Dannah Phirman

Dannah Phirman (born April 22, 1975, in Israel as Dannah Feinglass) is an Israeli 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.^[1] 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,^[2] 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 voices the title character well as her alter ego, Becky Botsford, in the PBS Kids animated series, WordGirl,^[3][4][5] as well as Penny, the side-kick to Amy Poehler's Bessie Higgenbottom in Nickelodeon's The Mighty B!.^[6] 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 also created the Hulu reality TV parody series The Hotwives and were writers on the NBC sitcoms Marry Me and Telenovela. They later joined the writing staff for the third season of the USA Network comedy series Playing House.

Filmography

• Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness - Xiao Niao
• The Fairly Odd Parents - Missy
• The Mighty B! - Penny
• Phineas and Ferb - Teenage Milly ("Act Your Age")
• Tak and the Power of Juju - Zaria
• WordGirl - WordGirl/Becky Botsford

Personal life

Dannah (which is pronounced like "Donna") is married to musical comedian Mike Phirman (the "Phirm" half of the comedy duo Hard n' Phirm). They have one child, Milo Phirman, born September 4, 2009.

References

External links

• Dannah Phirman at the Internet Movie Database