Who is Emil Wakim? All about the actor who played Luigi Mangione during SNL spoof segment involving Nancy Grace

Saturday Night Live star Emil Wakim was introduced by fellow cast member Sarah Sherman as "a guy who happens to look like Luigi Mangione" and was "closely affected by this story" on the December 14 episode of the show. Luigi Mangione is the suspect in the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's murder.

Sherman, who was parodying prosecutor turned TV personality Nancy Grace and her show Crime Stories With Nancy Grace, shared during the skit:

"Our top story tonight, the masked CEO shooter has been unmasked. And guess what? It's game over, Luigi. And of course, everyone online celebrated the hard work of law enforcement in apprehending this dangerous criminal. Just kidding, y'all psychos made him a s*x symbol."

Sarah also referred to Luigi Mangione as “ Dave Franco with Eugene Levy's eyebrows” who got "women and gay guys hot and bothered." At this point, the “game over” sound effect from Nintendo’s original Super Mario Bros. played in the background. Immediately after, Emil Wakim appeared and shared how the “whole thing” has been like a “roller coaster” for him.

“On one hand, I keep getting tackled by bounty hunters. But on the other hand, I've gotten some of the horniest DMs of my life. I mean, I haven't paid for a meal in Brooklyn in days,” he added.

Meanwhile, co-host Colin Jost joked that everyone who Luigi Mangione went to high school with shared their shock that he turned into an “assassin.” However, all his own high school batchmates were “shocked” that he didn’t become one too.

Guest host Chris Rock also shared in his monologue that "Everybody's fixated on how good-looking this guy looks. If he looked like Jonah Hill, no one would care. They'd already given him the chair already."

Emil Wakim is a stand-up comedian who works for SNL, as well as an actor and writer.

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Everything you need to know about Emil Wakim in the wake of Luigi Mangione SNL skit

Emil Wakim was born and raised in Chicago and later moved to Bloomington, Indiana where he attended college and began his career in stand-up. Currently, the 26-year-old is based in Brooklyn, New York City doing comedy, acting, and writing simultaneously.

Emil joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in September 2024 on the show’s 50th season, becoming the first Lebanese-American to do so. He joined as a featured player alongside Ashley Padilla and Jane Wickline.

Besides his gigs on the NBC sketch series, Wakim has also worked on shows including The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Don't Tell Comedy, and Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Featuring.

Emil Wakim was also chosen as the New Face of Comedy in this year’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. In August, he also performed in Beirut alongside Lebanese-Canadian comedian Malik Elassal.

He became a popular opening for the likes of sketch artists and comedians such as Roy Wood Jr., Kyle Kinane, Nikki Glaser, Hasan Minhaj, and Neal Brennan, among others. Emil Wakim explores topics including socio-political scenarios to growing up in an immigrant family in the USA in his comedy sketches.

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In brief, exploring the Luigi Mangione case

On December 4 morning, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot outside the Hilton Hotel in midtown Manhattan while he was on his way to an investor’s meeting.

The 50-year-old was rushed to the Mount Sinai West Hospital in critical condition where he was later pronounced dead. He is survived by his wife Paulette and their two sons.

Five days after the incident, Luigi Mangione was arrested from a McDonald’s outlet in Altoona, Pennsylvania as a “strong person of interest” in Brian Thompson’s killing. New York Police Department described it as a "pre-meditated, pre-planned, targeted attack."

He is facing five felony charges in Pennsylvania to which he has pleaded not guilty. Luigi is also fighting extradition to New York, as per his attorney Thomas Dickey. In NY, he is facing five more charges including a second-degree murder count, three counts of weapons possession, and one count of forgery.

So far, Mangione’s fingerprints are said to have matched those found in the crime scene.