Oscar-winning actress Keaton died in October at 79.

SNL’s Ashley Padilla opens up about how she became Diane Keaton’s assistant and what the acting legend taught her

Oscar-winning actress Keaton died in October at 79.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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on March 2, 2026 6:55 p.m. ET

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Ashley Padilla; Diane Keaton. Credit:

Arturo Holmes/Getty; Charley Gallay/Getty

*Saturday Night Live* featured player Ashley Padilla has explained how she came to work as an assistant to late acting legend Diane Keaton.

In her early 20s, Padilla was working on her comedy chops, and her abilities as a restaurant server, in Los Angeles, when she landed a one-night stint handing out party favors at the home of none other than Keaton. Then Keaton's assistant asked her if she wanted to help clean up the party the following day.

"For a couple hundred bucks more?" Padilla recently told Vulture. "I was like, 'You're joking. Yes.'"

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Padilla stayed busy running errands for the *Something 's Gotta Give* actress, and she was eager to do more.

"I think I dropped off Christmas gifts at her friends' houses," Padilla recalled. "I would always be like, 'I'll do anything you guys need.'"

Ashley Padilla on 'Saturday Night Live'.

Will Heath/NBC via Getty

Ultimately, Padilla became Keaton's assistant and, the outlet notes, her friend and mentee.

The *SNL* star says she "learned a lot from her, being close to someone in the business who's so funny and who has a vision. She taught me that you've got to know yourself. She knew what she likes."

The women were so close that Keaton saw Padilla's improv and sketch work with the Groundlings, which she was a member of before joining *SNL* as a featured player in 2024.

The *Family Stone *star also chose Padilla to edit and design her book, *Fashion First*, which came out the same year.

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"I could do it because she believed I could," Padilla, who hadn't done such a project before, said. "Diane wanted me to succeed."

When Padilla was eventually hired at *SNL*, she didn't have to tell her boss what was going on.

"She didn't even say 'hello' when she answered," Padilla recalled. "She just said, 'You're moving to New York.' She was a very intuitive individual."

Following Keaton's death in October, Padilla posted several tributes to the Oscar-winning actress on Instagram.

"I will never forget you. I will always love you," she wrote on her Instagram Stories. "And I will miss you all of the time. Thank you for everything, Diane. You changed my life."

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