CULTURED’s second annual CULT100 issue spotlights 100 names across five generations who are shaping our culture in real time. Some members of the list are household names; others have been working behind the scenes to make possible the encounters that stop us in our tracks. They are all thinking big, sharing generously, and embodying courage. We hope their work makes you a little braver, too. Order your copy of the CULT100 issue here.
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then there is no bigger admirer of the people who shape our culture than Chloe Fineman. As a cast member on Saturday Night Live since 2019, the comedian and actor quickly became a reliable home-run hitter for her impressions of figures ranging from Drew Barrymore and Nicole Kidman to Timothée Chalamet. (Listen to her do Barrymore with a blindfold on and you’d never figure out who was who.)
Fineman’s impressionistic chops are the result of a unique combination of comedic talent and theatrical training. She graduated with honors from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and has appeared in the Noah Baumbach-directed 2022 film White Noise and Francis Ford Coppola’s controversial 2024 opus Megalopolis. Last year, she made her Broadway debut opposite John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, and Richard Kind in Simon Rich’s All In: Comedy About Love, an adaptation of short stories the writer published in The New Yorker. She has also had memorable turns in TV series including Search Party, High Fidelity, and Laid.
Next up, she’s taking on the role of a stripper-meets-spirit-guide in Summer of 69. The film, which will be released by Hulu this May, chronicles a high school student eager to educate herself about sex before graduation by hiring Fineman’s character, an exotic dancer named Santa Monica, as her teacher.
The Berkeley, California, native is a master of noticing the smallest quirks that make people tick—and truly understands that keen observation is a necessary ingredient for both good comedy and genuine self-reflection.
THE CULT100 QUESTIONNAIRE
What's your trademark?
Probably the phrase “dress British, think Yiddish,” which I stole from my dad. Also, “Diet Coke is water.”
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
Sarah Bernhardt. She was a completely original, weird, and magical actress. I have her catchphrase—“quand meme”—tattooed on my arm. It has a million definitions, but I like “so what.”
When was the last time you surprised yourself in your work?
I trained to play a stripper this summer and got really into it. I worked day after day with an amazing coach, so when it came time to shoot my big dance number, I felt so prepared. But in true me form, I couldn’t stop tap dancing between takes. So new skill unlocked: tap dancing in nine-inch pleasers.
Describe a recent crossroads at which you found yourself.
Blonde… or brunette?
When you were little, what were you known for?
My first-ever catchphrase was “fashion before death,” which I would say whenever I refused to wear a jacket in the cold.
What do you think is your biggest contribution to culture?
Hopefully, it’s showing people that we can laugh at ourselves.
What do you want to see more of in your industry? Less of?
More people doing theater, fewer people doing TikTok?
What question do you ask yourself most often while you're making work?
Do I like it? Does it make me laugh? I have to ask myself that constantly. It’s easy to get distracted by what you think other people will like or find funny. Don’t make stuff you don’t like!
What do you want next for yourself above all else?
To keep making stuff I like, with people I like.
If you could attribute your success to a single quality, what would it be?
Putting stuff out to bring stuff in. Share the art, show the painting, stage the play, post the thing, do the stand-up show. You never know what will come back to you from that.
What's one book, work of art, or film that got you through an important moment in your life?
Leslie Jones’s Problem Child.
Are people ever starstruck by you?
Only on the subway.
Hair by Takuya Yamaguchi at the Wall Group
Makeup by Samantha Lau for Chanel Beauty and A-Frame Agency
Styling Assistance by Laynie Rouch, Claudia Bell, and Lauren Delfino
Location: Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim
