What Kate McKinnon Gave to <em>Saturday Night Live</em><em> </em>
Of the show’s big cast departures, this one will hurt the most.
From Kate McKinnon’s first sketch on , in 2012, it was evident she’d be a star. Appearing in as Penélope Cruz, alongside then-host Sofía Vergara, McKinnon delivered Cruz’s Castilian Spanish accent with a winking twist. While Vergara focused on highlighting all of the healthy, easy-to-say ingredients, such as “aloe,” McKinnon as Cruz was left to outline the harmful, difficult-to-say ingredients the shampoo contain, such as “ammonium laureth sulfate.” McKinnon clearly relished the opportunity to build a character around that pronunciative challenge—a spirit that served her well, carrying her through 10 years of notable celebrity impressions and oddball characters, such as the senior-cat-adoption advocate and veteran.
