Cheri Oteri joined the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 1995, part of a changing of the guard at a time when the show was deemed more stale than funny.

As it turned out, the infusion of new blood -- Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond, Tracy Morgan, Molly Shannon, Ana Gasteyer and Oteri -- proved the right prescription.

One account of that period noted:

"Oteri began getting considerable airtime with a slew of celebrity impressions and characters, devised either by herself or in conjunction with her fellow castmates. Often times, this meant taking the initiative of writing sketches herself. As her personality often veered towards energetic, one of her most famous characters arose when towering co-star Will Ferrell caught her absentmindedly foot-tapping and chimed in with the beat, which gave the two an idea for a cheerleading sketch.

"Playing the oft-seen Arianna and Craig – two limber, enthusiastic unofficial cheerleaders for the Spartans football team – the pair made good use of clever wordplay and diametrically opposed physiques. Oteri also created sassy neighborhood porch lady Rita Del Vecchio, patterned after her tough-talking grandmother; an easily enraged employee named Nadine; and re-teamed with Ferrell for a mock-up of chipper morning show talk shows, with Oteri handling the part of the maddeningly upbeat co-host Cass Van Rye of 'Morning Latte.'"

In the process of accumulating her collection of celebrity sendups, the diminutive (5-foot-1) Oteri has climbed into the skins and mannerisms of Debbie Reynolds, Judge Judy, Paula Jones, Mariah Carey and even Ross Perot.

Oteri left SNL in 2000, however, and her career more or less flatlined thereafter. She appeared in a succession of lightweight Hollywood movies (Scary Movie, Inspector Gadget, Liar Liar, Dumb and Dumber) and TV sit-coms ("Just Shoot Me," "Curb Your Enthusism") but failed to recaptured the following she had gathered on Saturday nights.

Oteri was born Charyl Oteari on Sept. 19, 1962 in Upper Darby, PA, a comfortable Philadelphia suburb. She actually was a cheerleader at Archbishop Prendergast High (foreshadowing her later duo with Ferrell) and moved to Los Angeles at 25 to find a job in the music businesses.

For the next four years, Oteri found a home at A&M Records, where she spent much of her time making her co-workers laugh. Thanks to their encouragement, she joined the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, which led to her discovery by Lorne Michaels of "Saturday Night Live."

"It was very scary," she later told USA Today about her move to SNL, "and I just kept praying, 'God, don't let this be too big for me.'"

Oteri suffered a personal tragedy in 2008 when her father, Tom Oteari (who sent her flowers before each show) was found dead in his Nashville home. His roommate, songwriter Richard Fagan, was charged with murder but later acquitted.