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---
title: Melissa Villasenor Joins SNL as First Latina Cast Member
description: Saturday Night Live just added its first Latina cast member, Melissa Villaseñor, in the show&#x27;s forty-one season history.
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author: TIME Staff
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article:published_time: 2016-09-13T17:37:26.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:22.032Z
og:title: &#x27;Saturday Night Live&#x27; Adds Its First Latina Cast Member
og:description: Melissa Villaseñor is the first Latina in the show&#x27;s 41-season history
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og:image:alt: First Impressions - Season 1
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twitter:title: &#x27;Saturday Night Live&#x27; Adds Its First Latina Cast Member
twitter:description: Melissa Villaseñor is the first Latina in the show&#x27;s 41-season history
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e715c0f2ab3a4e7/6988a5d2cd1bba25547024c2/melissa-villasenor-saturday-night-live-latina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# _Saturday Night Live_ Adds Its First Latina Cast Member

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by 

[TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


Sep 13, 2016 5:37 PM UTC

![First Impressions - Season 1](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e715c0f2ab3a4e7/6988a5d2cd1bba25547024c2/melissa-villasenor-saturday-night-live-latina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Season:1 -- Pictured: Melissa Villasenor -- (Photo by: Joseph Viles/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Season:1 -- Pictured: Melissa Villasenor -- (Photo by: Joseph Viles/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images) Joseph Viles—NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

by 

[TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/)


## TIME Staff


Sep 13, 2016 5:37 PM UTC

Live from New York, it’s a more diverse [_Saturday Night Live_](http://time.com/4488190/snl-new-cast-members-bio/)_!_ The show just added its first Latina cast member, Melissa Villaseñor, in the show’s forty-one season history. Villaseñor will be joined by other new cast members Mikey Day and Alex Moffat; Jay Pharoah and Taran Killam [announced](http://time.com/4444651/taran-killam-jay-pharoah-saturday-night-live/) their departures in August.

Villaseñor is [best known](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/09/13/melissa-villasenor-becomes-snls-first-latina-cast-member/) for her voice impressions—including [Owen Wilson—](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNbkXOg7eg8)which helped catapult her to fame on _America’s Got Talent,_ where she was a finalist. She has numerous YouTube videos as well, with over 50,000 subscribers and 5 million views total.

Although _Saturday Night Live_ had cast two Latino cast members—Fred Armisen and Horatio Sanz—Villaseñor’s addition to the show injects diversity and opens doors for Latina comedians. In 2013, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts sent _Saturday Night Live_ creator Lorne Michaels [a letter](http://d1o2xrel38nv1n.cloudfront.net/files/2013/11/Letter-to-Mr.-Lorne-Michaels-1.jpg), scolding him for the lack of diversity: “The lack of Latino representation in the entertainment industry has historic roots; perpetuating this marginalization and isolation is frankly segregation in the digital age.”

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