CEARA O’SULLIVAN ’06

Ceara O’Sullivan is a comedian, actor and new staff writer on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. In 2022-23, Ceara wrote and directed a short film for the third season of Powderkeg: Fuge, a director incubator program by Paul Feig’s production company, and directed the Improv Asylum mainstage review, “Air Conditional Love.” She was recently nominated for a 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) award for her on SNL and recognized by Just For Laughs as an emerging comedian by industry producers.

Ceara is also well known for sharing comedic skits and original characters on her TikTok account cearajane. She has more than 550,000 followers on the platform.

“It was an incredible feeling to be able to step away and start doing my passion full time.”

Tell us a little bit about your life since graduating from Old Trail. From Old Trail I went to Western Reserve Academy, then Boston College. I lived in Boston for a few years and was working at Harvard, working on my master’s degree in creative writing, and performing sketch comedy and improv during nights and weekends. I eventually moved to Los Angeles and studied at the Groundlings Theatre. I started posting old live bits that I had done in shows online and, as a result, had one really good meeting with somebody who wouldn’t have found me otherwise. That was all the validation I needed to keep at it.

Do you remember when making people laugh became important to you?

It wasn’t really one specific moment but a consistent feeling I had for a few years. I had a long stretch of time when I couldn’t anticipate where I was going to be in 5 or 10 years. I was working in healthcare, which wasn’t central to my passions, but I needed the job to pay rent. I felt really disjointed, and I was dealing with this imposter syndrome. But being on stage every night was when I felt most like myself. It was my guiding light. Making people laugh is the best feeling in the world.

How did it feel to walk away from that healthcare job?

Up until last year, I was working at the Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA. It was such a great job and I loved my coworkers, but I felt like I was pretending to work there because it wasn’t really who I was. It was an incredible feeling to be able to step away and start doing my passion full time.

How would you describe your style of comedy?

I’m a character comedian. I primarily write sketches and monologues, and I’m an improviser. My specific style is I really like hyperconfident women who are maybe sometimes a little bit deplorable, and there is a little bit of a Midwest sensibility in some of my characters that I write.

COVID was challenging for countless reasons. However, during this time, many people turned to comedy as an escape. Why do you think this is?

Comedy is most important during times when we are collectively struggling or having a challenge. It is inherently a connective art—it’s one person making an audience laugh, whether that’s a single person or a group of people. I think COVID was such a time of disconnect, comedy was a way to connect us. Whether it’s sending a funny video to a friend you haven’t seen in a while, it’s a way of saying I was thinking of you—I thought this would make you laugh.

How did your time at Old Trail School shape you?

I had an amazing time at Old Trail. Mr. Korvne was my homeroom teacher and he just fostered my love of writing so much. Writing can be so grueling and thankless, so when anyone takes the time to help you get better and tell you you’re on the right track—it’s the most meaningful thing. I got to do all the things that I still do today at Old Trail, writing and performing, and that’s when I fell in love with the performing arts.

The Peter G. Wilson Rising Star Award is presented to an Old Trail alumnus who is under 30. The recipient has shown professional and community leadership and exhibited an appreciation for Old Trail School. The Award is named in honor of Peter G. Wilson, former Old Trail Headmaster. Nominees must have attended Old Trail School, contributed to their community and/or to the betterment of others, earned the respect of Old Trail alumni and exhibit a continued loyalty to Old Trail School.