Patti Harrison: The Complete Career Profile

Patti Harrison is an American comedian, actor and writer, a trans woman from small-town Ohio whose deadpan, gleefully uncomfortable comedy took her from New York open mics to The Tonight Show, I Think You Should Leave and a Sundance lead role in under five years. This page is her full career biography: background, every major role, recognition and her work as of 2026. For how her comedy actually works and a ranked guide to where to start, read our companion piece on Patti Harrison's comedy style.

Early life in Ohio

Harrison was born on 31 October 1990 in Orient, Ohio, a small town south of Columbus. Her mother is Vietnamese and her father, a white American from Detroit who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, died when she was six. She was the youngest of seven children.

She went to Ohio University, where she joined an improv team, then left without finishing. She came out as a trans woman shortly after leaving college and has said her family was supportive. As formative influences she has cited the women of MADtV, along with Kristen Wiig and Lisa Kudrow, and a childhood love of the Scary Movie films.

New York and the Tonight Show (2015–2018)

Harrison moved to New York in 2015 and started performing in the Brooklyn and Manhattan alternative scene, in shows that rewarded strange, committed, often confrontational material. She also wrote for The Special Without Brett Davis and appeared on Broad City, The Chris Gethard Show and Search Party.

Her breakthrough was a stand-up set on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2017, which included jokes about the Trump administration's newly announced ban on transgender people serving in the military. A trans comic making a network debut by mocking the ban, in her trademark flat delivery, got her noticed well beyond the club scene. Small film roles followed, including Kiko in A Simple Favor (2018).

Shrill, I Think You Should Leave and the breakout (2019–2021)

In 2019 Variety named Harrison one of its 10 Comics to Watch. That year she started two of her best-known TV roles:

• Shrill (Hulu, 2019–2021): she played Ruthie, the gloriously unhelpful, often unhinged colleague at the alt-weekly where Aidy Bryant's character works, across the show's three-season run. Bryant had contacted her through Instagram.
• I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix, 2019–2023): she appeared as a performer and contributed as a writer. Her characters, including Carrie in the "Tables" sketch, became some of the show's most quoted. Our guide to I Think You Should Leave covers the series in full.

She also co-hosted the Comedy Central digital series Unsend with Joel Kim Booster, wrote for the fourth season of Big Mouth, started hosting a monthly show called Died & Gone to Heaven! at Largo in Los Angeles, and voiced characters on BoJack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie and Bob's Burgers.

Together Together (2021)

The biggest step was Together Together, Nikole Beckwith's indie comedy-drama, which premiered at Sundance in 2021. Harrison plays Anna, a young woman who becomes the surrogate for a lonely single man (Ed Helms), and the film follows the awkward, tender, strictly platonic relationship that develops. It was her first lead film role, a cis character played without fuss, and it earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. The same year she voiced Tail Chief in Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, widely reported as the first trans actor in a Disney animated film.

The Nilla Wafers incident

In February 2021 Harrison was suspended from Twitter after changing her profile to impersonate Nilla Wafers, the Nabisco brand, and posting as the cookie. It became a minor internet legend, she discussed it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and it's a neat summary of her comic instincts: commit to the bit, take it somewhere slightly illegal-feeling, don't break.

Film and TV roles (2022–2026)

Since then Harrison has balanced scene-stealing supporting roles in studio films with indie and TV work:

• The Lost City (2022), as Allison, the social-media manager, opposite Sandra Bullock.
• Mack & Rita (2022) and appearances in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and Three Busy Debras.
• Theater Camp (2023), as Caroline, in the Sundance comedy about a struggling upstate New York drama camp.
• Trolls Band Together (2023), voice role.
• The Luckiest Man in America (2024).
• Poker Face (2025), a recurring role as Alex in the second season of Rian Johnson's mystery series.

Off screen she co-hosts the podcast A Woman's Smile with River L. Ramirez and has served as "Miss Culturista" at the Las Culturistas Culture Awards. As of 2026 she continues to work across voice, TV and film, with more film roles listed as in production.

Timeline of Patti Harrison's major work

Being a trans comedian, on her terms

Many people find Harrison by searching for "trans comedian", and it's worth being clear about how she handles that. She has been open about being a trans woman since the start of her career, and her Fallon debut put trans politics front and centre. But she has never made her identity the whole act or the whole brand, and her material pointedly refuses the idea that a trans performer owes the audience an explanation. Her jokes about being trans tend to target the people asking the questions, from talk-show interviewers to well-meaning allies, rather than herself.

Just as notable is how she's cast. Her film and TV roles are mostly characters whose gender is not the point: a surrogate, a social-media manager, an office co-worker. That matter-of-factness is its own kind of progress, and it matters to audiences who rarely see trans actors cast that way.

Why she matters

Harrison is one of the most visible trans comedians in American comedy, and her career shows a trans performer getting cast for her timing rather than her identity, as an office oddball, a surrogate, a social-media manager. Her comedy refuses to be educational or reassuring, which is exactly why it has been influential. For the wider context, see our piece on inclusivity in comedy, and for her New York contemporaries, Julio Torres and Jaboukie Young-White.

Frequently asked questions

Is Patti Harrison a trans comedian?

Yes. Patti Harrison is a trans woman and uses she/her pronouns. She came out after leaving Ohio University, has described her family as supportive, and has talked about being trans openly in her comedy and interviews.

Why was Patti Harrison banned from Twitter?

In February 2021 her account was suspended after she changed her profile to impersonate Nilla Wafers, the Nabisco cookie brand, and posted as the brand. She later talked about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

What is Patti Harrison known for?

Her 2017 Tonight Show stand-up debut, playing Ruthie on Hulu's Shrill, sketches on I Think You Should Leave, her lead role opposite Ed Helms in Together Together, and roles in Theater Camp and Poker Face.

Where is Patti Harrison from?

Orient, a small town in Ohio, south of Columbus. Her mother is Vietnamese and her father was a white American Army veteran from Detroit; she moved to New York in 2015 to do comedy.