SNL Adds Black Female Comedian Sasheer Zamata to Cast

After receiving criticism for its lack of diversity, "Saturday Night Live" has hired a black female cast member to join the long-running comedy sketch series.

Sasheer Zamata, the African American woman being added to the cast since Maya Rudolph left the show in 2007, will make her debut on SNL on Saturday, Jan. 18, reports Deadline.

The lack of diversity amongst the "SNL" cast made headlines after six new white cast members--Beck Bennett, John Milhiser, Kyle Mooney, Mike O'Brien, Noël Wells and Brooks Wheelan--joined the show for season 39. The show poked fun at itself when "Scandal" star Kerry Washington hosted and played several black women like Michelle Obama, Oprah and Beyonce all in one sketch.

Last December, executive producer Lorne Michaels told The New York Times the show would be adding at least one new cast member in 2014. He added that it was "100 percent good for the show to have an African-American woman." 

Of the 16 cast members currently on the show, Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah are the only African-Americans, while Nasim Pedrad is Iranian-American.

Zamata is a veteran actress of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater who graduated with a degree in drama from the University of Virginia, according to her website. She has been featured in the Cooking Channel web series "Fodder," Cooking Channel's Back in Time for Thanksgiving special, "Inside Amy Schumer" on Comedy Central and "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell." Zamata is also a stand-up comedian living in NYC who has also appeared in a number of commercials.

Drake will host and be the musical guest on the show on Jan. 18.