Maya Rudolph Recalls Going to High School with Jack Black: He's 'Been the Same Person Since the Day I Met Him'

"He's just that guy. He's just special," said Maya Rudolph

Maya Rudolph will always have a special place in her heart for Jack Black.

Apart from attending high school together, the Saturday Night Live alum, 51, credits the actor, 54, with getting her involved in improv at a young age.

"He was two years older than me, and he transferred in the 10th grade, and I was in 8th," recalled Rudolph during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.

"My drama teacher put us together, and he was my improv coach for an improv competition we did, and he got me into the improv class, and he took me to my first Groundlings show, which is where I ended up."

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The Bridesmaids star says Black took her to see the improv theatre group perform when she was 14 and sees him as "the most inspiring person."

"First of all, you have to understand something about Jack. Jack has been the same person since the day I met him. The exact same person. He's just that guy. He's just special," she said.

After host Drew Barrymore said she would have "never guessed that we can thank Jack Black for Maya Rudolph," Rudolph agreed and said, "I mean, honestly, yeah."

The actress is continuing to showcase her comedic chops on the Apple TV+ comedy series Loot, in which she plays billionaire divorcée Molly Wells.

As for what fans can expect from the show's second season debuting Wednesday, Rudolph told Entertainment Weekly her character "is really embracing her new reality and focusing on being a boss, being in charge of her own life, and immersing herself in these relationships at her foundation and creating a family with them. You see so much of her personality that she's discovering through them."

Just two days after Black's Kung Fu Panda 4 hit theaters on March 8, Nintendo announced in a statement on X that a new Super Mario Bros. movie is in the works. Black voiced Bowser in the hit first film.

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"We're thinking about broadening Mario's world further, and it'll have a bright and fun story. We hope you'll look forward to it," the statement read, adding that the film has a scheduled premiere date of April 3, 2026.

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