Is ‘The Office’ Star Ellie Kemper Married?

Fans of smart and strange comedy like The Office and The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are familiar with Ellie Kemper’s irresistible charm.

But she’s more than the sweet and somewhat simple characters she plays. As Tina Fey once said about her, “What she has is this natural sunniness and up energy and pleasant nature, but you also know that there’s a strength and intelligence behind it.”

Kemper isn’t just funny and friendly; she seems to be a force of nature. As it turns out, her many fans aren’t the only people who love her. Kemper has some pretty important people in her life. 

Ellie Kemper worked hard for her big break

Before Kemper’s turn on The Office, she paid her dues by working in comedy shows and as an intern on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (this gig turned out to be very important – more on that later). She acted in commercials and wrote humor pieces for McSweeney’s.

All that hustle paid off in 2009 when she was cast as Erin Hannon in The Office, in a role that was only supposed to last for four episodes. 

Of course, she was such a hit as Erin that the four-episode run was extended to four years, and a star was born. She went on to act in hit movies like Bridesmaids, and in 2015 she starred in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix. Fey has said the show was created to showcase Kemper, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing the spunky, ridiculous Kimmy. 

Her career is more diverse than you might think

Although she’s stayed busy as an actor, Kemper has also often worked as a writer. Other than the humor pieces mentioned before, she has also written headlines for the online satire magazine The Onion. 

She’s written more than a few essays, too. In 2018 she released a memoir, called The Squirrel Days. The title refers to a squirrel she got to know in sixth grade. Really, doesn’t that sound like something Kimmy might do?

Kemper met someone special early on

Remember Kemper’s internship on Late Night with Conan O’Brien? During her time there she met someone special, a comedy writer named Michael Korman. Kemper wasn’t interested in dating at the time, as she wanted to focus on her career.

She seems to have avoided serious relationships up to that point, but Korman must have been fairly convincing, although his proposal skills lacked polish. 

“I love my husband,” she said. “Michael, I love you, [but] you did not propose well.”

Apparently it took him three tries to get the job done, but at last, they got married in July of 2012.

Married life and parenthood didn’t slow her down

Four years later, in 2016, Kemper and Korman welcomed their first son, James. Just two months later Kemper went to the 2016 Emmy Awards, because she was nominated for outstanding actress in a comedy series. In 2019 she gave birth to another son, Matthew, whose birth she didn’t announce until he was already a month old. 

Since The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ended in 2019, her fans are eager to see what’s next for Kemper. She’s been doing voice work in animated films, such as The Secret Lives of Pets 2. She also has a comedy film coming out in 2020, called The Stand-In.

Kemper’s passion and drive are obvious to everyone who follows her career. These days it seems like she has it all: a happy marriage, two healthy kids, and a career that doesn’t look like it’s slowing down any time soon.