Ashley Padilla is being positioned as the next comedy phenom to watch, with her SNL pedigree and major studio casting signaling a deliberate star-making campaign from Universal and 21 Laps.
Sources say Padilla went from Diane Keaton's assistant to SNL featured player in under two years—unheard of trajectory—and now she's locked into Stone's inner circle through director Dave McCary, who directed her SNL sketches during his tenure there.
Padilla joined SNL during its landmark 50th season in 2024 and earned a dedicated New York Times profile in April 2026 praising her 'virtuosic deployment of the pregnant pause.' Filming for The Catch begins July 2026 in New York, with release set for May 21, 2027.
Padilla's rise from assistant to A-list co-star is the kind of Hollywood fairy tale that usually requires a press agent—and maybe a very well-connected husband. Either way, she's officially arrived.
Ashley Padilla just pulled off the career move every struggling comedian dreams about—she went from warming up SNL audiences in her first season to sharing marquee billing with Oscar winner Emma Stone and Star Trek's Chris Pine. The breakout sketch performer has been cast in Universal Pictures' romantic comedy The Catch, marking what sources are already calling a seismic leap from late-night improv to leading studio player. The film, described as "Bull Durham meets Notting Hill" with Stone playing baseball's most-hated woman, will see Padilla step into the role of Stone's on-screen sister when cameras roll this July in New York.
But here's where it gets interesting: The director isn't some Hollywood hired gun. Dave McCary, who spent years behind the camera as an SNL segment director during the 2010s, is now married to Stone—and he's calling the shots on her first major studio comedy since their collaboration began. The nepotism-adjacent casting won't be lost on industry observers.
McCary directed Padilla's sketches during his time at SNL before departing for feature work, and sources say he was instrumental in championing her casting for The Catch. Whether this represents genuine creative chemistry or a case of familiar faces landing plum roles remains to be seen—but Universal clearly isn't hedging their bets with the talent attached. Padilla joined SNL during its vaunted 50th season in 2024, a milestone year that brought massive scrutiny and opportunity alike.
She quickly became one of the show's most-talked-about new performers, earning a dedicated New York Times profile just last April that dissected her "virtuosic deployment of the pregnant pause" with academic reverence. The write-up described her comedic style as possessing "actorly nuance and subtlety"—high praise for someone who'd spent years before SNL working as Diane Keaton's assistant and sharpening her chops with LA comedy institution The Groundlings. The production team behind The Catch reads like a Hollywood power players' directory: Shawn Levy and Dan Levine's 21 Laps is fresh off the record-breaking success of Backrooms, while Stone, McCary, and Ali Herting are producing through Fruit Tree under their first-look deal with Universal.
Michael H. Weber, the screenwriter behind the beloved 500 Days of Summer, rounds out an impressive producer brain trust that has everything to prove with this May 21, 2027 release date. For Padilla, though, the real story is simpler and more compelling: a former assistant who watched celebrities' coffee orders just two years ago is now one of them. The Catch will be her big studio feature debut—and if the buzz holds, it won't be her last.
