Everything to Know About New ‘SNL’ Cast Member Veronika Slowikowska

Every few years, Saturday Night Live adds a performer who makes longtime viewers say,
“Wait… how have they been right under my nose this whole time?” That’s the vibe around
Veronika Slowikowska, one of the five new featured players joining
SNL Season 51. She’s not an “overnight success” so much as a “five-years-of-quietly-crushing-it
and then suddenly everyone notices” successbuilt through acting gigs, internet sketch comedy,
and a very online sense of timing.

If you’re just meeting her now, here’s the good news: you’re not lateyou’re right on schedule.
And if you already know her from a vampire-hunter arc, a multiverse teen comedy, or TikTok sketches that feel
like a friendly ambush, welcome to the “I told you she’d end up on TV forever” club.

Quick Answer: Who Is Veronika Slowikowska?

Veronika Slowikowska is a Canadian comedian and actress (born October 29, 1995) who built a
following through viral sketch comedy and on-screen rolesthen landed a spot as a
featured player on Saturday Night Live Season 51. Her recent credits include
What We Do in the Shadows, Davey & Jonesie’s Locker, and Netflix’s Tires.
She also earned a Canadian Screen Award for her performance in Davey & Jonesie’s Locker.

Why Everyone’s Talking About Her SNL Casting

She’s Part of a Big Season 51 Refresh

NBC announced five new cast members for Season 51, with Slowikowska joining as a
featured player alongside other new additions. This kind of hiring wave is classic SNL:
it’s the show’s way of restocking the comedy pantry before a long season of live sketches, cold opens,
and inevitable “Wait, did that just happen?” moments.

What “Featured Player” Actually Means (And Why It Matters)

“Featured player” is basically the show’s “rookie class.” It doesn’t mean “background,” and it definitely
doesn’t mean “blink and you’ll miss them” (though the camera sometimes tries, just to keep everyone humble).
Featured players typically:

• rotate through sketches until a signature voice emerges,
• get chances to pop in pre-tapes or character bits,
• andif lightning strikesbecome the person you quote all week at school or work.

Slowikowska arrives with something SNL loves: a clear comedic POV that’s already been tested in front of
actual audiences, not just a mirror in an audition room.

Her Background: From Ontario to the Internet to Studio 8H

Where She’s From

Slowikowska is from Barrie, Ontario. Her family background is often described as Polish-Canadian,
and multiple bios note her parents immigrated from Poland. That mixsmall-city specificity plus immigrant-family
texturetends to produce comedians who are great at observing tiny social rules (and then poking them with a stick).

Training and Early Comedy Roots

She studied performing arts (including at Randolph College for the Performing Arts) and later completed training at
the Canadian Film Centre. She also performed improv in Toronto, including with
Bad Dog Theatre, where comedians learn an important life skill: making a strong choice even when your brain is shouting,
“Why did you just say that sentence out loud?”

How She Got Famous: The “Viral Sketch” Pipeline

She’s Very Good at Internet Comedy That Doesn’t Feel Like “Internet Comedy”

A lot of creators go viral because they’re loud. Slowikowska’s version of viral is different:
it’s often absurd, specific, character-driven, and delivered with the kind of calm confidence that makes you
wonder if you’re the weird one (you are, but lovingly).

Her sketches tend to hinge on social micro-tensionsawkward politeness, the unspoken rules of flirting, or that moment when someone’s
trying to be chill but their soul is doing jazz hands. That’s a great fit for SNL, where the biggest laughs often come from
saying the quiet part out loud… in a wig.

Vulture Clocked Her Early

Before SNL came calling, Slowikowska was featured in Vulture’s “Comedians You Should and Will Know” spotlight, which is basically comedy’s
way of predicting the future (and then pretending it was obvious all along). In that interview, she comes off as someone who’s serious
about the craft without being precious about itan ideal SNL temperament.

Her Biggest Roles (So Far)

“What We Do in the Shadows”

Some fans first saw her as Shanice in What We Do in the Shadows, a show where the comedy is sharp, the characters are weirder than your group chat,
and the tone rewards performers who can play sincere inside absolute chaos. A recurring role in that world is a strong signal:
you can commit to a bit, keep it grounded, and still be funny when the scene is full of fangs.

“Davey & Jonesie’s Locker”

She stars as Davey in Davey & Jonesie’s Locker, a teen sci-fi comedy built around a locker that’s basically a multiverse doorway.
It’s the kind of concept that needs performers who can sell emotional stakes while everything around them is delightfully unhinged.
Her work there was recognized with a Canadian Screen Award (Best Lead Performer, Children’s or Youth).

Netflix’s “Tires”

Slowikowska also appears in Season 2 of Netflix’s Tires, expanding her U.S. audience beyond the sketch-comedy corner of the internet.
The show’s humor is rough-around-the-edges workplace chaos, and she fits in as someone who can play both “in on the joke” and “why are you people like this?”
depending on what the scene needs.

Other Credits Worth Noting

Her film and TV work also includes titles like I Like Movies and the holiday comedy EXmas, showing she can bounce between indie comedy and
broader studio-friendly rolesuseful range for someone about to do live TV at 11:30 p.m. with 30 seconds to change outfits.

Her Comedy Style, in Human Terms

Absurdist, But Not Random

“Absurdist” sometimes gets used as a synonym for “anything goes,” but her comedy tends to be more like:
the logic is weird, but it’s consistent. That’s important. The best SNL performers can build a character with ruleseven if the rules are,
“This person is extremely confident about something no one should ever be confident about.”

Character-First, Punchline-Second

She often plays characters who are convinced they’re being normalwhile everyone else is silently begging the universe for help.
That character-forward approach is an SNL superpower because it creates repeatable bits: the audience recognizes the “type,”
and then the sketch escalates until reality taps out.

Her Offscreen Projects: Podcasting and the “Very Online” Persona

The Podcast

Slowikowska co-hosts the nevermind. podcast with Kyle Chase. The show leans conversational and comedic, which doubles as a public workshop:
you can hear how she riff-builds, how she lands on phrasing, and how she finds humor in ordinary scenariosskills that transfer cleanly into live sketch.

The “Internet Lore” Factor

Some coverage (and plenty of comment sections) treats her online presence like a mini cinematic universebits, recurring dynamics, and fans who track the lore like it’s a prestige drama.
That kind of fan energy can be rocket fuel for an SNL newcomerespecially when the performer knows how to keep it playful without letting it swallow the work.

What She Could Bring to SNL (And Why It’s a Smart Hire)

SNL is always balancing eras: legacy cast members who can steer the ship, and new performers who bring in fresh rhythms. Slowikowska’s skill set hits a sweet spot:

• Digital-native timing for pre-tapes and social-first sketches,
• improv and acting chops for live sketches that change mid-rehearsal,
• character specificity that can turn a small role into a standout moment,
• and audience-tested material instincts from building a following the hard way: one funny post at a time.

How to Watch Her SNL Era Like a Pro

Look for These Rookie “Breakout” Patterns

• The recurring character: when SNL finds a character that clicks, it returns like a boomerang with better lighting.
• The pre-tape steal: many modern breakouts happen in edited sketches where timing is surgical.
• The “two lines, huge laugh” moment: the stealth MVP moveshort screen time, maximum impact.

Don’t Panic If the First Few Episodes Are Subtle

Some featured players explode immediately; others build momentum until suddenly they’re everywhere. The key is that Slowikowska’s comedy
already works in multiple formatsmeaning SNL has options for how to use her.

The Veronika Experience: on What It Feels Like to Discover Her Comedy

There’s a specific kind of delight that comes with finding a comedian right before the rest of the world starts screaming their name in all caps. Discovering Veronika Slowikowska
often feels like that. You’ll be minding your businessscrolling, procrastinating, pretending you’re “just resting your eyes for a second”and then a sketch pops up that doesn’t
behave like a normal sketch. It’s not begging for your attention. It’s calmly holding a door open and letting you walk into a situation that’s already weird, already specific,
and somehow emotionally accurate.

The first sensation is usually, “Wait, I know this person.” Not literally, of coursebut the character’s energy feels familiar. She’ll play someone who’s overly confident in a
conversation where confidence is objectively the wrong choice, like ordering with authority at a restaurant that clearly doesn’t have what she’s asking for. Or she’ll nail that
modern social tone where everyone’s trying to be chill while silently auditioning to be the least embarrassing person in the room. You laugh, then you laugh again because you
realize the joke isn’t only the characterit’s the uncomfortable little rulebook in your own head that says, “Don’t say that,” even though you’ve thought it 900 times.

Another part of the “Veronika experience” is the pacing. Her humor often lands like a soft tap on the shoulderthen the line hits and you realize it was a punch delivered with
perfect manners. That’s the kind of comedy you rewatch, not because you missed the joke, but because the phrasing is so precise it feels like it was engineered in a lab. And then
you start noticing her acting choices: the micro-pause, the gentle eye shift, the casual shrug that somehow implies an entire backstory. It’s the comedy equivalent of finding out
someone you know can also play pianoextremely wellwithout ever mentioning it.

When you follow her into TV roles, the experience changes but the core stays the same. In a scripted scene, she still brings that grounded commitment that makes ridiculous
circumstances feel oddly real. That’s why the jump to SNL makes sense. On SNL, your job isn’t just to be funnyit’s to be funny at speed, in a costume, under pressure, while a cue
card tries to sabotage you. If you’ve watched her work, you can almost feel how she’ll thrive: quick character clarity, strong point of view, and the ability to make a small moment
feel like it has stakes.

And then there’s the communal part: realizing thousands of people are having the same discovery at the same time. Comments fill up with “Who is she?” followed by “How is she this
funny?” followed by “I’m obsessed.” That’s when you know you’re watching a career flip into a new gear. The best part is that it still feels playfullike you’re not just watching
a comedian climb, you’re watching a comedian bring her audience along for the ride. If SNL is a national stage, her vibe is: “Sure, we’re on national television now… but let’s keep
it weird.”

Conclusion

Veronika Slowikowska’s SNL casting isn’t a random viral-to-TV experimentit’s the logical next step for a performer who can act, write, build characters, and hold attention in
multiple formats. Whether you know her from What We Do in the Shadows, the multiverse chaos of Davey & Jonesie’s Locker, Netflix’s Tires, or her online sketches,
the through-line is the same: she’s sharp, specific, and weird in a way that’s actually useful. That’s the kind of “new cast member” SNL fans lovebecause it usually means
we’re about to get a few new favorite sketches (and at least one character you’ll quote until your friends stage an intervention).

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