Which SNL star is playing JD Vance? Details explored

SNL cast member Bowen Yang played JD Vance.

In an interview with NBC News in April 2025, the Saturday Night Live star explained how he prepared for the role by hiring an accent coach whom he enjoyed working with.

Yang has portrayed the role of the recognised author and former Ohio senator six times. The SNL cast member first debuted his JD Vance impression in the season 50 premiere in 2024. 

Yang has bagged a 2025 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series while recognising his notable work in Season 50, which includes his role as JD Vance.

SNL alum Bowen Yang opens up about his impression of JD Vance

While talking about his recognised impression of the notable political figure, Bowen Yang told NBC News,

"I approached it in as disciplined of a way as I think anyone could, which was I hired, I worked with this accent coach that I love, where we found the right balance between, like, Appalachian and Ohio. I have a serviceable JD Vance, but I was like you know what, this is a charge that I don’t take lightly. Like, I want to make it pop as best as I can. I’ve been very lucky to play political figures on that show.”

Yang said that he has managed to check every box, but pointed out, “The role of Vance overall leaves a lot to be desired.” Yang added, 

“I think he’s just such a tragic figure in terms of American history,” he said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t have the give that you want it to. And that’s OK.”

The television star pointed out that while playing notable figures in “a climate where identity and politics are so divisive can feel like a no-win situation.” Yang added

"There’s no universal agreement on what something funny is, on what humor is, I feel like it’s just going to be alienating no matter what.”

Bowen Yang shares an emotional moment with his SNL family

During his recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Bowen Yang recalled how, in an “emotional way, SNL was part of his first screening of 2024's Wicked.”

The cast member revealed how he saw it for the first time with people at SNL when Ariana Grande came to host, and they did a screening for all of them. He said,

“My first trip to New York City...I begged my parents to go to the Gershwin Theater [where the Broadway show of Wicked lives]. We couldn’t afford tickets, but I begged them to go so I could touch the glass and look at the lobby and see what it was like inside. And the same day, we came to 30 Rock, we came here  for the studio tour at SNL and I was like, I got to be in both of those things…sometimes the universe makes it so easy. I was like, I have to see it with my SNL family."

Stay tuned for more updates.