D'Arcy Beth Carden (born Darcy Beth Erokan, January 4, 1980) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her starring roles as Janet in the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
sitcom ''
The Good Place
''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves significa ...
'' (2016–2020) and Greta Gill in the
Prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
series
''A League Of Their Own'' (2022-present). She earned a nomination for a
for her role in ''The Good Place''. She has held recurring roles as Gemma in ''
Broad City
''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web series ...
'' (2014–2019) and as Natalie Greer in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
dark comedy series ''
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
'' (2018–present).
Carden began her career performing improvisational comedy at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Prior t ...
. She went on to make appearances in several television series, including ''
Inside Amy Schumer
''Inside Amy Schumer'' is an American sketch comedy television series created and hosted by Amy Schumer. The series aired on Comedy Central from April 30, 2013 to June 16, 2016 and was revived in 2022 for a new season on Paramount+. Schumer and ...
'' (2015), ''
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...
'' (2016), and ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'' (2017). She also appeared in numerous films, such as ''
Other People'' (2016), ''
Let It Snow
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions ...
'' (2019), and ''
Bombshell'' (2019).
Early life
Darcy Beth Erokan was born and raised in
Danville, California
The Town of Danville is located in the San Ramon Valley in Contra Costa County, California. It is one of the incorporated municipalities in California that use "town" in their names instead of "city". The population was 43,582 at the 2020 census ...
.
Her father, Dennis William Mustafa Erokan, is a native of
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, who immigrated to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
when he was a child; he acted in local community theater and founded ''
MicroTimes'' and the
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
music magazine ''
BAM''.
She has two sisters, Miranda and Laney, and one brother, Will.
She added an apostrophe to the spelling of her name when she was in junior high to emulate
D'arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky-Brown (born May 1, 1968) is an American musician. She is the original bass player of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins and is credited on their first six studio albums. She left the band in 1999.
Biograp ...
of the band
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...
.
In 1998, she graduated from
San Ramon Valley High School
San Ramon Valley High School is a four-year public high school located in the East Bay neighborhood of Danville, California, United States. It is a part of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. It is a National Blue Ribbon school from th ...
and later received a
Bachelor of Fine Arts
A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases.
Background
The Bachelor ...
in Theater from
Southern Oregon University
Southern Oregon University (SOU) is a public university in Ashland, Oregon. It was founded in 1872 as the Ashland Academy, has been in its current location since 1926, and was known by nine other names before assuming its current name in 1997.Kre ...
.
Career
After graduating from college, Carden moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
She joined Venus Rising, a musical-comedy company, and in 2001 she appeared in ''Seven Hearts'', a musical about friends living in San Francisco. The following year, she starred in a holiday show in which the main character is upset that her family is obsessed with her selfish sister's wedding rather than keeping up their Christmas spirit. She also served as director and producer. Early on while pursuing her acting career, Carden also worked as a nanny for
Bill Hader
William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (2018 ...
.
A friend invited Carden to an
improvisational
Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
show at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh.
Prior t ...
(UCB).
Carden enjoyed the show so much, she signed on for classes and kept progressing with the group.
She started with UCB in 2004 and later toured with the UCB Touring company. By 2010, she was using her married surname Carden professionally when she was a cast member for ''The Ride'', an
interactive
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...
show performed on New York City
tour bus
A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions.
Information
Double-decker buses and open top buses are commonly used, for providin ...
es. In 2013, Carden co-created and co-starred in ''Terrible Babysitters'', a Web original about two parents who want to find a babysitter.
Carden had a recurring role as Gemma in the
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
comedy series ''
Broad City
''Broad City'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson. It was developed from their independent web series of the same name, which was produced between 2009 and 2011. The sitcom, like the web series ...
'' (2014–2019),
a series created by fellow UCB alumnae
Ilana Glazer
Ilana Glazer (born April 12, 1987) is an American comedian, director, producer, writer, and actress. She co-created and co-starred, with Abbi Jacobson, in the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'', which is based on the web series of the same name ...
and
Abbi Jacobson
Abbi Jacobson is an American comedian, writer, actress, illustrator and producer. She co-created and co-starred in the Comedy Central series ''Broad City'' (2014–2019) with Ilana Glazer, based on the web series of the same name. Her ...
.
Carden also appeared in guest roles in the comedy series ''
Inside Amy Schumer
''Inside Amy Schumer'' is an American sketch comedy television series created and hosted by Amy Schumer. The series aired on Comedy Central from April 30, 2013 to June 16, 2016 and was revived in 2022 for a new season on Paramount+. Schumer and ...
'' (2015), ''
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...
'' (2016), and ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci as an adaptation of his sitcom ''The Thick of It''. The protagonist of ''Veep'' ...
'' (2017).
Following small roles in the parody film ''
iSteve'' (2013) and the romantic comedy ''
The To Do List
''The To Do List'' is a 2013 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Maggie Carey in her feature film directorial debut, starring Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Sarah Steele, Scott Porter, Rachel Bilson, Ch ...
'' (2013), she appeared as Jessica in the acclaimed comedy-drama film ''
Other People'' (2016).
In 2016, Carden began starring as Janet, a live
virtual assistant
An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) or intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on commands or questions. The term "chatbot" is sometimes used to refer to virtual ...
, in the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
comedy series ''
The Good Place
''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy comedy television series created by Michael Schur. It premiered on NBC on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons and 53 episodes.
Although the plot evolves significa ...
'',
which also stars
Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...
and
Ted Danson
Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...
.
For her performance in the series, she received critical acclaim and earned nominations for the
and the
.
Since 2018, Carden has had a recurring role as Natalie Greer in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
dark comedy-crime series ''
Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
'', starring Hader.
Along with her fellow cast members, she was nominated for the
in 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, she appeared in the dark comedy film ''
Greener Grass'', the romantic comedy film ''
Let It Snow
"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as simply "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in July 1945 in Hollywood, California, during a heat wave as Cahn and Styne imagined cooler conditions ...
'', and the drama film ''
Bombshell''. She also appeared in the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
comedy series ''
Bonding'' and the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
animated comedy series ''
Robot Chicken
''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writers, ...
''.
In 2020, Carden had a recurring role on the
Quibi
Quibi ( ) was a short-lived American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman, its CEO. The servic ...
mystery-comedy series ''
Mapleworth Murders
''Mapleworth Murders'' is an American comedy- mystery series. It stars Paula Pell, John Lutz, J. B. Smoove and Hayley Magnus. Lorne Michaels and Seth Meyers serve as executive producers. It premiered on August 10, 2020, on Quibi.
Premise
A murde ...
''.
Personal life
Carden met producer Jason Grant Carden on a trip to
Disneyland
Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...
with mutual friends. They married on July 31, 2010.
In 2013, the couple moved from New York City to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Carden used to be a full-time nanny for
Bill Hader
William Thomas Hader Jr.''Finding Your Roots'', January 26, 2016, PBS. (born June 7, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the creator, producer, writer, director, and star of the HBO dark comedy series ''Barry'' (2018 ...
and
Maggie Carey
Maggie Carey (born ) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She has directed comedy shorts for television, and she wrote and directed the 2013 film ''The To Do List''.
Early life and education
Carey was raised in Bois ...
. She still maintains a close relationship with their three daughters.
Filmography
Film
Television
Web series
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carden, DArcy
1980 births
Living people
American people of Turkish descent
American stage actresses
Southern Oregon University alumni
American television actresses
People from Danville, California
Actresses from California
Comedians from California
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American actresses
American women comedians