Michelle Buteau Biography

Michelle Buteau is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer and television host. Born in New Jersey to a Haitian father and Jamaican mother, she studied television production at Florida International University with plans to become an entertainment reporter.

After graduating, Michelle worked behind the scenes as a television news producer in New York City. Feeling burned out by the demands of news coverage, she tried stand-up comedy for the first time in 2001. Five years later, she earned her first television appearance on Comedy Central and continued building a career through comedy specials, podcasts and acting roles.

Michelle appeared in several popular comedies in 2019, including Isn’t It Romantic, Someone Great and Always Be My Maybe. Her other film credits include Work It (2020), The Stand In (2020), Marry Me (2022) and Babes (2024). She also lent her voice to the animated comedy Fixed (2025) and joined Leslie Mann, Anna Faris and Isla Fisher in Spa Weekend (2026).

On television, Michelle played Bree Washington on First Wives Club and became the host of Netflix’s reality competition series The Circle in 2020. She has also hosted Barbecue Showdown and appeared on shows such as Russian Doll, Tales of the City and Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens.

In 2020, Michelle released her collection of personal essays, Survival of the Thickest. She later created, wrote, produced and starred in a Netflix series inspired by the book, playing New York stylist Mavis Beaumont. Her work on the series earned her an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Breakthrough Creative in Television.

Her first Netflix stand-up special, Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia, won the Critics Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Special. She later filmed A Buteau-ful Mind at Radio City Music Hall, becoming the first woman to record a comedy special at the venue.

Michelle has been married to Dutch photographer Gijs van der Most since 2010. The couple welcomed twins Hazel and Otis via surrogate in 2019.

Filmography:

Spa Weekend (2026)
Babes (2024)
The Stand In (2020)
Work It (2020