Maya Erskine

Erskine was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 7, 1987, the daughter of Mutsuko Nigatawa and jazz drummer Peter Erskine.^[5] Her mother is Japanese, from Tokyo. Her mother also plays the role of her character's mother on Pen15.^[6]

Erskine attended Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences^[6] and graduated from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.^[7] She is a 2005 YoungArts alumnus.^[8] She then attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts.^[9] Erskine initially studied musical theater but shifted to the school's Experimental Theater Wing.^[10] During her time at NYU, she met Anna Konkle while they were both studying abroad at a theater program in Amsterdam.^[11][12]

Erskine has performed with the Los Angeles–based theater groups the East West Players^[13] and the Geffen Playhouse.^[14] In 2019, she appeared in Amy Poehler's directorial debut, Wine Country, opposite a slate of comedians including Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Rachel Dratch.^[5] The same year, she began starring in the Hulu series Pen15, which she created with Konkle. She received two Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series nominations for her work on the series. She is recognized by Gold House as the A100 Honoree.^[15]

In September 2019, she confirmed her relationship with actor Michael Angarano. On November 2, 2020, the couple revealed they were engaged and expecting a child. Their son was born in 2021.^[16][17] In 2024, Erskine revealed that she and Angarano had married.^[18] In April 2024, Erskine announced her second pregnancy.^[19] Their daughter was born in 2024.^{[citation needed]}