With his dry delivery and everyman good looks, comic performer Jason Sudeikis made a quick impact soon after his 2005 arrival on NBC’s venerable “Saturday Night Live.” (1975-).

Sudeikis was born in Fairfax Virginia but grew up in Overland Park, Kansas. Unlike his Ivy-League educated comedy writer peers, his academic record was spotty - his focus in school was mainly on playing basketball. When a friend took him to see a local improv show, ComedySportz, he added drama to his extracurricular interests. After high school, Sudeikis enrolled at a junior college where he continued to concentrate on playing basketball on scholarship and acting in plays. But after continuing to struggle with grades, Sudeikis was cut from the team and eventually dropped out of school altogether, but then began focusing on comedy. He and some friends from improv formed a fledgling comedy troop and later moved to Chicago in 1997. He joined the Second City National Touring Company, based out of Chicago, where his uncle, “Cheers” star George Wendt, also performed. He also toured and performed with the Improv Olympic and the Annoyance Theater, whose alums include SNL castmates Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz.

In 1998, Sudeikis had a small part in B-movie-director Roger Corman’s TV movie “Alien Avenger II,” along with his uncle. And like future castmate Seth Myers, Sudeikis also performed overseas in Amsterdam, with Boom Chicago. He was a founding member of Second City Las Vegas, and it was during his stint at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas that Wendt and actor Larry Campell, of “The Rules According to Jim” (ABC) came to see Sudeikis perform and convinced him to audition for “SNL.” Sudeikis put together an audition tape which was well received; although the show wasn’t hiring new cast members at the time, he was quickly brought on as a writer, joining the staff late in the season in May of 2003. Sudeikis was moved up to featured player in May of 2005, where along with fellow newcomers Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Kristen Wiig.