Maria Bamford (September 3, 1970, Port Hueneme, California, USA) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depression, anxiety, suicide, and mental illness.
Her first comedy album and tour was The Burning Bridges Tour (2003), followed by eight more albums and specials. One of her first feature films is Lucky Numbers (2000), and she voiced characters on many animated shows, including Shriek on CatDog, and many more on American Dad!, Ugly Americans, Adventure Time, and BoJack Horseman. Her film work includes Stuart Little 2 (2002), Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (2003), Barnyard (2006), Heckler (2007), and Hell and Back (2015). She voiced Talking Ginger and Talking Becca in the Talking Tom & Friends web series. Her live television work began in Louie (2012), Arrested Development (2013–2019), WordGirl (2007–2015), Big Mouth (2017–present), Flatbush Misdemeanors (2021-2022), and Human Resources (2022–2023). In 2014, she won the American Comedy Award for Best Club Comic.
The 2016 Netflix original series Lady Dynamite, in which she plays the lead role, is based on her life. She voiced Tito, the Anxiety Mosquito, in Big Mouth. In 2023 she released a memoir, Sure, I'll Join Your Cult.
Bamford's father, Joel Bamford, was serving as a Navy doctor. She grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, attending Chester Park Elementary and Duluth Marshall School. She has stated that when she was younger, she was often troubled with her anxiety, depression, and what she has called "Unwanted Thoughts Syndrome", a subset of obsessive–compulsive disorder.
Upon graduating from high school, she attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. In 1992, she transferred to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland at the start of her junior year. She became the first female member of the college's improvised comedy group, The Improverts. After a year in Scotland, she transferred back to her home state and enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She began stand-up comedy in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 19, at Stevie Ray's Comedy Cabaret.
| Year | Image | Character | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-2011 | 
|
Mrs. Nora Beady | Back at the Barnyard |
| 1998-2005 | 
|
Shriek | CatDog |