SNL Breakout Ashley Padilla Joins Emma Stone and Chris Pine in Universal’s The Catch

Ashley Padilla’s momentum beyond Studio 8H is accelerating. The Saturday Night Live standout has joined Universal Pictures’ upcoming romantic comedy The Catch, stepping into a film already drawing attention for its lead pairing of Emma Stone and Chris Pine, its sports-adjacent premise, and its creative ties to the SNL world.

Padilla, one of the most talked-about new performers to emerge from Saturday Night Live in recent years, will play Stone’s sister in the film. The casting places her alongside two established movie stars in a studio romantic comedy that is being positioned as a notable 2027 release.

Universal has set May 21, 2027 as the release date for The Catch. The film is expected to begin shooting in July in New York, bringing together a mix of comedy, romance and baseball-world tension. Plot specifics remain limited, but the project has been described as Bull Durham meets Notting Hill, with Stone playing “the most hated woman in baseball.”

A Major Studio Step for a Fast-Rising SNL Performer

Padilla’s casting in The Catch is significant because it arrives during a sharp upward turn in her career. Since joining Saturday Night Live in season 50, she has quickly developed a profile as a featured player capable of memorable impressions, precise character work and sketches that generate online conversation after broadcast.

Her growing list of impressions includes Sen Amy Klobuchar, Karoline Leavitt, Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Roger Sherman, and Mary-Kate Olsen. Her original characters have also helped define her early SNL identity, including Stefania, Penelope, Joann, Girl Who Just Hooked Up, Melissa Kathy, and Beverly.

That combination matters for a film like The Catch. A studio romantic comedy depends not only on its leads but also on the supporting players who can sharpen tone, deepen relationships and make scenes feel lived-in. Padilla’s SNL work suggests a performer comfortable with quick pivots, character specificity and comic rhythm — qualities that can translate strongly to a sibling role opposite Stone.

What We Know About The Catch

Universal’s The Catch is being directed by Dave McCary, who previously worked as a segment director on Saturday Night Live in the 2010s and is married to Emma Stone. His presence gives the project a natural bridge between the film world and the sketch-comedy pipeline that helped elevate Padilla.

The script’s most recent draft was written by Jen Statsky and Travis Helwig. The original spec script was written by Patrick Kang and Michael Levin.

While many story details remain under wraps, the basic creative framing is intriguing. A romantic comedy described as Bull Durham meets Notting Hill suggests a blend of sports culture, celebrity pressure, public reputation and romantic complication. The detail that Stone plays “the most hated woman in baseball” points toward a central character surrounded by scrutiny, conflict and possibly media-driven backlash.

Padilla’s role as Stone’s sister could become important to the emotional architecture of the film. In romantic comedies, sibling characters often serve as truth-tellers, confidants or comic foils — the person who can puncture the lead character’s self-protective narrative while still grounding the story in family loyalty. No additional character details have been disclosed, so the exact shape of Padilla’s role remains to be seen.

Why Padilla’s SNL Rise Makes the Casting Timely

Padilla’s arrival in The Catch follows a stretch in which she has moved from new SNL featured player to breakout name. Her sketches have shown a distinctive comic signature: a command of pauses, an ability to sit inside awkwardness, and a performance style that often builds laughs through tension rather than simply chasing punchlines.

One of her buzziest moments came in “Mom Confession,” where she played a mother slowly admitting her MAGA support in front of her progressive children just before the family celebrates their father’s birthday. The sketch worked because Padilla did not play the moment broadly. Instead, she let discomfort, hesitation and family dynamics do the work.

Another memorable SNL outing was “Passing Notes,” featuring host Ryan Gosling. In the sketch, Padilla and Gosling played a teacher and principal speaking in front of a high school class while reading notes that had been passed around. The twist was that the notes read live had reportedly been swapped from rehearsal, creating genuine surprise and expected breaking moments on air.

Padilla later explained that the concept grew out of rehearsal behavior. Mikey Day had been writing notes about her to make Marcello Hernández and Kenan Thompson laugh. As she recalled, “I would walk up and read it for the first time and it was really killing them. And I was like, ‘Mikey, this is a sketch.’”

The experience also pushed her into unusually live-wire territory. “I did help write that sketch, but I did not know what it would be and I was terrified,” she said. “I’ve never been so scared in my life. It felt like I was jumping off a bridge and I let Mikey and Streeter [Seidell] and Alison build a net.”

That sense of controlled risk is part of why Padilla’s next move is worth watching. Romantic comedies thrive when actors can create spontaneity without losing structure. Padilla’s SNL work has already shown that she can operate inside that pressure.

From Nearly Quitting Comedy to a Universal Rom-Com

Padilla’s current run is especially striking because, by her own account, she nearly left comedy before SNL changed her path.

“My SNL audition process was crazy,” she said. “They had heard of my show [at The Groundlings]. I was about to quit comedy, and my manager was like, ‘Let me try one more thing. Let’s put your best stuff in one show.’ And she was right! Someone heard about this and came to go see my show, Party of Three, and they were like, ‘We want her to showcase right after the show.’”

That story gives her casting in The Catch a stronger career narrative. This is not simply a performer moving from television to film. It is a comedian who was close to stepping away from the business and is now joining a major studio project with Oscar-winning and franchise-recognized stars.

Padilla has also described the audition process as a lesson in looseness. “After the first test, I was like, ‘That was pretty dang good.’ But they were like, ‘We want you to come back and try it again.’ And a brand new five minutes. So I’d done all my best stuff, and had to bring my not-very-good stuff, but funny enough. I have actually been told in the halls that that was the better test. I’m like, ‘Maybe I was just trying too hard on the first one.’ You’ve got to be loose and have a good time.”

That philosophy may serve her well in film comedy, where the best supporting performances often come from actors who can make scripted scenes feel freshly discovered.

A Different Kind of SNL Work Ethic

Padilla has also stood out for the way she talks about preparation. In a culture often associated with sleepless writing nights and last-minute rewrites, she has been clear about the role rest plays in her creative process.

“I tend to mind my own business, in a way. I submit my sketch before bedtime [at SNL]. And then everyone’s like, ‘I was up till 4.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, no.’ Maybe minding my business sounds horrible …. It doesn’t mean I’m not turning in my work and being a hundred percent. But to be a hundred percent, I need sleep.”

That quote is revealing because it pushes against a familiar entertainment-industry myth: that exhaustion is proof of dedication. Padilla frames sleep not as a lack of commitment, but as part of the discipline required to perform at full capacity.

For an actor now balancing live television, growing public attention and a film role, that approach may become even more important. The transition from SNL to a studio feature can be demanding, especially when a performer is still actively building their television identity.

The SNL-to-Film Pipeline Continues

Padilla’s move into The Catch also reflects a long-running industry pattern. Saturday Night Live has often functioned as a launchpad for film careers, particularly in comedy. The show’s pressure-cooker format develops performers who can write, improvise, collaborate and adjust quickly — skills that make them valuable in studio comedies.

What makes this case especially fitting is the SNL connection behind the camera. McCary’s own background with the show means The Catch is not just hiring an SNL performer from the outside; it is bringing Padilla into a creative environment with direct knowledge of the show’s rhythms and talent culture.

That could help the film use her strengths intelligently rather than simply treating her as a recognizable TV face. If Padilla’s role is given room to breathe, her dry timing and character instincts could add a fresh comic layer around Stone and Pine’s central dynamic.

A Rom-Com Arriving at the Right Moment

The Catch also arrives at a time when studio romantic comedies are being reevaluated. After years in which many rom-coms shifted heavily toward streaming, theatrical releases in the genre have become more selective. A Universal-backed film with Stone and Pine suggests an attempt to make the genre feel like an event again.

The baseball angle may also help distinguish the project. Sports romances can bring built-in stakes: competition, public identity, fandom, team politics and the gap between private life and public performance. By describing the film through both Bull Durham and Notting Hill, the project signals a blend of sports-world texture and celebrity-romance fantasy.

Stone’s role as “the most hated woman in baseball” adds another modern dimension. Public vilification, reputation management and online reaction are now common ingredients in contemporary storytelling. While the film’s full plot remains undisclosed, that character description suggests a rom-com built around more than meet-cute mechanics.

What Padilla Could Bring to the Story

Without additional plot details, it is too early to say how central Padilla’s role will be. But playing Stone’s sister gives her a potentially meaningful position in the story’s emotional and comic structure.

A sister character can carry several functions in a romantic comedy. She can be the confidante who hears the lead’s unfiltered thoughts, the skeptic who challenges romantic choices, the comic observer who says what the audience is thinking, or the family member who exposes the protagonist’s contradictions. Padilla’s style — understated, precise and capable of making discomfort funny — could fit any of those modes.

Her SNL work has already shown that she can play people who are trying to belong, trying to explain themselves or trying not to reveal too much too soon. Those qualities could pair well with a story about a woman publicly disliked in a high-pressure sports environment.

The Bigger Career Picture

For Padilla, The Catch is not just another credit. It is a sign that her SNL breakout is beginning to convert into broader industry opportunity.

She has spoken candidly about the strangeness of being recognized after years of doing comedy outside the mainstream spotlight. “It first hit me that my work was resonating with people when I started being told on the street,” she said. “Someone would be like, ‘You’re so funny on SNL,’ and I’d be like, ‘How do you know I’m on SNL?’ That blew my mind. For so long I’ve been doing it where no one knew I was doing anything, because I wasn’t big online or anything. So to see someone recognize my work on the street because they watched it at home and laughed, that kills me. I love when it happens.”

That public recognition now meets industry recognition. Joining a major Universal film with Stone and Pine puts Padilla in front of a different audience and may help define the next phase of her career beyond weekly sketch comedy.

What Comes Next

The Catch is scheduled to begin filming in July in New York, with Universal dating the film for May 21, 2027. More casting announcements and plot details are likely to emerge as production approaches or begins.

For now, Padilla’s casting adds another layer of interest to a project already notable for its creative team and star pairing. It also marks a promising step for a performer whose SNL rise has been built on patience, specificity and a willingness to let awkwardness bloom into comedy.

Ashley Padilla may have once been close to quitting comedy, but The Catch suggests her screen career is entering a much larger frame. For audiences who have watched her grow from SNL featured player to breakout performer, Universal’s romantic comedy could become the next major showcase for a comic voice still gathering speed.