Kyle Mooney

Kyle Mooney (birthname: Kyle James Kozub Mooney) may be most easily recognized as a longtime member of the cast of NBC’s Saturday Night Live (from 2013 to 2022), but he has also had a very active feature film career as an actor and a director/writer, starting with his big-screen debut in the low-budget horror comedy, Kill Me Now (2012), directed by Travis Long and starring Michael Swaim, who also wrote and produced. Mooney joined the cast led by Sally Field in director/co-writer Michael Showalter’s comedy, Hello, My Name is Doris (2015), with Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, Stephen Root, Elizabeth Reaser, Natasha Lyonne, and Tyne Daly, and released by Roadside Attractions to a $14.7 million return.

Mooney appeared in a supporting role in filmmaker-star Ben Stiller’s disappointing sequel, Zoolander 2 (2016), with Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz, Kristen Wiig, and Fred Armisen, earning only $56.7 million for Paramount Pictures. Mooney was cast in another more successful comedy sequel, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), directed and co-written by Nicholas Stoller and co-starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dave Franco, and Ike Barinholtz, grossing $108 million for distributor Universal Pictures.

Kyle Mooney made his biggest filmmaking gambit yet as star and co-writer (with Kevin Costello) of the Dave McCary-directed comedy-drama, Brigsby Bear (2017), co-starring Claire Danes, Mark Hamill, Greg Kinnear, and Andy Samberg, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and released by Sony Pictures Classics. Mooney was part of the ensemble of director/writer/producer Robert Schwartzman’s comedy, The Unicorn (2018), with Lauren Lapkus, Nick Rutherford (who co-wrote), Lucy Hale, Beck Bennett, Dree Hemingway, and Beverly D’Angelo, premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival and released by The Orchard.

Mooney played support in director/co-writer/producer Eugene Kotlyarenko’s black comedy, Spree (2020), starring Joe Keery and also with Sasheer Zamata, Mischa Barton, and David Arquette, and after premiering in the Sundance Film Festival was released by RLJE Films. Mooney again was in a supporting role in the Jennifer Lawrence-starring comedy, No Hard Feelings (2023), with Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, and Matthew Broderick under co-writer Gene Stupnitsky’s direction, grossing $87 million for Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing.

Kyle Mooney made his directorial debut with the end-of-century comedy, Y2K (2024), which he co-wrote with Evan Winter (who produced with Jonah Hill), and which co-starred Jaeden Martell, Julian Dennison, Rachel Zegler, Daniel Zolghadri, Fred Durst and Alicia Silverstone, and released by A24 after premiering at the South by Southwest Film Festival.