“They Weren’t Actors”: Maya Rudolph Explains Why Her Comedic Career Wasn’t Helped by Her Famous Parents

Maya Rudolph, who rose to fame from her role in Bridesmaids and Grown Ups as well as her work on Saturday Night Live, thought back on her career and her well-known parents. When the 51-year-old actress appeared on Saturday Night Live, she left a lasting impression as a performer. She performed well as each character in the show’s sketches. A lot of people miss her SNL appearances.

She recently said that having well-known parents in the entertainment business has no effect on her career on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard.

Maya Rudolph considers her professional path
Maya Rudolph revealed that her parents were artists on the podcast. She said, “They weren’t actors.” Her father, Richard Rudolph, is a musician, composer, music publisher, and producer. Her mother, singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, gained fame for her song Lovin’ You.

When she looked back on her professional trajectory, she said that her goal had always been to go to New York and appear on Saturday Night Live. “I understand that drive to be somewhere else—to forage in a new city and forge my own path,” she said. However, it is a really big task. I didn’t think that since my dad writes music, I would become a comic. There was not a straight line. “I knew I had to get there myself,” she said.

The Bridesmaids actress disclosed her uncertainty over the identity of her mother to the public. Many others, in her opinion, did not see that link until much later. She said, “Everyone that knows who I am now knows that’s my mom,” in reference to her mother’s notoriety. However, I didn’t think of her as a household name while I was growing up. Yes, I thought she was unique.

Minnie Riperton, the mother of Maya Rudolph, passed away at the early age of 31. When Maya was just six years old, she passed away from breast cancer. She said, “People didn’t really know she was my mom when I started doing SNL, and they figured it out later.” Now, consider this: you don’t want others to know that your mother passed away when you were a child.

She made the observation that she would not want to mention her mother since there would be a “added element” of others who wanted to speak about her.