Bio
Jessica St. Clair is an American actress, writer, sketch comedienne and comedy improviser best known for her starring role as Emily in the television sitcom In the Motherhood.
She also has a starring role as Emma Crawford, Maggie's best friend since childhood who leaves her overseas job in China to come home and to help Maggie, in the television sitcom Playing House. She co-created the series with Lennon Parham.
St. Clair got her start as a comedian and writer at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, where she performed in several critically acclaimed stage shows co-written with Jason Mantzoukas.
Called the next Nichols and May by Daily Variety in their Ten to Watch list in 2003, their shows were a hit at HBO's Aspen Comedy Festival and were later developed into pilots for both HBO and Comedy Central.
St. Clair had a recurring role on the comedy Worst Week and in the Showtime series The United States of Tara. She also featured in the feature film She's Out of My League, as well as the Polish brothers' movie, Stay Cool, opposite Winona Ryder.
Other credits include Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration, guest starring roles on ABC's Samantha Who? and Notes from the Underbelly, and Comedy Central's The Showbiz Show with David Spade. She is also a regular panelist on VH1's Best Week Ever.
In 2009 she starred as Emily, Jane's (Cheryl Hines) younger sister, in the sitcom In the Motherhood.
St. Clair is a proud Jersey girl, having grown up in Westfield, New Jersey. She received her B.A. from Middlebury College in Vermont.
She later moved to Los Angeles with her husband, playwright Dan O'Brien, where she performs regularly at the UCB Theatre in the long-running show, Soundtrack.