Amy Sparkes Popular Books

Amy Sparkes Biography & Facts

Amy Beth Schumer (born June 1, 1981) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. Schumer ventured into comedy in the early 2000s before appearing as a contestant on the fifth season of the NBC reality competition series Last Comic Standing in 2007. From 2013 to 2016, she was the creator, co-producer, co-writer, and star of the Comedy Central sketch comedy series Inside Amy Schumer, for which she received a Peabody Award and was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Variety Sketch Series in 2015. Schumer wrote and made her film debut in a starring role in Trainwreck (2015) earning a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She then starred in the comedy films Snatched (2017), and I Feel Pretty (2019). She created, produced and starred in the HBO documentary series Expecting Amy (2020), and the Hulu comedy-drama series Life & Beth (2022–present). She made her Broadway debut acting in Steve Martin's comedic play Meteor Shower for which she earned a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination. Schumer has earned two Grammy Award nominations for Best Comedy Album for Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo, and Best Spoken Word Album for narrating her The New York Times Best Selling memoir The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo (2016). Early life and family Schumer was born on June 1, 1981, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, New York, to Sandra Jane (née Jones) and Gordon David Schumer, who owned a baby-furniture company. Schumer's father was born to a Jewish family from Ukraine. She is a second cousin of U.S. Senator and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Her mother, who is from a Protestant background and has deep New England roots, converted to Judaism before her marriage. Schumer was raised Jewish and says she had to deal with antisemitism as a child. Her mother's ancestry included Puritans in the 17th-century English colony of Massachusetts. As a guest on Finding Your Roots in 2017, Schumer learned that in 1704, three children from her ancestor Thomas Tarbell's family were captured at Groton, Massachusetts, in a French-Abenaki raid and taken to Montreal. The girl was ransomed by a French-Canadian family and ultimately joined a French Catholic convent; the two boys were each adopted by Mohawk families at Kahnawake and became thoroughly assimilated. They married Mohawk women and some of their descendants became chiefs. There are still Mohawk by the surname Tarbell in Kahnawake and Akwesasne, another village reserve on the St. Lawrence River founded by the brothers. Through the success of her father's furniture company in Manhattan, Schumer's household was wealthy during her early years. When she was nine years old, her father's business failed and he went bankrupt, and either then or when she was 12 (sources differ), her father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Some time afterward, her parents divorced. Moving to Long Island with her mother, Schumer lived in Rockville Centre, New York, and attended South Side High School. She was voted both "Class Clown" and "Teacher's Worst Nightmare" upon graduation in 1999. She attended the Hebrew school of the Central Synagogue of Nassau County, a Reform synagogue in Rockville Centre, on whose board her mother served. Schumer moved near Baltimore, Maryland, after high school when she attended Towson University; she graduated with a degree in theater in 2003. She returned to New York City after college, where she studied at the William Esper Studio for two years and worked as a bartender and a waitress. She also for a period relocated to Santa Barbara, California (with a boyfriend she characterized as abusive), where she worked as a pedicab driver. She has a younger sister, Kim Caramele, who is a comedy writer and a producer, and a half-brother, Jason Stein, who is a musician in Chicago, Illinois. Career 2003–2012: Rise to prominence After graduating with a degree in theater from Towson University in 2003 and moving to New York City, Schumer portrayed a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the Off-Off-Broadway black comedy Keeping Abreast. She started doing stand-up comedy on June 1, 2004, when she first performed at Gotham Comedy Club. In 2007, she recorded a Live at Gotham episode for Comedy Central before appearing on Last Comic Standing; she later recalled that she thought of the episode as her "big break". Rebounding from an unsuccessful audition for an earlier season, she advanced to the finals of the fifth season of the NBC reality television talent show Last Comic Standing and placed fourth. Schumer said in April 2011, "Last Comic was totally fun. I had a great time because there was no pressure on me; I had been doing stand-up around two years. I wasn't supposed to do well. So every time I advanced it was a happy surprise. I kept it honest on the show and it served me well." Schumer co-starred in the Comedy Central reality show Reality Bites Back in 2008. In 2009, she appeared in an advertising campaign for Butterfinger. Schumer was a recurring guest on Fox News late-night program Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld between 2007 and 2012. Her first Comedy Central Presents special aired on April 2, 2010. She served as a co-host of A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus in 2011, later titled Hoppus on Music. She has also written for Cosmopolitan. Schumer did an episode (#154) of WTF with Marc Maron podcast on March 3, 2011, in which she discusses her early life in more detail. Schumer has appeared in roles on the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, the Adult Swim mockumentary series Delocated, and the two HBO series, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Girls. She was also a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show and the Opie and Anthony radio show. Schumer released a stand-up comedy album, Cutting, in 2011. Her stand-up comedy special Mostly Sex Stuff premiered on Comedy Central on August 18, 2012, to positive reviews. Schumer said in February 2012, "I don't like the observational stuff. I like tackling the stuff nobody else talks about, like the darkest, most serious thing about yourself. I talk about life and sex and personal stories and stuff everybody can relate to, and some can't." She acted in three films in 2012: the independent comedy Price Check, the comedy-drama Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, and the independent comedy Sleepwalk with Me. Schumer also appeared on The Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen in September 2011, and The Comedy Central Roast of Roseanne Barr in August 2012. In June 2012, Schumer began work on a sketch comedy series for Comedy Central. The show included single-camera vignettes of Schumer playing "heightened versions" of herself. The vignettes are linked together with footage of Schumer's stand-up. 2013–2019: Breakthrough and stardom The TV show Inside Amy Schumer premiered on Comedy Central on April 30, 2013. Inside Amy Schumer was picked up for a second season that bega.... Discover the Amy Sparkes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Amy Sparkes books.

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  • The Leading Edge synopsis, comments

    The Leading Edge

    Holly Ransom

    What does it mean to ‘be a leader’?What does true leadership look like in the 2020s, when we’re facing complexity and challenges in every direction – from climate disaster to polit...

  • The Islander synopsis, comments

    The Islander

    Chris Blackwell

    In the vein of Sound Man and The Soundtrack of My Life, a lyrical memoir from the founder of one of the greatest music labels of all time, Island Records, about his astonishing lif...

  • Plain Truth synopsis, comments

    Plain Truth

    Jodi Picoult

    From the bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper comes the riveting story of a murder that shatters the picturesque calm of Amish countryand tests the heart and soul of the lawyer...

  • Vanishing Acts synopsis, comments

    Vanishing Acts

    Jodi Picoult

    The #1 New York Times bestselling author of modern classics such as My Sister’s Keeper and Small Great Things weaves a “richly textured and engaging” (The Boston Globe) tale that e...

  • Losing My Voice to Find It synopsis, comments

    Losing My Voice to Find It

    Mark Stuart

    The incredible story of a lead singer's rise to fame and his crushing fall when he lost his singing voice, his career, and his marriageand then found a new calling more in tune wit...

  • Fingers in the Sparkle Jar synopsis, comments

    Fingers in the Sparkle Jar

    Chris Packham

    Voted the UK’s Favourite Nature BookThe memoir that inspired Chris Packham's BBC documentary, Asperger’s and MeEvery minute was magical, every single thing it did was fascinating a...

  • Handle with Care synopsis, comments

    Handle with Care

    Jodi Picoult

    When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastatedshe will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative st...

  • The Tenth Circle synopsis, comments

    The Tenth Circle

    Jodi Picoult

    From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult, a powerful novel that explores the unbreakable bond between parent and child, and questions whether you can reinvent yourself i...

  • House Rules synopsis, comments

    House Rules

    Jodi Picoult

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things and the modern classics My Sister’s Keeper, The Storyteller, and more, comes a “complex, compassionate, and smar...

  • Second Glance synopsis, comments

    Second Glance

    Jodi Picoult

    This breathtaking novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult asks: Do we love across time, or in spite of it?“Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she w...

  • Salem Falls synopsis, comments

    Salem Falls

    Jodi Picoult

    From #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult comes a compelling and “multilayered tale of smalltown intrigue” (Glamour) about a prep schoolteacher accused of rape by a gr...

  • Nineteen Minutes synopsis, comments

    Nineteen Minutes

    Jodi Picoult

    Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and Small Great Things pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath o...

  • On Sudden Hill synopsis, comments

    On Sudden Hill

    Linda Sarah & Benji Davies

    Birt and Etho are best friends, they play on Sudden Hill, making marvellous contraptions out of cardboard boxes. But then a new boy, Shu, wants to join in too. Birt isn't sure that...

  • Songs of the Humpback Whale synopsis, comments

    Songs of the Humpback Whale

    Jodi Picoult

    Jodi Picoult’s powerful novel portrays an emotionally charged marriage that changes course in one explosive moment.Sometimes finding your own voice is a matter of listening to the ...

  • Sing You Home synopsis, comments

    Sing You Home

    Jodi Picoult

    From the awardwinning, #1 New York Times bestselling author whom USA TODAY calls a “master of the pageturner,” comes the spectacular story of a woman’s complex quest to form a fami...

  • Wie die Stille unter Wasser synopsis, comments

    Wie die Stille unter Wasser

    Brittainy C. Cherry & Katia Liebig

    Momente. Die Menschen erinnern sich vor allem an Momente. Denn das Leben ist eine Summe aus einer unendlichen Anzahl von Momenten. Manche sind grausam und voller Erinnerung an nich...

  • Lone Wolf synopsis, comments

    Lone Wolf

    Jodi Picoult

    A life hanging in the balance…a family torn apartNew York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult tells an unforgettable story about family secrets, love, and letting go. On an icy w...

  • Perfect Match synopsis, comments

    Perfect Match

    Jodi Picoult

    Picoult brings to life a female prosecutor whose cherished family is shattered when she learns that her fiveyearold son has been sexually abused.What does it mean to be a good moth...