June Diane Raphael ( ; born January 4, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She has starred in TV comedy programs ''
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
'', Adult Swim's ''
NTSF:SD:SUV::'', and ''
Grace and Frankie
''Grace and Frankie'' is an American comedy television series created by Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris for Netflix. The series stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as the eponymous Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein, two aging women who f ...
''. Notable film work includes supporting roles in ''
Year One'' and ''
Unfinished Business'', as well as her 2013
Sundance
A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony.
Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
* Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town
;United States
* Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated pla ...
film ''
Ass Backwards
''Ass Backwards'' is a 2013 American female buddy black comedy film written by and starring June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson. The film is directed by Chris Nelson and produced by Heather Rae.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival ...
'', which she co-wrote and starred in with her creative partner
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...
. She is self-credited as the inventor of
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
s, and currently co-hosts both ''
How Did This Get Made?
''How Did This Get Made?'' (''HDTGM'') is a podcast on the Earwolf network. It is hosted by Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas with occasional substitutes and/or guest hosts. Each episode features the deconstruction and mockery ...
'' alongside
Jason Mantzoukas
Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...
and her husband
Paul Scheer
Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series ''Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The L ...
, and ''The Deep Dive'' with
Jessica St. Clair
Jessica St. Clair is an American actress and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. With frequent collaborator Lennon Parham, she co-created and co-starred in NBC's ''Best Friends Forever'' and USA Network's '' Playi ...
.
Early life
Raphael was born and raised in
Rockville Centre, New York
Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census.
Histo ...
, to Diane and John Raphael, where she graduated from
South Side High School Southside High School or South Side High School may refer to:
*Southside High School (Gadsden, Alabama)
*Southside High School (Dallas County, Alabama), a school in the Dallas County Schools system
* Southside High School (Batesville, Arkansas)
* ...
in 1998. She is of
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
descent, and was raised
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
. She has two older sisters, Lauren and Deanna.
Raphael attended
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
(NYU), where she studied acting at NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts
The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University.
Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
and the
Stella Adler Studio of Acting
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting (formerly Stella Adler Conservatory) is a prestigious acting school that was founded by actress and teacher Stella Adler. . After graduating from NYU in 2002, Raphael and her best friend from college,
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...
, studied improvisational comedy at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater
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 ...
in New York City, where they would eventually run their two-woman sketch show for a number of years. Performing the long-running stage show opened doors for them as writers.
Career
Raphael began her comedy career writing and performing with 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) in New York and later in Los Angeles. Among her best known work at UCB was the long-running sketch show ''Rode Hard and Put Away Wet'', written and performed alongside her comedy partner and best friend
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...
; the stage show ran from 2003 to 2006 in New York and Los Angeles and was an official selection at 2005's
US Comedy Arts Festival
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...
in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
. Raphael and Wilson's comedic partnership has since branched out into an active writing career in film and television; they co-wrote their first screenplay for the comedy ''
Bride Wars
''Bride Wars'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Gary Winick and written by Greg DePaul, June Diane Raphael, and Casey Wilson. The film stars Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway with Kristen Johnston, Bryan Greenberg and Candice Berg ...
'', in which they also appeared in supporting roles.
As a film and television actress, Raphael has made appearances on shows such as ''
Party Down
''Party Down'' is an American sitcom created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd that aired on the Starz network in the United States in 2009 and 2010. The series follows a group of c ...
'', ''
Happy Endings'', ''
New Girl
''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...
''
, and ''
Lady Dynamite
''Lady Dynamite'' is an American comedy series starring Maria Bamford, and is loosely based on her life. It was created by Pam Brady and Mitch Hurwitz, on Netflix. The twelve-episode first season was released in its entirety on May 20, 2016. The ...
''
and in films such as ''
Long Shot
In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot (sometimes referred to as a full shot or long shot) is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surro ...
'' and ''
Blockers''. In 2010, Raphael co-starred as Barb in the improvised comedy series ''
Players'' on
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
. She also starred in all three seasons of the web series ''
Burning Love
"Burning Love" is a 1972 song by Elvis Presley written by Dennis Linde, originally released by Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972. Elvis Presley had a major hit with the song, becoming his biggest hit single in the United States since "Suspicious M ...
'' alongside
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...
and
Michael Ian Black
Michael Ian Black (born Michael Ian Schwartz; August 12, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including ''The State'', ''Viva Variety'', '' Stella'', '' Wet Hot American Summer: Fi ...
.
Raphael has collaborated with writing partner
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...
on scripts for film and television. They most recently wrote and starred together in the raunchy female buddy comedy ''
Ass Backwards
''Ass Backwards'' is a 2013 American female buddy black comedy film written by and starring June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson. The film is directed by Chris Nelson and produced by Heather Rae.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival ...
'', which also co-stars
Alicia Silverstone
Alicia Silverstone ( ; born October 4, 1976) is an American actress. She made her film debut in the thriller ''The Crush (1993 film), The Crush'' (1993), earning the 1994 MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, and gained further prom ...
,
Jon Cryer
Jonathan Niven Cryer (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor, writer, director and producer. Born into a show business family, he made his motion picture debut as a teenage photographer in the 1984 romantic comedy ''No Small Affair''; his bre ...
,
Vincent D'Onofrio
Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
His roles include Private Leonar ...
,
Paul Scheer
Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series ''Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The L ...
, and
Bob Odenkirk
Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...
. The film premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 21, 2013. In 2013 it was reported that Raphael and Wilson were working on a second film to star in together, produced by
Will Ferrell
John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
and
Adam McKay's company
Gary Sanchez Productions
Gary Sanchez Productions was an American film and television production company founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
History
Gary Sanchez Productions was founded in 2006 by comedians and filmmakers Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. The company ...
.
In February 2010, Raphael joined the rotating cast of the
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
play ''
Love, Loss, and What I Wore
''Love, Loss, and What I Wore'' is a play written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. It is organized as a series of monologues and uses a rotating cast of five principal women. The subject matter ...
'' (written by
Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award f ...
and
Delia Ephron
Delia Ephron ( ; born July 12, 1944) is an American bestselling author, screenwriter, and playwright.
Life and career
Ephron was born in New York City, the second eldest of four daughters of screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Her movies i ...
) at the
Westside Theatre
The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs Theatre, which s ...
in Manhattan. Raphael and Casey Wilson created the comedic stage show ''The Realest Real Housewives'', which they starred in alongside
Jessica St. Clair
Jessica St. Clair is an American actress and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. With frequent collaborator Lennon Parham, she co-created and co-starred in NBC's ''Best Friends Forever'' and USA Network's '' Playi ...
,
Melissa Rauch
Melissa Ivy Rauch (born June 23, 1980) is an American actress, model and comedian. She is known for playing Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'', for which she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Televi ...
,
Danielle Schneider
Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series ''The Hotwives'' and current ...
and Morgan Walsh. The show began running monthly at the Los Angeles
Upright Citizens Brigade
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, Ri ...
Theatre in 2011. Raphael also contributed short stories to the 2010 book ''Worst Laid Plans'', based on the long-running stage show, in which she frequently performed.
Raphael co-starred in 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 ...
action-comedy series ''
NTSF:SD:SUV::'', which aired for three seasons from 2011 to 2013.
She currently co-hosts with her husband,
Paul Scheer
Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series ''Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The L ...
, the movie discussion podcast ''
How Did This Get Made?
''How Did This Get Made?'' (''HDTGM'') is a podcast on the Earwolf network. It is hosted by Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas with occasional substitutes and/or guest hosts. Each episode features the deconstruction and mockery ...
'' along with comedian
Jason Mantzoukas
Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...
. The podcast is a roundtable discussion where Scheer, Raphael, Mantzoukas and other special guests "try make sense of movies that make absolutely no sense."
In 2015, Raphael took on a leading role as Brianna Hanson 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 ''
Grace and Frankie
''Grace and Frankie'' is an American comedy television series created by Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris for Netflix. The series stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as the eponymous Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein, two aging women who f ...
''.
Together with Kate Black, Raphael authored ''Represent: The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the World'', a step-by-step guide for women who are considering a political career.
Personal life
Raphael is married to actor-comedian
Paul Scheer
Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series ''Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The L ...
. They met in January 2004, after first meeting when the artistic director of Manhattan's
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 ...
brought Scheer in to offer advice to Raphael and her comedy partner
Casey Wilson
Cathryn Rose "Casey" Wilson (born October 24, 1980) is an American actress, comedienne, and screenwriter. She starred as Penny Hartz in the ABC comedy series '' Happy Endings'' for which she was twice nominated to the Critics' Choice Television ...
on making improvements to their UCB two-woman sketch show. They moved from New York to Los Angeles in 2005. In October 2009, they married at the
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Santa Barbara, California.
It reconnects more than 150,000 people each year (including their 5,700 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Nestled in nature, the museum ...
. They have two sons, born 2014 and 2016.
Raphael and comedian
Kulap Vilaysack
Kulap Tukta Vilaysack ( ; born May 11, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, writer, director, and showrunner. She co-hosts the ''Add To Cart'' podcast with SuChin Pak on Lemonada Media. She was the co-host of the '' Who Charted?'' podcast o ...
are the founders and directors of the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater
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) associated "UCB Corps" community, a volunteer charity organization. Raphael and Vilaysack organize charity events and projects to help improve the community, with the help of volunteers and other UCB performers "who want to make our world a better place".
Raphael is also co-founder of The Jane Club, a coworking space in Los Angeles for professional women.
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, June Diane
1980 births
Living people
Actresses from New York (state)
American film actresses
American podcasters
American people of Irish descent
American stage actresses
American television actresses
American television writers
American women comedians
People from Rockville Centre, New York
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
American women screenwriters
American women television writers
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers
21st-century American actresses
Screenwriters from New York (state)
21st-century American comedians
South Side High School (Rockville Centre) alumni
American women podcasters