Samantha Bee

Comedian and television host Samantha Bee honed her political edge and satiric bite on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 1999-2014), which led to her own series, "Full Frontal" (TBS, 2016-), a caustic roundup of the day's most enraging news. Born Samantha Jamie Bee in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, her parents split shortly after her birth, and she was raised for a period of time by a grandmother. She became involved in acting while a student at the University of Ottawa, where she enrolled in a theater class that she believed would be an easy grade; Bee found that she loved to perform, and soon continued her training at the George Brown Theatre School. But rather than complete her studies, Bee began pursuing a professional career as an actress, which encompassed appearances in several television commercials and a turn as the anime heroine Sailor Moon in a stage production that also featured her future husband and fellow "Daily Show" correspondent Jason Jones. Bee found greater creative success as a founding member of the Toronto-based sketch comedy group The Atomic Fireballs; her work with them led to an audition for "The Daily Show" and her debut as the show's sole female correspondent in 2003. She quickly established herself as one of the program's sharpest wits, most notably through a segment series titled "Samantha Bee's So You Want to Bee a " which focused on the absurd ease of obtaining various jobs or titles. The exposure afforded by "Daily Show" led to acting roles on "Bored to Death" (HBO, 2011-13) and in Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" (2009) with Larry David. In 2015, she ended her tenure with "Daily Show" - which, at 12 years, was the longest by any regular correspondent - to create and host her own news series, "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee." The program - the first to feature a woman as the host of a late-night satire series - followed "Daily Show's" approach to news and current events, but with a more pointed, less ironic take. The stance occasionally ran Bee and her writers in trouble - most notably in 2018, when Bee hurled a vulgar epithet at Ivanka Trump over the immigration policies of her father, President Donald Trump - but "Full Frontal" was also a critical favorite and an award show magnet, netting a 2017 Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. That same year, Bee was included on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.