Janeane Garofalo (/dʒəˈniːn ɡəˈrɒfəloʊ/ jə-NEEN gə-ROF-əl-oh; born September 28, 1964[1]) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on Air America Radio's The Majority Report.

Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and Saturday Night Live, then appeared in more than 50 movies, with leading or major roles in The Truth About Cats & Dogs, Wet Hot American Summer, The Matchmaker, Reality Bites, The Wild, Steal This Movie!, Clay Pigeons, Sweethearts, Mystery Men, The Minus Man, The Independent, Ratatouille, and Flora & Ulysses.

She has been a series regular on television programs such as The West Wing, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, 24, Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce, and Ideal.

[4] She grew up in various places, including: Ontario, California; Madison, New Jersey; and Houston, Texas, where she graduated from James E. Taylor High School.

[2][3] While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, and won the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island."

Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the TV show Late Night with David Letterman, she became a professional standup comic upon graduating from college with degrees in history and American studies.

Her comedy is often self deprecating; she has made fun of popular culture and the pressures on women to conform to body image ideals promoted by the media.

[citation needed] Garofalo's comedy shows involve her and her notebook, which is filled with years' worth of article clippings and random observations she references for direct quotes during her act.

[7] Garofalo has performed a variety of roles in more than 50 feature films, playing leading or large roles in The Truth About Cats & Dogs, I Shot a Man in Vegas, The Matchmaker, Clay Pigeons, Steal This Movie!, Sweethearts, Mystery Men, The Independent, Wet Hot American Summer, Manhood, Ash Tuesday, and Bad Parents.

Based on the success of that film, a producer offered Garofalo the part of Dorothy Boyd in Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise if she could lose weight.

[8] She turned down the role of television reporter Gale Weathers in Wes Craven's Scream because she thought the film would be too violent: "I said I didn't want to be in a movie where a teen girl was disemboweled.

That same year, she played a supporting role as a deputy sheriff in the drama Cop Land, a police gangster film starring Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro.

In 1998, she performed her first voice-acting job playing "Ursula the Artist" in Disney's English dub of Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service and briefly appeared in Permanent Midnight.

[11] She made cameo appearances in The Guitar in 2008 and Labor Pains in 2009, and starred in Bad Parents in 2012, a comedy about New Jersey soccer moms obsessing over their children's experiences playing the sport.

Subsequently, her first television series debut was on the short-lived Ben Stiller Show on Fox in 1992, on which she was a cast member alongside longtime friends Bob Odenkirk and Andy Dick.

[citation needed] After The Ben Stiller Show was cancelled, Garofalo joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) for its 1994–95 season.

[15] According to New York Magazine, Garofalo was "largely stuck in dull, secondary wife and girlfriend roles", and quoted her friends as saying that she considered the stint "the most miserable experience of [her] life.

"[16] Following SNL, Garofalo appeared in a plethora of guest star roles: the grown-up daughter of the Buchmans on the final episode of Mad About You; Jerry Seinfeld's female counterpart (and, briefly, fiancée) Jeannie Steinman on Seinfeld; a recurring correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation, and a former girlfriend of Dave Foley's character on NewsRadio.

Throughout the 2005–06 television season, Garofalo appeared on The West Wing as Louise Thornton, a campaign adviser to the fictional Democratic presidential nominee.

For example, in an interview with Tony Snow on a February 23, 2003, episode of Fox News Sunday,[22] Garofalo said of the Iraqi leader: Yes, I think lots of people are eager to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

I shouldn't have doubted you ...'Garofalo said she had misgivings in 2007 about the depiction of torture in the television series 24 but joined the cast because "being unemployed and being flattered that someone wanted to work with me outweighed my stance".

[28] In late March 2004, Garofalo became a co-host for Air America Radio's new show The Majority Report, alongside Sam Seder.

The early days of Air America Radio are chronicled in the documentary Left of the Dial, which includes a debate between Garofalo and her conservative father Carmine, who was initially a regular guest on The Majority Report.