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 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 signifi ...
'' (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 way ...
series
''A League Of Their Own'' (2022-present). She earned a nomination for a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series 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 seri ...
'' (2014–2019) and as Natalie Greer in the
HBO 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. 195 ...
'' (2018–present).
Carden began her career performing improvisational comedy at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She went on to make appearances in several television series, including ''
Inside Amy Schumer'' (2015), ''
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2016), and ''
Veep'' (2017). She also appeared in numerous films, such as ''
Other People'' (2016), ''
Let It Snow'' (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 censu ...
.
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 state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
when he was a child; he acted in local community theater and founded ''
MicroTimes
''BAM'' (short for ''Bay Area Music'') was a free bi-weekly music magazine founded and published by Dennis Erokan in the San Francisco Bay Area from January 1976 until June 1999.
History
''Bay Area Music'' magazine was first published in Janua ...
'' 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 Go ...
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 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 Chambe ...
.
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 fro ...
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
A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a nation ...
.
Career
After graduating from college, Carden moved to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
.
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.
A friend invited Carden to an
improvisational 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 ...
show at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (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 m ...
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 provid ...
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 program ...
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 seri ...
'' (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 nam ...
and
Abbi Jacobson.
Carden also appeared in guest roles in the comedy series ''
Inside Amy Schumer'' (2015), ''
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2016), and ''
Veep'' (2017).
Following small roles in the parody film ''
iSteve'' (2013) and the romantic comedy ''
The To Do List'' (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 virtua ...
, in the
NBC 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 signifi ...
'',
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 Thatc ...
and
Ted Danson.
For her performance in the series, she received critical acclaim and earned nominations for the
Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.
Since 2018, Carden has had a recurring role as Natalie Greer in the
HBO 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. 195 ...
'', starring Hader.
Along with her fellow cast members, she was nominated for the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2018 and 2019.
In 2019, she appeared in the dark comedy film ''
Greener Grass'', the romantic comedy film ''
Let It Snow'', 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 ...
comedy series ''
Bonding'' and the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
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 writer ...
''.
In 2020, Carden had a recurring role on the
Quibi mystery-comedy series ''
Mapleworth Murders''.
Personal life
Carden met producer Jason Grant Carden on a trip to
Disneyland
Disneyland is a 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 initially envisi ...
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 wor ...
.
Carden used to be a full-time nanny for
Bill Hader and
Maggie Carey. 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