Patti Harrison (born October 31, 1990) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her roles in comedy series such as '' Shrill'' (2019–2021) and ''

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson ''I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, with Robinson also starring in most of the sketches. The first season premiered on Netflix on April 23, 2019, ...

'' (2019–present), as well as the comedy film '' Together Together'' (2021), with the latter earning her a nomination for the

Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead The Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead was one of the annual Independent Spirit Awards to honor an actress who has delivered an outstanding lead performance in an independent film. It was first presented in 1985 with Geraldine Page bei ...

Early life

Harrison was born in

Orient, Ohio Orient is a census-designated place and former village (United States)#Ohio, village in Pickaway County, Ohio, United States. The population was 246 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Orient is home to the Pickaway Correctional Instit ...

, on October 31, 1990, the youngest of seven children of a Vietnamese mother and a White American father. Her father, from

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, was in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

and met her mother during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

when she was working as a janitor in his barracks. He died of a heart attack when Harrison was six years old. Her first involvement in comedy came from her participation in an

improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

team during her time at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

, from which she did not graduate.

Career

Harrison moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to pursue a comedy career in 2015, but later moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She has said that her stand-up comedy style has changed drastically since her early days of performing, having initially felt anxious about making jokes about sex and her sexuality due to internalized

transphobia Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender or transsexual people, or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to socia ...

stemming from being a

trans woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

. In an interview with ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'', she described her comedic persona: "I'm a nasty, stupid person—that's my voice. I'm an evil, shitty person on stage, in a very conscious way—the evil is punching up." In 2017, Harrison gained wider prominence for her appearance on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

'', where she made jokes about then-President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's ban on transgender people in the military. Since then, she has appeared in the television shows ''

High Maintenance ''High Maintenance'' is an American anthology comedy-drama television and web series created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld. The show follows The Guy, a cannabis courier (played by Sinclair), as he delivers his p ...

'', ''

Broad City ''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web serie ...

'', and '' Search Party'', as well as the film '' A Simple Favor''. In 2019, she began playing Ruthie in the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

comedy series '' Shrill'' after the show's co-creator and star

Aidy Bryant Aidy Bryant (born May 7, 1987) is an American actress and comedian. Bryant is most notable for being a cast member on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' for ten seasons, joining the show for its 38th season in 2012, ...

contacted her through

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and encouraged her to audition. She later joined the team of writers for the animated comedy series '' Big Mouth'' during its fourth season. Harrison was named one of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' magazine's "10 Comics to Watch" in 2019. Later that year, she co-hosted

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's digital series ''Unsend'' with

Joel Kim Booster Joel Alexander Kim Booster (born February 29, 1988), born Kim Joonmin (), is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. He co-produced and wrote for '' Big Mouth'' and '' The Other Two'' and as an actor has appeared on '' Shrill'', '' Se ...

. She also co-hosts a podcast called ''A Woman's Smile'' with River L. Ramirez. In 2020, she co-starred in ''Yearly Departed'', alongside other comedians such as

Rachel Brosnahan Rachel Brosnahan (born July 12, 1990) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Midge Maisel, an aspiring stand-up comedian in the Amazon Prime Video period comedy series '' The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' (2017–2023), for which sh ...

and

Ziwe Fumudoh Ziwerekoru "Ziwe" Fumudoh is an American comedian and writer known for her satirical commentary on politics, race relations, and young adulthood. In 2017, she created the YouTube comedy show ''Baited with Ziwe'' and its 2020 Instagram Live itera ...

. That same year, she began hosting a monthly show called ''Died & Gone to Heaven!'' at Largo in Los Angeles. In February 2021, Harrison was banned from

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

after a stunt in which she impersonated the account of

Nilla Wafers Nilla Wafers are a wafer-style cookies made by Nabisco, a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. The name is a shortened version of ''vanilla'', the flavor profile common to all Nilla-branded products in previous years. Origi ...

in a parody of corporate pinkwashing, and in particular a tweet from the

Oreo Oreo (; stylized in all caps) is an American brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits with a sweet fondant filling. Oreos were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco, and the brand has been owned by Mondelez International since its me ...

brand of cookies. The controversy led to her appearing on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' to discuss it. Later that year, she became the first transgender actor to take part in a

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

animated film when she voiced Tail Chief in ''

Raya and the Last Dragon ''Raya and the Last Dragon'' ( ) is a 2021 American animated fantasy action adventure film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada, co-directed by ...

''. She also made her debut feature film leading role in '' Together Together'', for which she earned a nomination for the

Influences

Harrison has said one of her early comedic influences was ''

Mad TV ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

'' which she enjoyed watching during her childhood and admired the female comedians on the show, especially

Mo Collins Maureen Ann Collins (born July 7, 1965) is an American actress and comedian who was a member of the ensemble on FOX's sketch comedy series ''Mad TV''. Collins became well known for several characters during her tenure on the show. She was a ...

Nicole Sullivan Nicole Sullivan (born April 21, 1970) is an American actress best known for being a cast member on the sketch comedy series '' MADtv'' for six seasons (1995–2001). She also played Holly Shumpert in five seasons (2001–2005, 2007) of the CBS ...

, and

Debra Wilson Debra Wilson is an American actress and comedian. She is the longest-serving original cast member on the sketch comedy series ''Mad TV'', having appeared on the show's first eight seasons from 1995 to 2003. As a voice actress, she has voiced va ...

. She has also said

Kristen Wiig Kristen Carroll Wiig (; born August 22, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Wiig achieved stardom in the late 2000s for her ...

and

Lisa Kudrow Lisa Valerie Kudrow ( ; born July 30, 1963) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Phoebe Buffay in the American television sitcom ''Friends'', which aired from 1994 to 2004. The series earned her Primetime Emmy A ...

are her idols and her favorite movies as a child were the ''Scary Movie'' film series.

Personal life

Harrison came out as a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

shortly after dropping out of

; she described her family as supportive. She was diagnosed with

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

in 2021, telling ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' that she delayed seeking a diagnosis until she had "reached a point where hewas so frustrated with erinability to just stay on track". She is also an artist and frequently posts her work on

. She has canvassed for the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Patti 1990 births Living people 21st-century American actresses American actors with disabilities American film actresses American transgender actresses American transgender writers American comedians of Asian descent American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American people of Vietnamese descent American sketch comedians American stand-up comedians American television writers American voice actresses American women comedians American writers with disabilities American television actresses American women television writers Comedians from Ohio LGBTQ people from Ohio LGBTQ writers with disabilities Members of the Democratic Socialists of America Ohio University alumni People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Transgender comedians Transgender people with disabilities American LGBTQ comedians