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| Birth Name(s) : Janeane Garofalo |
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Full Janeane Garofalo Biography
Janeane Garofalo (born September 28, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist, writer and former co-host on Air America Radio's The Majority Report. On August 20, 2007, it was announced that she will join the FOX Network television series 24 in its seventh season. Garofalo will play an FBI agent who is part of the team investigating the crisis of the new season.
Garofalo was born in Newton, New Jersey, daughter of Joan, a secretary in the petrochemical industry who died of cancer when Janeane was 24, and Carmine Garofalo, a former executive at Exxon. Garofalo is of Italian/Irish descent. She grew up in various places, including Ontario, California; Madison, New Jersey; and Katy, Texas where she graduated from James E. Taylor High School. While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Her original gimmick was to read off her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances. Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the TV show Late Night With David Letterman, she became a professional standup upon graduating college with degrees in history and American studies. She struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston. Garofalo is quoted as having disliked life in Houston due to the humidity, heat, and emphasis on prettiness and sports in high school. She has a tattoo of Rosie the Riveter.
Her television series debut was on the short-lived The Ben Stiller Show on Fox in 1992, on which she was a cast member alongside longtime friends Ben Stiller, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick and David Cross (who was a writer on the show). A chance meeting on the set of that show led her to be offered the role of Paula on The Larry Sanders Show on HBO, earning her two Emmy Award nominations in 1996 and 1997.
Following The Ben Stiller Show's cancellation, Garofalo joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) in its ill-fated 1994-95 season, as detailed in Tom Shales' book Live From New York: The Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live and mentioned in Jay Mohr's Gasping for Airtime: Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live. Upon arrival at SNL, she gave an interview in which she called fellow cast member Adam Sandler's comedy "childish". Writers on the show expressed dismay at Garofalo's apparently negative attitude, dismissing Garofalo as insecure. In one instance in Live From New York, Garofalo complained of suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (after hearing a pitch for a sketch about an army of alien fighters being sexually molested one by one by the unseen aliens inside the spaceship--a sketch that actually appeared during the season in an episode hosted by Deion Sanders) and drinking a lot during her tenure. In the same book, the other writers cited that she rarely assisted in writing sketches, never doing an "all-nighter" for a skit unlike several cast members. In an HBO comedy special, Garofalo described her tenure on SNL as "being the Indian given the blanket infected with smallpox by the cavalry."
Throughout the 2005-2006 television season, Garofalo appeared on The West Wing as Louise Thornton, a controversial campaign adviser to the fictional Democratic presidential nominee. Garofalo participated in the series' first live episode, most of which was a debate televised live on the East Coast and then reshot live for the West. Garofalo's character can be seen walking backstage with her advisee before the start of each debate.
A puppet version of Garofalo appeared (and was rather graphically killed off) in the movie Team America: World Police; the film's credits state that she did not authorize or endorse this screen appearance at the time.
Garofalo has been open and outspoken regarding her liberal political views, appearing in the past with figures such as Ralph Nader (whom she supported in 2000, but opposed in 2004) and Jello Biafra at various events. She has expressed feminist views in interviews throughout her career and more recently, advocated pacifism.
In March 2003, she took part in the Code Pink antiwar march in Washington, D.C. That fall, she served as emcee at several stops on the Tell Us the Truth tour, a political-themed concert series featuring Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello and others. Throughout the year, Garofalo also actively campaigned for Howard Dean.
Garofalo was criticised by some of her listeners for comments she made on her April 28, 2006 show supporting Scientology-linked New York Rescue Worker's Detoxification Program, a controversial treatment for workers now suffering ailments from 9/11 clean-up efforts in New York City.
Garofalo made a series of appearances in New York and Los Angeles with Henry Rollins and former AAR personality Marc Maron in April 2007. |
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