The Office Star Ellie Kemper's Stunning Transformation

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Ellie Kemper is that rare mix of A-list actor and down-to-earth mom whose authenticity shines through the screen. "The Office" and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" star has carved out a unique career path that's taken her from poorly received one-woman shows to roles in huge TV shows and movies. Yet, she's remained adorable and relatable as her star power has grown. Kemper's genuine, sweet nature was front and center during her 2019 keynote address at her alma mater, Princeton University. "None of this means anything if you don't have one another's backs. If you want your friend to succeed, then I think you're a successful person," she said.

But while Kemper seems as sweet as the characters she plays, her evolution from unknown acting hopeful to big star has taught her a lot. "As an actress, I have chosen a career that is defined by unpredictability. This is difficult for me because I'm a person who likes to stick to a plan," she shared. "So when I go from playing a ditzy receptionist on 'The Office' to jumping into the challenge of playing a ditzy bridesmaid in 'Bridesmaids' to making a sharp right turn to playing a ditzy Kimmy Schmidt on 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,' I have to learn to be adaptable," she teased. But while Kemper may have been kidding that time, she's seen a lot of changes in her life that have made for one stunning transformation.

Ellie Kemper was born in 1980 in Kansas City, but moved to St. Louis aged 5 when the Kemper family business set up a new headquarters. Kemper did most of her growing up in Missouri, where Jon Hamm (yes, THE Jon Hamm) was her ninth grade drama teacher. "He went to my high school, went to college, came back and taught drama for a year at our high school," Kemper explained on "Radio Andy." She told A.V. Club, "He was definitely just as handsome back then, and having this grown, tall man teach you theater, it was like having a hunk in the class."

But even with the "Mad Men" star's huge success to inspire her, Kemper didn't truly believe fame was achievable until she got older. "My mom stayed at home and raised four kids and my dad is a banker, so it wasn't, 'I'm going to go into showbiz,'" she told Stylist. "But as you grow up, you realize, 'Oh, this could be something. I'm not really sure where it's going to end but I do know that I love improvising so I want to see what happens.'"

The star was also a sporty child who developed a penchant for exercise around the ninth grade. "I first started running to train for my high school field hockey team," she told Women's Running in 2018. From there, exercise continued to be an important part of her life. "I need to exercise most days, or else I don't feel like myself," she said.

Ellie Kemper was a seriously smart young adult. She attended Princeton University, where she worked on her acting skills in an improv group. After graduating in 2002, she headed to the U.K. to study at the equally prestigious Oxford University. "She has always been very focused and organized, and she was a very good student," her dad, David Kemper, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

But Kemper decided she wanted something more. "I was in an English Studies program, but I knew that wasn't what I wanted to do," she said. She dropped out of Oxford after a year and moved to the Big Apple to pursue acting. "I knew it was an uncertain path, but I had to try it for a couple of years and see what happened," she said.

Success didn't come easy or fast on the East Coast. "I was paying the rent by doing commercials, which allowed me to perform improv for free at night," Kemper recalled to Princeton Alumni Weekly, revealing she once auditioned for "Saturday Night Live." She didn't shy away from admitting how tough it was in the big city either, sharing during her Princeton keynote speech, "I was having a very difficult time getting started and I felt like I was encountering roadblocks from all sides."

Around 2007, Ellie Kemper appeared in two one-woman plays, "Dumb Girls" and "Feeling Sad/Mad with Ellie Kemper." But the reaction to her solo projects wasn't what she'd hoped for. "One night ... there were 10 people in the audience and the response was nothing. So I was sobbing afterwards and someone wrote the meanest blog post about it," Kemper recalled to Stylist. The experience was so disheartening she considered walking away from performing, but after watching comedian Tracey Ullman do her thing, she felt inspired to keep going. "It can be so confidence-shattering. Especially being rejected over and over again," she said.

Around the same time, Kemper made waves when she appeared in a NSFW comedy video that gained millions of views on YouTube. In it, she joked about the wrong way to give her partner oral pleasure. "I'm a bit uncomfortable about that video because I always think of my family seeing it, but it got people's attention," she later told Variety. She also told A.V. Club, "I hate that it got sort of big, because I don't think that it's that funny and I don't want that to be the epitome of my work ... it has made me conscious of not wanting to do a video like that again."

In 2009, Ellie Kemper landed the role of Erin Hannon on "The Office" alongside Mindy Kaling (who has an iconic reading list). Kemper originally met the show's producers while auditioning for "Parks and Recreation." They remembered her, and gave her a call about the Steve Carell-led comedy. She was living in New York at the time, but moved to Los Angeles for her breakthrough role. Kemper's character was originally expected to appear in only four episodes, but the higher-ups kept Erin around, much to Kemper's surprise. "I don't really know how it happened, besides extraordinary good luck and timing," she told A.V. Club.

Kemper adopted a new look for her big role and dyed her naturally red hair brown, which had a surprising effect on her life. "I didn't realize how much I used my red hair and girlish laughter to attempt to charm people and get free desserts," she told Time. "When I was a brunette, I felt like people took me more seriously. I don't know if it's the characters I play or the fact that I'm a redhead, but people laugh at me before I say anything," she added.

"The Office" led to other big comedy roles for the blossoming actor, including an appearance in 2011's "Bridesmaids," which also starred her old friend Jon Hamm. In the comedy movie, Kemper left her comfort zone and shared a kiss with Wendi McLendon-Covey. "I was scared. I have not done a lot of kissing scenes," she said on "The Talk" (via The Hollywood Reporter).

Ellie Kemper was in love in 2011 and didn't waste time much time before tying the knot. She confirmed her engagement to comedy writer Michael Koman in December 2011, and by July 2012, they were married. Koman took on the quiet proposal trend in a very understated way long before it was trendy, according to Kemper. 

"The first time he was like, 'I don't have the ring, but one day maybe we'll get married.' And then, it was weird. Am I supposed to say yes to that?" Kemper quipped on "Today." "The second time, he was like, 'Here's the ring ... We can get married at some point.' It kept being put off. And the final thing, he asked me as I was leaving for New York from Los Angeles. He asked me to marry him, I got on a plane and left for a week," she added. Kemper said yes though, so all's well that ends well.

She also made a change to her look as she gained more notoriety. When she wasn't filming for "The Office," Kemper returned to red hair (which would become summer 2023's hottest hue) and embraced extensions. Kemper shared a photo of her longer 'do on Instagram years later and jokingly wrote, "Found my hair extensions! They were in 2012."

Things came full circle for Ellie Kemper in 2015. After "The Office" ended, she starred in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" in the title role and, in a twist of fate, appeared alongside Jon Hamm. "I think there's still a teacher-student dynamic, and acting with him was a little bit nerve-racking just because I felt like he was still grading me on some level," she said during the 2015 Television Critics Association press tour (via Variety).

The show was co-helmed by Tina Fey and written with Kemper in mind. "We spent a lot of time thinking about her and the kind of person she could play. She has an innocence and openness to her face, but there's a strength about her," Fey told Deadline. The Netflix show was a hit and earned Kemper her first individual Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as two Emmy nods.

Despite being the star of her own TV show, Kemper told Glamour she had to work hard to get used to her prestigious position and making her voice heard. "I felt that I had earned this job. I had worked on a television show for four years and paid my dues. Still, owning this feeling of entitlement and confidence was, honestly, a pretty unfamiliar sensation for me," she confessed.

Ellie Kemper was ready for one of the biggest changes of her life in 2016: motherhood. She confirmed her first pregnancy on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," revealing that she told Tina Fey she was expecting before her own mom. "You can trust her, you can't trust my mom," she joked. The star also took on more kid-friendly roles as she welcomed children into her life, including voicing a character in the animated movie "The Secret Life of Pets." She welcomed her first child, a son named James, that summer.

Three years later, Kemper and Michael Koman welcomed their second child, son Matthew. But her second pregnancy was much tougher than her first. "The first trimester was awful," she said on "Live with Kelly and Ryan." "Just tired and nauseous and all of it."

The star had moved back to New York to film "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and later joked about her sons' Big Apple upbringing to Parents. "I swear that made them unable to handle car rides because they were on the subway or walking, so they don't do so well in the car," Kemper said. The actor also spoke about how her parenting style was ever-evolving. "I've learned that I need to ease up on certain things. So, it's kind of something that I'm constantly refining," she said.

Though Ellie Kemper was a big-time actor with her own show and plenty of money (Variety reported in 2017 she earned an estimated $150,000 per episode of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"), she hadn't gone all Hollywood. The actor told Racked she still loved finding bargains at discount stores. "I love TJ Maxx — I love it. TJ Maxx and Marshalls," she said. "I feel like everything eventually ends up going on sale, so I'd rather just wait and get it for less," she added, a refreshing take for such a big star. As great as sales like this can be for clothing and accessory bargains though, remember T.J. Maxx and Marshall's beauty products come with more than a few risks.

Kemper also revealed how playing Kimmy Schmidt had influenced her personal style. "What's crazy about Kimmy is that she's weirdly coordinated; like, her bag will match her sneakers, and her earrings will echo a print on her shirt. I personally am not good at stuff like that," she said. Help came in the form of the show's wardrobe department, as Kemper took inspo from Kimmy's styling and learned how to upgrade her own outfits.

In 2018, Ellie Kemper shared her years of wisdom via a collection of essays titled "My Squirrel Days." "Every day was a challenge. Writing, as it turns out, is hard," she told St. Louis Magazine. "It's one thing to have the thoughts in your head and quite another to put them down on paper," she added. Kemper also spoke to Vogue about how tough she found the writing process, but admitted that was why she was so determined to become an author. "I thought it would be a good challenge, and I wanted to entertain people, but I did see it as something that would be hard to do, and I wanted to do it mainly for that reason," she said.

The star also took on several other big acting roles in the years that followed. That included an appearance in the 2021 reboot of "Home Alone," titled "Home Sweet Home Alone." "I am a huge fan of the Macaulay Culkin 'Home Alones,' and I read this script thinking, 'Well, what are they gonna do with it?'" she told Screen Rant.

"Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" ended after four seasons in 2019, and Ellie Kemper was very honest about how much she'd learned from the role that made us want to dye our hair red. "The most important [lesson] will be to bet on myself. I will trust my instinct, I will listen to my gut, and I will be clear about what I want," she told Glamour. The actor added, "I learned that I could be assertive without being obnoxious. I have a tendency to confuse speaking up with being rude, but the two actions are completely different. It's not bad manners to make your voice heard. It's essential."

Kemper wasn't just discovering more about speaking up as she neared her 40s, though. She was also learning more about balancing life as a busy mom of two. "Going from one kid to two has rocked my world ... I'm definitely still figuring out how to do it, but maybe you never really figure it out," she mused to HuffPost.

The following year, the actor underwent an all too relatable hair transformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since she was unable to visit her hair colorist, she'd been using L'Oréal Paris Magic Root Cover Up spray to cover her emerging grays, Kemper told Glamour. If you'd rather save, there's also a way to cover gray hairs with an ingredient you probably already have on hand.

Ellie Kemper took on an unexpected new challenge in 2023 when she began co-hosting her own podcast. The TV star teamed up with comedian Scott Eckert for "Born To Love," which saw them chat to famous faces about their biggest passions. "Our whole objective was to create a sort of buoyant, uplifting, joyful show that's also very funny," Kemper told The Wrap. They welcomed a slew of celebrities, including Erin Andrews, Tony Hawk, and Jane Lynch.

But Kemper's new gig didn't mean she'd turned her back on acting. In fact, she was actively looking for different roles. That included a role in "Happiness for Beginners" alongside Luke Grimes, where her character was very different from Erin Hannon or Kimmy Schmidt. "What was a great and exciting challenge was to play a character who did not have the sunniest outlook on life and who was a bit cranky ... and had to move through that," she told The Wrap. "That was really new for me as an actor and exciting for me to play," she added. Those weren't the only big milestones of the year though, as Kemper also made her Broadway debut as a special guest star in "Peter Pan Goes Wrong."

Ellie Kemper's transformation took another turn in 2025 when she joined forces with Kohl's. She become the face of one of the brand's ad campaigns, playing a mom who offers parenting and style advice to other parents. And that hit close to home. "I will not be doing any acting in the role, because I am basically a Kohl's mom in real life," she told People. Kemper also revealed how much her style had changed since she became a mom, joking, "I am always wondering what is a shoe I can wear that looks good, but also allows me to run after my five-year-old ... I do prize and really prioritize comfort in my style."

Kemper's genuineness was still front and center, proving no matter how her life evolves, she'll always have a heart of gold. "One key thing is reaching out to fellow parents and feeling like, 'Okay, we're all going through similar experiences.' Supporting one another like that I think is very helpful," she said. Despite a dramatic transformation, clearly, Kemper is still as sweet and caring as they come.