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David Andrew "Andy" Samberg (born August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live. On Saturday Night Live, he and The Lonely Island have been credited with popularizing the Emmy-winning SNL Digital Shorts, the comical short films and music videos starring Samberg and other members of the SNL cast. As a film actor, Samberg has appeared in Hot Rod, Space Chimps, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, I Love You, Man and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
Samberg was born to Margi (née Marrow), an elementary school teacher who taught at Old Mill School, and Joe Samberg, a photographer. He was born in Mill Valley, California, and grew up in a Jewish household. His maternal grandfather, Alfred J. Marrow, served as the executive chair of the American Jewish Congress, although Samberg describes himself as "not particularly religious".
He was "weaned" on Jewish comedy as a child, in particular, Mel Brooks. As a child, Samberg discovered Saturday Night Live while sneaking past his parents to watch professional wrestling on television. He became "obsessed" with the show, and his devotion to comedy became frustrating to teachers who felt he was unfocused on his schoolwork. In high school, Samberg became interested in creative writing; he says that his writing classes "were the ones that I put all my effort into...that's what I cared about and that's what I ended up doing." Samberg graduated from Berkeley High School in 1996. He went to college at UC Santa Cruz for two years before transferring to NYU for film school. He majored in experimental film, where he starred as "Monkey" in the short film entitled Monkey vs. Robot.