Maria Bamford
Name : Maria Elizabeth Sheldon Bamford
Born : September 3, 1970 (age 44)
Place of birth : Port Hueneme, California, United States
Medium : Stand-up, television, film
Nationality : American
Years active : 1989–present
Genres : Observational comedy, character comedy, surreal humor, alternative comedy
Subject(s) : Pop culture, personal life, mental health
Comedy career
Bamford has been in a number of movies and television shows, including voice appearances in cartoons. Most notably, she was the voice of Shriek in CatDog, a huge selection of secondary characters in Cartoon Network's Adventure Time and Mrs. Botsford, Violet, and Leslie on the long running PBS educational series WordGirl. The best-known aspect of her act is her various impersonations (including her mother and her agent). Her stand-up comedy often takes the form of vignettes rather than the standard setup/punchline format.
Bamford was featured in the documentary series The Comedians of Comedy on Comedy Central and Showtime, and appeared in short skits titled "The Maria Bamford Show" broadcast on the now defunct website Super Deluxe. She also appears on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray.
Her album Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome, produced by Comedy Central Records, was released in April 2009 and includes a DVD containing "The Maria Bamford Show" episodes.
During the Christmas 2009-2010 shopping seasons, Bamford was featured in a series of Target commercials, portraying an overachieving shopper determined to be first in line.
For Christmas 2009, she released a free stand-up special online as a gift to her fans.
In 2012 she released The Special Special Special for download through Chill.com. The special was recorded at her own home in Los Angeles with only Bamford's parents present as the audience and is now available on Netflix.
In 2013, Maria created and stars in a web series called 'Ask My Mom.' Maria plays both herself and her mom, who answers questions sent in by fans.
Also in 2013, Bamford appeared as herself in one episode of the interview web series All Growz Up with Melinda Hill.
She provides the voice of Pema in Nickelodeon cartoon The Legend of Korra. In 2013, she appeared in season four of Arrested Development as DeBrie Bardeaux, Tobias Funke's love interest.
She appeared in Season 3 of Louis CK's Louie. And in 2014, she co-created, wrote and starred in "The Program" with Melinda Hill, produced by Funny or Die.