Kate McKinnon Height: How Tall Is the SNL Star?

Kate McKinnon’s height is widely reported at about 5 ft 7 in (170 cm), as of 2026. She was born on November 6, 1984, which makes her 42 years old.

Those numbers rarely come up in conversation, because her screen presence tends to fill whatever room a sketch puts her in. Still, height is one of the most searched details about the comedian, so here is the fuller picture, along with the career that made her a household name.

Quick facts

How tall she looks on screen

At roughly 5 ft 7 in, McKinnon sits a little above the average height for women in the United States, though listed heights for performers can differ by an inch depending on the source. In sketch comedy it is her physicality, not her size, that does the work: the wide eyes, the sudden lurches, the deadpan stare straight into the camera. She is often paired with taller male co-stars and still reads as the biggest personality in the frame.

From Long Island to Studio 8H

McKinnon grew up on Long Island and studied theatre at Columbia University. She built her name in New York’s improv and sketch world, performing at venues including the Upright Citizens Brigade and appearing on the Logo series The Big Gay Sketch Show.

Her big break came in 2012, when she joined Saturday Night Live. She stayed for a decade and became one of the show’s defining performers, known for fearless impressions and characters who felt gloriously unhinged. Her versions of Hillary Clinton, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Kellyanne Conway were fixtures of the show’s political coverage, and she won two Emmy Awards for supporting performances there.

Film and streaming work

After establishing herself in comedy, McKinnon moved steadily into features. She starred in the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot as the eccentric engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and later turned up in The Spy Who Dumped Me, Bombshell and Barbie, in which she played Weird Barbie. She also took the lead as Carole Baskin in the Peacock series Joe vs. Carole, a part that let her show a more dramatic range alongside the comedy.

Personal life

McKinnon has spoken publicly about being gay and about how her family shaped her sense of humour. She keeps most of her private life out of the spotlight, which suits a career built on disappearing into other people.

Why the height question keeps coming up

Fans often compare the heights of cast members on ensemble projects, and McKinnon’s distinctive, slightly rangy frame makes her easy to spot in group shots. The number is simply a reported estimate rather than something she has made a point of publishing, so treat it as approximate.

Characters people still quote

Part of what made McKinnon a standout is how specific her characters were. Her Hillary Clinton opened the show on the first Saturday after the 2016 election, performing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in a pantsuit, and the sketch became one of the most talked-about cold opens of that era. Her Ruth Bader Ginsburg, complete with a workout routine and a “Gins-burn” catchphrase, was gentle and affectionate. Then there was Olya Povlatsky, the deadpan Russian woman who treated every awkward sketch as a minor tragedy, and a Justin Bieber impression that was somehow both exaggerated and uncannily accurate.

None of it worked because of mimicry alone. McKinnon tends to commit to a bit past the point where most performers would stop, and she lets a character’s strangeness land before going for the punchline. That’s a big part of why castmates and writers have often described her as the one who could carry a sketch that wasn’t working on paper.

Awards and recognition

She won the Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in 2016 and again in 2017, both for her SNL work, a rare back-to-back run for a sketch performer. She has also been nominated for further screen awards for her film and streaming roles, and she remains one of the few SNL alumni of her era who has moved easily between sketch, blockbuster and prestige drama.

What fans ask

Beyond the height question, readers tend to wonder whether she’s really tall in person, which cast member she’s closest to, and which SNL sketch is her best. The height answer is simple: about 5 ft 7 in is the number you’ll see, and she looks it in group photos without being exceptional. As for the best sketch, that’s a matter of taste, though the Clinton cold open and the Bieber impression are the two that most often come up.

Frequently asked questions