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Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952, Chicago, Illinois) is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990, where she originated several beloved recurring characters.1 She later built a steady television and film career spanning decades. In the Ghostbusters franchise, she provided a guest voice in Extreme Ghostbusters.2
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Dunn was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, John Dunn, was a musician and poet; her mother, Margaret (née East), worked as a nurse.1 She grew up in a Catholic household with mixed Irish, English, Scottish, and German heritage.3 Her siblings include actor Kevin Dunn, high school history teacher and football coach Michael Dunn, and sister Cathy Zimmerman.1
She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, training initially as a visual artist before her path shifted toward performance and comedy.14
After her art school training, Dunn joined Chicago's renowned Second City comedy troupe, where she developed her improvisational and character work.1 SNL casting directors spotted her there, and she joined the show in 1985 when Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer, arriving during a difficult ratings period for the program.1 She was among only five cast members retained after the show's troubled 1985-1986 season (alongside Jon Lovitz, A. Whitney Brown, Dennis Miller, and Al Franken).1
Over her five seasons on SNL (1985-1990), Dunn created and performed a range of recurring characters, including:1
Her celebrity impressions on the show included Ann Landers, Imelda Marcos, Liza Minnelli, Tyne Daly, Joan Baez, Martina Navratilova, and Cokie Roberts, among many others.1
Dunn left SNL in 1990 in a public way: she boycotted an episode hosted by controversial stand-up comedian Andrew Dice Clay, objecting to what she described as his character being "only about one thing: abusing women and laughing about abusing women."1 Musical guest Sinéad O'Connor also pulled out of the same episode.1 The incident drew significant press attention and underscored Dunn's willingness to take a principled public stand.
Dunn's film work runs from the late 1980s through the 2010s. She appeared in Mike Nichols' Working Girl (1988) opposite Melanie Griffith.5 Other notable credits include Miami Blues (1990), Three Kings (1999) as journalist Adriana Cruz, Zoolander (2001), Bruce Almighty (2003) as Ally Loman opposite Jim Carrey, Runaway Jury (2003), and Pineapple Express (2008).5
Dunn's television work after SNL is substantial. Her most prominent recurring roles include:5
She has also made guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm, New Girl, Entourage, and Criminal Minds, among others.5
Dunn provided a guest voice in Extreme Ghostbusters, the 1997 animated continuation of the Ghostbusters franchise. She voiced the character Lilith in the episode "A Temporary Insanity", which aired November 28, 1997.2
Dunn was married twice: to Ray Hutcherson (1987-1995) and to Sean McGarry (1998-2000).1 She is a committed fan of Chicago sports, particularly the Chicago Bears and Chicago Blackhawks.3 She has been involved in Chicago theater, including directing the American Theater Company's production of Augusta in 20084 and contributing storytelling to Chicago's Under the Gun Theater.
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
"Nora Dunn," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Dunn. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12
Spook Central, "Extreme Ghostbusters Episode Reviews" (October 1, 2020), https://www.spookcentral.tk/2020/10/01/extreme-ghostbusters-episode-reviews.html. Episode "A Temporary Insanity" aired Friday, November 28, 1997. ↩ ↩2
Salon, "Nora Dunn: 'SNL is a traumatic experience. It's something you have to survive'" (April 7, 2015), https://www.salon.com/2015/04/07/nora_dunn_snl_is_a_traumatic_experience_its_something_you_have_to_survive/. Dunn: "My objection to Andrew Dice Clay was that his character was only about one thing: abusing women and laughing about abusing women." ↩ ↩2
Chicago Magazine, "You Should Know... Nora Dunn" (February 2008), https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/February-2008/You-Should-Know-Nora-Dunn/. On her directorial debut: Dunn made her full-length directorial debut with Augusta, a dark comedy by Richard Dresser, at American Theater Company. ↩ ↩2
IMDb, "Nora Dunn," accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004887/. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
