Lorne Michaels Told Ashley Padilla There Was No Room In The Cast For Her. Then She Became ‘SNL’s Breakout Star

Ashley Padilla has become this season’s breakout star of Saturday Night Live with sketches such as Surprise, Missing Wives Docuseries, a Hunting Wives pastiche and a turn as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

But Padilla, who joined the show ahead of Season 50, was not sure that she’d even made the show when she sat down with creator Lorne Michaels.

Padilla, speaking on Late Night with Seth Meyers, said that Michaels told her “there’s really no room for you in the cast”.

“I went across the street with some other people who tested, and I think we had a drink, and because I think he said the same thing to each of us, it was just like, ‘What do now we do?’. Then I got a call from a producer 30 minutes later and they said, ‘You’re on the cast’. And I said, ‘Are you sure?’,” she added.