Chloe Fineman will exit “Saturday Night Live” after seven seasons, marking the first prominent cast exit ahead of Season 52.
The master impressionist joined SNL as a featured player ahead of the 2019-20 season, which was cut short because of the pandemic. Fineman broke through for her uncanny impressions of celebrities, including Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Coolidge, Timotheé Chalamet and Nicole Kidman, among others.
Fineman confirmed the news in an Instagram post Thursday.
“It’s cliche to say this but working at ‘SNL’ has been the greatest privilege of my life. I still can’t really believe I got to be a part of it,” she wrote. “Lorne (if you’re reading this on your burner account) I want you to know that I am forever in your debt.”
“It’s really hard to leave ‘SNL’ but it does feel like the right time,” she added. “The people who work there are my family and that place is my home, and I know I’ll never be too far away.”
The comedian has reportedly set her next move post-SNL and will join Netflix’s upcoming series adaptation of Harlan Coben’s “Myron Bolitar” books. Deadline first reported the news.
The drama series is based on Coben’s 12-book thriller series, which follows sports agent and amateur investigator Myron Bolitar. She is reportedly in negotiations to join Colin Woodell, KJ Apa and Diane Guerrero in the adaptation.
Fineman follows the standard trajectory for SNL cast members, who leave after the end of their initial seven-year contract. She was the most tenured female cast member of Season 51 after Ego Nwodim and Heidi Gardner left the show last summer.
Some of her most viral sketches include her Season 51 sketch “Snack Homiez” with Sabrina Carpenter and fellow cast members in which they played tween-aged boys hosting a podcast, and the “Domingo” sketch series with Ariana Grande and Carpenter.
Other notable impressions that she did during her stint on the show include Jojo Siwa (which she credited in her exit post), Sydney Sweeney, Meryl Streep, Phoebe Dynevor, Anna Delvey and Kate McKinnon.
During her tenure on the show, Fineman already appeared in several films and television series. She has done voice work on Netflix’s “Big Mouth” and in “Despicable Me 4” as well as films “Freakier Friday,” “Megalopolis” and upcoming “The Dink.”
