Janeane, the petite woman with the acerbic wit, was born in Newton, New Jersey, in 1964, and had many jobs before breaking into show biz. She worked as a bike messenger, a shoe salesperson (no doubt with Al Bundy's disposition), waitress and temp secretary. Watching David Letterman on TV inspired her to write comedy, and by 1985 she was doing stand up comedy. As such, Janeane has become a cult figure, giving a voice to a generation, venting her frustration at TV, dating, relationships, life in general and anything that ticks her off in particular. Janeane did sketches on The Ben Stiller Show (an Emmy winning, but canceled show). She would continue to collaborate with Ben Stiller in future projects. Janeane received 2 Emmy nominations for her work on The Larry Sanders Show, developing her signature character: a smart, cynical woman with a razor wit. She was not happy with her Saturday Night Live stint in 1994, and was vocal about it (of course). Transferring her persona from TV to the big screen, she moved on to movies, basically playing the character she had defined for herself. In Romy and Michele's High School Reunion she portrayed a smart, cynical, successful businesswomen with a razor wit, and this time with swear words (in the movie she had developed a brand of cigarettes with fast-burning paper, for the gal on the go; in real life it is alleged she smokes Marlboros). Janeane continues to work in TV and movies, often collaborating with Ben Stiller in a number of movies like Mystery Men, his easygoing style being a counterpoint to her caustic nature.



She is a vegetarian. She has 15 tattoos. Attended Madison High School in Madison, New Jersey. Has a tattoo on her arm which reads "think". Garofalo, barely five feet tall, sometimes had to stand on a box just to be in the same frame with 6-foot co-star Uma Thurman in The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996). Is of Italian and Irish descent. Married boyfriend Robert Cohen in 1992 at a Las Vegas drive-in chapel as a joke. They had gone to Vegas with the rest of the cast of "The Ben Stiller Show" (1990) and decided to get married along with some of the other crew members. After their relationship ended they never officially got divorced. At one point or another, has worked with every member of the Kids in the Hall. Auditioned for the role of Marla Singer in Fight Club (1999). She has referred to "Saturday Night Live" (1975) as the worst experience in her professional life. It is said that Daria Morgendorfer, self-titled character of, "Daria" (1997), the spin-off of "Beavis and Butt-Head" (1993) , was modeled after her. While the Daria character did exist long before the creators chose to model the character after Garafolo (as a character in the original "Beavis and Butt-Head" (1993) show), she was a background character (with a line of dialog every once in a while) and was therefore not developed. Hosted the 1996 MTV Movie Awards (1996) (TV) along with Ben Stiller. Is very good friends with Ben Stiller. Both had short lived tenures on "Saturday Night Live" (1975), both starred on "The Ben Stiller Show" (1992), they have collaborated on movies together, and have written and created other comedy shows together. Garofalo has said that she works well with Stiller because they are complete opposite personalities, hers being caustic and political while Stiller is more go with the flow and silly, and they are able to fill in the gaps the other person misses. Laura San Giacomo's role (Maya Gallo) in "Just Shoot Me!" (1997) is based on Garofalo. In his DVD commentary for Dogma (1999), director Kevin Smith said that in retrospect he wished he offered the role of Bethany to Garofalo instead of Linda Fiorentino, whom he found very difficult to work with and on some days, she in fact wasn't even speaking to him. Garofalo appeared in Dogma (1999) as Liz at the abortion clinic. Sister-in-law of Joel H. Cohen.