(GIF via Glamour)

Kate McKinnon one of the most talented comics ever to grace SNL. She's been a part of the cast since 2012, and it has launched her as a movie star, unaffected by her status as an out lesbian. (She doesn't talk about her personal life, but also doesn't play games with her sexual orientation.)

So why do so many LGBTQ performers still cling to the closet?

Now, she's grabbing the cover of Glamour, and talking about her process when crafting her unforgettable comic impressions, her pursuit of truth, and her starring role in The Spy Who Dumped Me ...

On creating her impressions:

So many YouTube videos. Me, alone in my office, talking back to YouTube videos. I like to devise axioms and notice patterns of what works and what doesn’t so I can codify those into little rules I can use. If someone has a vocal tic or an accent, it’s so much easier to hook into something. It always starts with the way they talk, and then you add the layer of their energy. Then it all depends on what they’ve done that week. They can’t just be someone who did something five months ago. It’s got to be à la minute.

On her fear of giving movie audiences too much of her actual self in The Spy Who Dumped Me:

I didn’t know what it would be like for me — being me — to be on-screen that much. Would people be able to tolerate it? In all of the roles I had done prior, I was more of a side dish, a wonderful creamed spinach. And the creamed spinach can afford to be as odd as the creamed spinach wants.

On her work ethic:

Comedy is a compulsio. I have to be writing something or playing the piano or doing something. It’s a compulsion.

More at Glamour.