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Amy Schumer, American Hero

Who she is, why she matters, in case you haven’t been paying attention.

Who's that girl?

If you have to ask, it's probably time to renew that subscription to Glamour. Or GQ. Cosmopolitan. Time. The New York Times. Entertainment Weekly.

If Amy Schumer's face looks unfamiliar, you likely don't watch "30 Rock." Or "The Bachelorette," "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," or "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Comedy Central's definitely not your bag.

Then again, maybe you read plenty and watch even more, and you just haven't noticed Schumer, 34, who was nominated for seven Emmys yesterday.

That's cool. We won't hold it against you. No way we'd assume the comedian's regular-ish looks made you overlook her. Nah, that'd be super superficial.

Schumer began life in New York City. She's a distant relative of Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Spent her early childhood on the Upper East Side, watched her family go bankrupt, her dad get M.S. (just like in the movie), and parents get divorced ("Trainwreck" deja vu). As a young teen, she, her mom and sister (named Kim, see: movie) moved to Long Island. After high school, she and her family moved to Baltimore.

Schumer attended Towson University, studied theater and played volleyball. She's not that tall, though. Only about 5-7. She graduated.

Her standup career began on her birthday, June 1, 2004, at Gotham Comedy Club. Her shtick: NYC-based modern Valley Girl, blissfully self-centered, happily airheaded, sexually over-the-top, more than a little self-deprecating. (To that last point, she's recently made fun of her making fun of her weight. Thing is, she's not fat. Not one bit. She's thin, actually. Just not TV thin.)

For a decade or so, Schumer hammered away at showbiz. In 2012, she started working on a sketch comedy series for Comedy Central. She named it "Inside Amy Schumer," pun intended. "Inside" features skits she and her writers come up with, bar-side chats with celebs and friends, and quick-fire woman-on-the-street interviews.

Now, the show's as hot as Dave Chappelle's was, dealing on-point, on-time bits: A-list actresses with sexual expiration dates, boy bands pretending to appreciate natural women, adults in toddler beauty pageants, a jury of men who decide whether she's hot enough for TV.

The timing couldn't have been better for "Trainwreck," filmed last year, to hit theaters.

Is Schumer controversial? Sure. She's a comedian who delivers dirty laughs. She's a woman who just made a movie where she plays a man-izer. She deals in sarcasm. She ascribes to feminism.

She's having a moment. We're giving it to her.