Biography
Actress, comedian, and paragon of cynicism Janeane Garofalo was born on September 28, 1964, in Newton, NJ. During high school, her family relocated to Houston, TX, where the trauma of the move prompted her famously insecure, self-loathing persona to begin blossoming in full. 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." Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the
Late Night With David Letterman program, she became a professional standup upon graduating college but struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston.
Upon moving to the Los Angeles area, Garofalo met actor/comedian
Ben Stiller, who in 1992 invited her to join the cast of his short-lived but acclaimed Fox television sketch comedy program
The Ben Stiller Show. A stint on
Garry Shandling's breakthrough HBO series
The Larry Sanders Show (for which she was nominated for an Emmy award in 1996) soon followed, and in 1994 Garofalo reunited with Stiller in the film comedy
Reality Bites, a role which earned her the much-despised tag of "Generation X comedian." That fall, she joined the cast of
Saturday Night Live but exited before the conclusion of the season, publicly disheartened by the show's increasing drop-off in quality.
After signing on as a correspondent on
Michael Moore's news magazine
TV Nation and hosting
Comedy Product, a standup showcase on the Comedy Central cable network, Garofalo began work on her breakthrough role, co-starring with
Uma Thurman in the 1996 romantic comedy hit The Truth About Cats and Dogs. That same year, she also co-starred with
Bill Murray in
Larger Than Life, and appeared briefly in
The Cable Guy and Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. Garofalo's prolific output continued in 1997; in addition to starring roles in two comedies, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and
The Matchmaker, she was featured prominently in
James Mangold's
Cop Land and
Paul Schrader's
Touch, she hosted the MTV series Indie Outing, and she remained a fixture of the emerging alternative comedy circuit.
In 1998, Garofalo's career continued to thrive, with starring and supporting roles in a number of films. Some of her more notable work included
Clay Pigeons, a black comedy with
Vince Vaughn and
Joaquin Phoenix;
Permanent Midnight, which marked another collaboration with Stiller; and the animated
Kiki's Delivery Service, which featured Garofalo as the voice of a new age artist and mystic. She also acted against type as one half of a revoltingly cheerful couple in
Bruce McCulloch's comedy
Dog Park. The following year, Garofalo appeared in no less than five films, with a supporting part in the ensemble piece
200 Cigarettes, a starring role as an unconventional action heroine called the Bowler in
Mystery Men (which also featured Stiller), and prominent turns in
Kevin Smith's eagerly awaited
Dogma,
Hampton Fancher's psychological thriller
The Minus Man, and the satirical comedy
Can't Stop Dancing, in which she acted alongside fellow comedienne
Margaret Cho. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide