Ellie Kemper inspired by Elizabeth Smart for 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'

Ellie Kemper plays Kimmy Schmidt in the Netflix original series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt about a young women who was rescued from an underground doomsday cult. Kemper recently admitted that she was inspired by the real life story of Elizabeth Smart who was taken from her home when she was 14 and wasn’t found until nine months later.

“I read Elizabeth Smart’s memoir, and every night before she would go to bed, she would think about what she was grateful for that day — and she was in the depths of hell,” Kemper told The Wrap.

Kemper also said, “I can only hope that if I had been through something as horrific as that, that I would maintain my sense of wonder — which is essentially what Kimmy has.”

When Tina Fey and Robert Carlock were creating the show, Kemper said there are similarities between herself and Kimmy, and other characters she has played.

"I know that they watched The Office, and they took a lot from the character of Erin — not the character, but what I brought to it,” she said of Fey and Carlock to LA Times. “Maybe there's a cheerfulness but a strength as well. But that sounds like I'm bragging about myself."

Image courtesy of Famous/ACE/INFphoto.com