A petite (5’1″) dark-haired smartly cynical comedian and actress, Janeane (pronounced JAH-neen) Garofalo began her career performing standup material at “open mike” nights in East Coast nightclubs. After winning a cable TV contest to find the funniest person in Rhode Island and graduating from Providence College, she settled in Boston where she held odd jobs (i.e., bike messenger, receptionist at a heath club) while pursuing a career as a comic. Garofalo found limited success until she moved to Los Angeles in late 1989. Receiving early exposure on MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour”, she found her neurotic hipster persona and sometimes controversial observations on pop culture appealed to her contemporaries. Meeting actor-director Ben Stiller in an L.A. deli also proved fortuitous as he tapped Garofalo to be a member of the ensemble of his Fox comedy-variety series in 1992. Simultaneously, she landed the role of the acerbic talent booker Paula on the superior HBO sitcom “The Larry Sanders Show”. Although the Stiller show only lasted for 13 episodes (Fox aired only 12 with the final one later showing up on Comedy Central in 1995), Garofalo found herself in demand. She briefly was a regular cast member of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” before serving as a special correspondent for Michael Moore’s “TV Nation” (NBC, 1994) and hosting and co-producing “Comedy Product” (Comedy Central, 1995). Garofalo headlined her own HBO special in 1995 and continued to lend her sardonic wit to awards shows (and “The Larry Sanders Show”) throughout the decade. In 1997, she made a rare dramatic appearance as the assistant to a murdered film studio executive in a two-part episode of NBC’s “Law & Order”.
Garofalo made her first feature appearance in a bit role in “Late for Dinner” (1991) but began to garner more notice as Winona Ryder’s roommate in the Stiller-directed “Reality Bites” (1994). In “Bye Bye, Love” (1995), she shone as the “blind date-from-hell” partnered with Randy Quaid. The following year, Garofalo displayed a sexy allure as a radio talk show host in “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”, a modern spin on “Cyrano de Bergerac” wherein she recruits her neighbor (the swan-like Uma Thurman) to pretend to be her. Also in 1996, she offered a memorable cameo as a serving wench at a medieval-themed restaurant in “The Cable Guy”, directed by Ben Stiller. She began to undertake more dramatic fare as a reporter in “Touch”, a deputy in “Cop Land” and expanded on her “date-from-hell” persona in “Sweethearts” (all 1997). The busy actress nearly stole “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion” as a curmudgeonly classmate while “The Matchmaker” (both also 1997) afforded her the chance to display a playful side as a Bostonian who travels to Ireland and finds that she becomes the object of attraction to a number of residents. In 1998, she again teamed with Stiller, playing an agent interested in representing his drug-abusing screenwriter in “Permanent Midnight” and was a dogged FBI agent tracking a serial killer in “Clay Pigeons”. Seeming to work constantly, Garofalo accepted supporting roles in several high-profile 1999 indies like “200 Cigarettes”, “The Minus Man” (playing a co-worker who unwittingly romances a serial killer) and Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” as well as studio productions like the comic book-inspired “The Mystery Men” as The Bowler.
Garofolo’s choices quickly grew less commercial, more adventurous–such as when played yippie Abbie Hoffman’s wife Anita opposite Vincent D’Onofrio in “Steal This Movie” (2000)–or based on her personal and professional friendships, as when she starred opposite pal Ben Stiller’s father Jerry in the offbeat comedy “The Independent” (2000). She had a cameo as Minnie Mogul in the not-as-funny-as-one-might-hope comedy “The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle” (2000) and nicely played a romantically challenged camp counselor fumbling into love with David Hyde Pierce in the uneven but sometimes hilarious retro summer camp comedy “Wet Hot American Summer” (2001) and starred opposite writer-director Mike Binder and Alan Rickman in Binder’s Woody Allen-esque comedy “The Search for John Gissing” (2001). Next was a small supporting role in the serious “The Laramie Project” (2002), which depicted the effects of the real-life slaying of gay teen Matthew Shepard on his small hometown of Laramie, Wyoming; and a stint in the stellar comedic ensemble of director Barry Sonenfeld’s otherwise dismal comedy “Big Trouble” (2002). Garofolo seemed content taking on smaller and smaller roles, and her turn in “Wonderland” (2003), a depiction of the real-life 1981 murders on Los Angeles’ Wonderland Avenue involving porn legend John Holmes, was little more than a cameo, playing murder victim Joy Miller.
- Born:
on 09/28/1964 in Newton, New Jersey
- Job Titles:
Actor, Comedian, Producer, Bike messenger, Movie theater usher, Receptionist at a health club, Shoe store clerk, Waitress
Family
- Father: Carmine Garofalo. lived in Houston, Texas; worked for Exxon
- Mother: Joan Garofalo. lived in Madison, New Jersey
Significant Others
- Companion: Ben Stiller. had brief relationship c. 1992
- Companion: Bob Odenkirk. no longer together
- Companion: Craig Bierko. appeared together in the 1999 short “The Cherry Picker”; reportedly developing a comedy act together; no longer together
- Companion: Mitch Rouse. appeared together in “Truth About Cats and Dogs” and “Sweethearts”; separated in the spring of 1997
- Companion: Pete Caldes. drummer with the Boston rock band The Gravel Pit
Education
- Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island, history and American studies, BA, 1986
- James E Taylor High School, Houston, Texas
Milestones
- 1985 While an undergraduate, began appearing at “open mike” nights at clubs in Boston
- 1986 Spent three years performing in clubs, primarily in Boston and Houston but also on the road
- 1989 Relocated to Los Angeles
- 1991 Film debut in small role in “Late for Dinner”
- 1991 TV acting debut, “Passion”, an unsold comedy pilot
- 1994 Briefly joined the cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”
- 1994 First major film role, “Reality Bites”, directed by Stiller; also sang on the soundtrack
- 1995 Breakthrough screen role as Randy Quaid’s ‘blind date-from-hell’ in “Bye Bye, Love”
- 1995 Headlined her own “HBO Comedy Half-Hour”
- 1995 Hosted the stand-up showcase, “Comedy Product”, on Comedy Central; also co-produced
- 1995 Served as special correspondent on Michael Moore’s series “TV Nation” (NBC)
- 1996 First feature lead as radio host Abby Barnes in “The Truth About Cats and Dogs”
- 1996 Made memorable cameo appearance as a waitress at a medieval-themed restaurant in “The Cable Guy”, directed by Ben Stiller
- 1996 Offered dramatic turn in a two-part episode of NBC’s “Law & Order”
- 1997 Debut as feature producer “Sweethearts”; also starred
- 1997 Delivered a dramatic turn as a deputy in “Cop Land”
- 1997 Offered fine support as a chain-smoking cynical classmate in “Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion”
- 1997 Starred in the romantic comedy “The Matchmaker”
- 1998 Cast as an FBI agent investigating a serial killer in “Clay Pigeons”
- 1998 Played an agent opposite Ben Stiller in “Permanent Midnight”
- 1998 Provided the character voice of Sally on the series “Felicity” (The WB); Garofalo did not take onscreen credit for the role
- 1999 Appeared as a postal worker with romantic designs on a new co-worker who happens to be a serial killer in “The Minus Man”
- 1999 Had supporting roles in indie films “Dogma” and “200 Cigarettes”
- 1999 Played The Bowler in the comic book-inspired “The Mystery Men”
- 2000 Cast as Minnie Mogul in “The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle”
- 2000 Portrayed Anita Hoffman opposite Vincent D’Onofrio in the biopic “Steal This Movie”, about 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman
- 2001 Appeared in “Wet Hot American Summer”
- 2002 Starred in “The Laramie Project,” (HBO) a true story of an American town in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard
- 2003 Cast in the film “Wonderland” based on the brutal murders which involved legendary porn star John Holmes
- 2004 Starred opposite David Schwimmer in the drama “Duane Hopwood”; screened at Sundance
- 2005 Joined the cast of the NBC drama “The West Wing,” playing a media strategist hired by Democratic presidential hopeful Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits)
- 2005 Starred opposite Martin Short in the comedy “Jiminy Glick in La La Wood”
- Appeared on several TV comedy shows including MTV’s “Half Hour Comedy Hour”
- Met Ben Stiller
- Played the booking agent on “The Larry Sanders Show” (HBO)
- Raised in Madison, New Jersey until her last year of high school when she moved to Houston
- TV series debut, in the ensemble of “The Ben Stiller Show” (Fox)
- Won a cable TV contest to find the funniest person in Rhode Island
