and it hurt, but you’re okay.” - Amy Schumer.
From acting to stand-up comedy, it's tough to deny that Amy Schumer has talent. She's also just generally awesome, and we love her, so here are some of our favorite facts about her life!
Amy Schumer Facts
1. Talent runs in the family!
Amy Schumer was born on June 1, 1981 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA as Amy Beth Schumer. She has a younger sister, Kim Caramele, who is a comedy writer and producer, and a brother, Jason Stein, who is a musician in Chicago, Illinois.
2. Legendary comedy, legendary company.
Schumer’s favorite comedians are Judy Gold, Jessica Kirson, Wendy Lieberman, Sarah Silverman, Margaret Cho and Ellen DeGeneres. She also got to work with another favorite, Jerry Seinfeld, when she appeared as a guest on his Internet series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee in 2014.
3. Tweeting hot fire!
Amy crushes it on Twitter! There's a reason she has more than 4.4 million followers.
4. Mazel Tov!
Schumer is the daughter of Sandy Schumer and Gordon Schumer. Her father was born to a Jewish family, and Amy's mother converted to Judaism. Amy went to Hebrew School and had a Bat Mitzvah ceremony.
Getty Images Staff, Getty Images
5. Sisterly love.
Her younger sister, Kim, is her road manager, comedy co-writer and associate producer. She often walks the red carpets with her sister. She’s a constant figure on her sister’s Instagram, usually with the hashtag #roadmanager. In Trainwreck, the fictionalized version of her sister was played by Brie Larson.
6. Hey guys, how's it going up there?
When Schumer photo-bombed Kimye at the Time 100 Gala 2015 in New York by falling face down on the red carpet in their path, she was wearing a David Meister outfit. Schumer said that she saw them and asked her publicist if she could pretend to fall. Schumer and Kimye were attending the event for being named Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0 , Wikimedia Commons
7. Sorry, but I'm not sorry.
Claims to have kept detailed journals of every day of her life between the ages of 13 and 23, a source that provided her with much of the material used in her 2016 book "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo." She explains that her comedy is “is unapologetic and fearless. Like, sometimes you'll wind up having condomless sex with someone that you probably shouldn't. I'm interested in sharing that part of myself unapologetically so that other people will hopefully feel better.”
8. Ouch.
On training for her title role in her sitcom, Inside Amy Schumer, Schumer was quoted saying, "Maybe I don't need to do anything. They asked me to star in a movie. Am I maybe gorgeous?" I think every girl has this little secret suspicion. But then my stunt double was a guy.”
9. Well-earned recognition.
Schumer has received 35 nominations and won 17 awards. Some of her awards include an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series for Inside Amy Schumer, as well as, Elle’s Woman of the Year in 2015. Schumer also won a Hollywood Film Award in 2015 for Comedy of the Year for Trainwreck.
The Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
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10. A survivor of hardship.
In her early years, Schumer's life was defined by her father's success. The family's fortunes quickly changed when her father was struck by multiple sclerosis. The business went bankrupt, and shortly after moving the family to Long Island, Schumer's parents divorced. Her father's physical deterioration and the resulting change to her family's status greatly affected Schumer and her approach to life.
Alessio Botticelli, Getty Images
11. "Teacher's Worst Nightmare."
The 1999 senior class at Long Island’s South Side High School bestowed two superlatives on Schumer: Class Clown and Teacher’s Worst Nightmare. Although the first one might seem obvious, Schumer explained that the second one was a bit misleading. “Half my teachers, like my English teacher and my history teacher, were shocked. Because if it was a class I was really interested in, I would just listen and be attentive and was a good member of the class,” Schumer said. “But if it was a class that I struggled or I felt wasn't, you know, like business law, I remember, those are the classes I would kind of act up in.”
12. Rise to fame.
Her first national exposure came in 2007, when she placed fourth on NBC's Last Comic Standing. In 2011, Schumer released her debut stand-up album, Cutting, and gained more recognition after killing it on The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen. A year later, Comedy Central gave her the platform for her first comedy special, Mostly Sex Stuff.
Comedy Central, Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen (2011)
13. Love is scary.
Schumer told Entertainment Weekly that she was inspired to write Trainwreck when she was “falling in love with a guy and scared out of [her] mind.” She went on to explain that, “Judd and I talked about how all these defense mechanisms that get you through things start to bite you in the ass. I was trying to sabotage the relationship because I was afraid of getting hurt.”
Franz Richter, CC BY-SA 3.0 , Wikimedia Commons
14. Fighting for gun control.
Schumer has not been afraid to leverage her celebrity to shed light on important causes to her. In August 2015, she teamed up with her cousin, Senator Schumer, to push for new gun control legislation on Capitol Hill. For Schumer, the issue became personal after a mentally ill gunman killed two people and wounded nine others at a Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater that was showing Trainwreck.
“I am sickened by the cowardice of these people who are supposed to lead us,” Schumer told POLITICO. “Their dedication seems to be only to dollar signs for their own pockets. In November, we will remember who stood with the gun lobby, rather than their constituents, as we mourned for Orlando.”
15. Well played, Amy.
She's only had one one-night stand. Anyone who's listened to Schumer’s stand-up or watched Inside Amy Schumer with regularity has probably picked up on the fact that Schumer's crazy sex stories come (no pun intended) from her most notable sexual misadventures, not from a life in which she has wild sex every single day. Still, it was a little surprising to learn she's only had one one-night stand. What was not surprising to learn was how she sealed the deal: Via text, she joked about becoming a magician's assistant. "Is he going to saw you in half?" asked One-Night Stand Dude. "I was hoping you would," she replied. That's how it's done.
Irony Point, Inside Amy Schumer (2013–2022)
16. Worst guy.
She spent years in an abusive relationship. Schumer's reflection on her past relationship with an emotionally abusive man are some of the most powerful parts in her book. Amy writes candidly about the details of her relationship with an ex she calls “Dan.” In the book, she describes Dan screaming and shaking her, pulling open the shower curtain to laugh at her body, "accidentally" shoving her, and more. It's a reminder anyone can get stuck in an abusive relationship — even women we hold up as role models of confidence — but that anyone can find the strength they need to leave too.
17. Twenty-eight, to be exact.
She's had 28 sexual partners, to be exact. That seems like a perfectly reasonable number of sexual partners (pro tip: the definition of "reasonable number of sexual partners" is "the number of sexual partners each individual finds to be reasonable for him or herself"), but, even though Schumer is reliably frank about her sex life, it was a little surprising to hear her disclose the exact body count. Like, now I'll theoretically be able to someday tell my grandchildren, "In 2016, global temperatures hit an all-time high, Channing Tatum was cast as a mermaid, and Amy Schumer had slept with 28 men."
Irony Point, Inside Amy Schumer (2013–2022)
18. Mean matchmaker.
Her most disturbing guest on Inside Amy Schumer was … a matchmaker? Schumer tells a deeply emotional story about interviewing the matchmaker, then going on a date she'd set up. She had to listen to all the ways in which the matchmaker thought she was unattractive, and then she had to go on a date with a total dumpster fire of a human.
Irony Point, Inside Amy Schumer (2013–2022)
19. Thanks, mom.
Her relationship with her mother is complicated. Amy's always put out a solid "family first" vibe, so it's a little surreal to learn her relationship with her mother is very different from her relationships with her other family members. There's a chapter in her book that's all but a laundry list of the ways she and her siblings have felt "emotionally suppressed or manipulated by [their mom]."
20. Smooth criminal?
Seven years before Schumer could legally drink she shoplifted shot glasses. Schumer’s made no secret of her criminal past — she and her younger sister were once arrested while stealing upscale items from Bloomingdale's. As a kid, she stole things like multiple shot glasses, a hat with fake Rastafarian dreads hanging down from it, and Coed Naked T-shirts.
Jonathan71, CC BY-SA 3.0 , Wikimedia Commons
21. Booze for the nerves. Or just for kicks.
When Schumer took the stage for her HBO special Live at the Apollo, she carried with her a bottle of wine in lieu of water. Cabaret comedian and frequent Inside Amy Schumer collaborator, Bridget Everett told Vogue that they share the same onstage drinking habit and are loyal to just one brand: Rombauer Chardonnay.
22. Let's hope she doesn't have a cousin named Steve.
Schumer dedicated an entire chapter of her book to fun facts you didn't know about her, and listed 44 "Things You Don't Know About Me," and one of those things just so happened to be the number of people she's slept with. On page 95, Schumer wrote, “To date, I've slept with twenty-eight people. I can't remember all of their names, but I remember the nicknames I gave them (Third Ball, Pit Bull Guy, Cousin Steve—JKJKJKJK)."
23. Not cool, Mrs. Schumer.
Schumer’s mother had an affair with her best friend’s father. Schumer explained that she came home to find her mother extremely distraught, and that's when she found out what was going on. Her mother told her that she was leaving her father and that she has fallen in love with her friend’s father, Lou.
Irony Point, Inside Amy Schumer (2013–2022)
24. "Nice weather out there..."
Schumer lists 36 things she hates in her book. One of them includes when strangers try to make small talk with her in an elevator. She says small talk is something she detests. She says it is even more unbearable in an elevator because you’re trapped!
25. A strong endorsement.
During an interview at Comic Con, Jennifer Lawrence endorsed Schumer for The Bachelorette. Schumer panicked when she watched the interview because she is a huge Bachelor enthusiast. She also loves her best friend, Jennifer Lawrence, so she panicked screaming, “OMG JENNIFER LAWRENCE SAID MY NAME ON TV!!!!!!!”
26. Coolest duo ever?
Jennifer Lawrence and Schumer became friends when Lawrence emailed her saying, “I saw Trainwreck and said,'I don't know where to get started. I guess I should just say it: I'm in love with you.” Lawrence went on to tell The New York Times, "We started emailing, and then emailing turned to texting." "Jennifer and I have become friends, and I'm like, 'Oh we're going on a boat tomorrow, you should come!'―it was kind of a hypothetical―and she was like, 'I think I'm coming!'" Schumer explains during an interview on The Daily Show.
27. Yup, they're kinda cool.
If they weren't publicly proclaiming their love, rubbing their freaking phenomenal friendship in our faces already, Lawrence and Schumer took the stage at a Billy Joel concert to shout it from atop a piano. The two danced to "Uptown Girl," the song Amy does her cheerleader big gesture dance to in Trainwreck.
David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0 , Wikimedia Commons
28. More cool friends.
Schumer and Goldie Hawn are the new #friendshipgoals. The duo spent their downtime on the set of their upcoming film, Mother/Daughter, spoofing Beyoncé’s “Formation.” In a video posted exclusively to Tidal on Friday, October 21, the two actresses look shipwrecked while busting out their best Queen Bey impressions and dance moves.
Twentieth Century, Snatched (2017)
29. Sweet.
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight in May, Hawn, 70, gushed about working with Schumer on the comedy in Hawaii, which marks the Oscar-winning actress’ return to the big screen since 2002's Banger Sisters. "It had to be funny and it had to be with the right person," Hawn said of the Comedy Central star. "I did a lot of stuff, but if it can't live up to the expectation, it's not worth doing. … We are on quite a romp together, the two of us -- in the jungle! It's just going to be a blast! So that's what brought me back."
Siebbi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
30. I'm not crazy, I swear.
Schumer explained that when she met Hawn she “told her there’s a movie I really want to make with her,” she said. “And she was very nice. ‘OK, honey.’ She probably thought I was a psycho. ‘OK, crazy person.’ Then I’d meet her at different things, saying, ‘We’re making this movie together,’ and I think, eventually, some people got in her ear and told her I wasn’t crazy, that I make things.”
Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
31. More Mazel Tov!
The first time Schumer slayed a room wasn’t during one of her first stand-up sets—it was in the middle of her bat mitzvah. Schumer chose to chant rather than read from the Torah and completely cracked on her closing note. Although she was embarrassed at first, once everyone laughed, she laughed, too.
32. From Broadway to the red carpet.
Schumer majored in theater at Towson University, and continued her acting education once she moved to New York. She took classes at the famed William Esper Studio for another two years, where she learned the Meisner technique. Schumer even starred in an off-Broadway play; Keeping Abreast was a dark comedy centered on a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer.
Katie Simmons-Barth, Wikimedia Commons
33. Not down with hidden fees.
Although she completed her credits on time, Schumer did not receive a college diploma with the rest of her class in 2003. The reason? Towson charged a fee to post her credits and Schumer found the policy maddeningly arbitrary. So she didn’t pay. But she received her degree four years later when she was passing through Baltimore on a Last Comic Standing tour.
34. Capitalizing on "free" TVs. Well played.
When Schumer saw the footage from her first stand-up show at the Gotham Comedy Club, she was ashamed. So she decided to get serious. She began reviewing tapes from each of her subsequent sets and taking notes—but since she didn’t have a fancy TV, she watched herself on the display screens at Best Buy.
35. Girls.
Schumer appeared in two episodes of Girls as Angie, the annoying friend of Adam’s girlfriend, Natalia, but she originally auditioned for a starring role. Lena Dunham recently revealed that Schumer auditioned for the principal role of Shoshanna. Dunham explained, “It was clear Amy wasn’t meant to play an innocent Juicy Couture lover obsessed with emoji—even if her Meatpacking District club lingo was the funniest [redacted] I had ever heard. But when she left the room, the vibe was very, ‘Someone get that lady a show, STAT!’”
Apatow Productions, Girls (2012–2017)
36. Health first.
Despite Schumer’s bawdy image, she’s fairly health-conscious. According to Vogue, she currently practices Transcendental Meditation, schedules weekly acupuncture sessions, juices every morning, and avoids caffeine. Which means she probably won’t be returning to Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee anytime soon.
37. Ghost Busters!
During the Sony Hack of 2014, one email floated that Schumer was a possible ghostbuster in the all-female reboot. The email was sent by former Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal to original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, and mentioned Schumer along with Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Lizzy Caplan, and Melissa McCarthy as potential cast members. Obviously only McCarthy ended up in the picture.
Jesse Grant, Wikimedia Commons
38. Sorry, Jake. Thanks for the cake!
Schumer once rented Jake Gyllenhaal’s apartment with her sister. She explained to Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, she discovered an old birthday cake in his freezer while she was there. So naturally, she drunkenly ate it and declared herself a princess. Don’t worry: her sister got it on film.
CBS, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015– )
39. "I am not racist."
In June 2015, Monica Heisey of The Guardian criticised her for "a shockingly large blind spot around race." Schumer responded on Twitter, stating "I go in and out of playing an irreverent idiot. That includes making dumb jokes involving race... You can call it a 'blind spot for racism' or 'lazy,' but you are wrong. It is a joke ... I am not racist."
Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images
40. What a legend.
On November 30, 2015, The Daily Beast reported that Schumer posed nude for a photo by photographer Annie Leibovitz for 2016 edition of the Pirelli Calendar. Schumer tweeted her photo with the caption, "Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you.”
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
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