Dannah Phirman
American actor, writer and comedian

Dannah Phirman

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American actor, writer and comedian
Gender:
Female
Birth:
22 April 1975(Israel, Israel)
Star sign:
Education:
State University of New York at Geneseo
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Biography

Introduction

Dannah Phirman (born April 22, 1975, as Dannah Feinglass) is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known for voicing the title character in the PBS Kids animated series WordGirl and currently co-stars as Narge Hemingway in the Adult Swim series Newsreaders. She was a member of the long-running sketch comedy troupe Respecto Montalban, one of the original improv groups at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She is also the co-creator and co-star of the Hulu reality TV parody series The Hotwives.

Biography

Phirman majored in theater at SUNY Geneseo and graduated in 1997. After moving to New York City in 1998 she became involved with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater where she was a part of the improv sketch group Respecto Montalban. Phirman teaches sketch comedy writing and improv, and has performed in two-person shows like Eye Candy (with Danielle Schneider), which went to the 2002 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and Special Delivery (with Paul Scheer), a parody of a British children's show in which postal workers rummage through people's mail in search of heartwarming lessons and edibles. She and Scheer won a 2004 Nightlife Award for Automatic Vaudeville, called "the best variety show in New York City" by Time Out New York. She has since collaborated with creative partner Danielle Schneider on other sketch shows such as Let's Get Awkward and Dead Heiresses at the Los Angeles UCB, as well as a five-woman improv show Mother F#$@er. Dead Heiresses was also developed as a pilot for Comedy Central in 2007.

Acting

Dannah voiced the title character as well as her alter ego, Becky Botsford, in the PBS Kids animated series, WordGirl, as well as Penny, the side-kick to Amy Poehler's Bessie Higgenbottom in Nickelodeon's The Mighty B!. She also provided the voice of Zaria on Nickelodeon original series, Tak and the Power of Juju, and was a contributing voice to Current TV's SuperNews! show. She has recently provided voices for the video game Mass Effect as well as White Knight Chronicles: International Edition.

Writing

Phirman has written episodes of WordGirl and The Mighty B!, and the direct-to-video sequel to Beverly Hills Chihuahua with her writing partner Danielle Schneider. Phirman and Schneider are currently working on scripts for the upcoming movies Catfight for New Line Cinema and Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them for Universal.

Phirman and Schneider created the Hulu reality TV parody series The Hotwives and were writers on the NBC sitcoms Marry Me and Telenovela. In 2017, Phirman and Schneider worked as writers and producers on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia as well as on the TruTV sitcom I'm Sorry.

Personal life

Dannah (pronounced "Donna") is married to musical comedian Mike Phirman (the "Phirm" half of the comedy duo Hard n' Phirm). Their son Milo Phirman was born on September 4, 2009.