Fred Armisen is the co-creator, co-writer and co-star of Portlandia. He is also a former cast member of Saturday Night Live. On SNL, Armisen took on the role of then Democratic Presidential nominee and now U.S. President, Sen. Barack Obama, as well as New York Governor David Paterson. Other characters include the vaguely European home design enthusiast "Nuni," the Native American comic Billy Smith, the political comedian Nicholas Fehn, and Prince, the often-silent host of the musician's talk show, The Prince Show. Armisen has also contributed memorable impressions of Muammar Gaddafi, Queen Elizabeth, Steve Jobs, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the popular Digital Short "Iran So Far Away."

Armisen has landed on Rolling Stone's "Hot List" as well as twice on Entertainment Weekly's "Must List" (for his performance as a politically incorrect deaf comedian and his witty iTunes playlist). He has appeared in the feature films "Easy A" opposite Emma Stone, Confessions of a Shopaholic opposite Isla Fisher, The Rocker opposite Rainn Wilson and The Promotion with John C. Reilly. He has also appeared in the films Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny with Jack Black, The Ex with Zach Braff and Jason Bateman, as well as Eurotrip, and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

Armisen began his career as a musician in the Chicago-based post-punk band Trenchmouth as well as playing with the Blue Man Group. His transition to comedy came with the 1998 underground short film "Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and SXSW," which followed him through the Austin, TX, "South By Southwest Music Festival" posing as a music journalist. In 2006, he interviewed Cat Power for the influential music website Pitchfork.com. He then combined his love for music and comedy by creating the role of drummer Jens Hannemann and releasing an instructional DVD, "Complicated Drumming Technique," in 2007.

He has made guest appearances on NBC's 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, and the cable comedy shows The Sarah Silverman Show, Human Giant and Tim & Eric, Awesome Show, Great Job! He was also seen in the smash kids show Yo Gabba Gabba on Nickelodeon. Armisen lives in New York City.

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