Claudia O'Doherty (born 29 November 1983)[1][2] is an Australian actress, writer, and comedian. She won the 2009 Melbourne Fringe Best Comedy Award and the Brisbane Comedy Festival Award for her debut show Monsters of the Deep 3D. She has appeared in several films and TV series, including starring roles in Love and Killing It.[3]
Early life and education
Claudia O'Doherty was born 29 November 1983 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Her father is Mental As Anything band member and artist Reg Mombassa (born Chris O'Doherty).[1] She attended SCEGGS Darlinghurst and the University of Sydney.[4] At the University, she participated in the Arts Revue and met Nick Coyle and Charlie Garber, with whom she began writing and performing under the name Pig Island.[5]
Career
O'Doherty's debut comedy show Monsters of the Deep 3D won the Best Comedy Award at the 2009 Melbourne Fringe Festival and the Best Comedy Award and the Brisbane Comedy Festival. The following year, she co-wrote the book 100 Facts About Pandas with David O'Doherty (no relation) and Mike Ahern, and worked together with them to co-write 100 Facts About Sharks in 2012. The same year, she appeared on the Australian television show Problems,[6] and her stand-up show The Telescope was nominated for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
O'Doherty moved to the UK and produced and starred in Claudia O'Doherty Comedy Blaps (2013), a web series produced for Channel 4. Bill Hader brought the videos to the attention of Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow, which led to O'Doherty being invited to audition for an upcoming film they were working on, Trainwreck. O'Doherty secured a minor role in the film.[7]
O'Doherty moved to the Los Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake and again worked with Amy Schumer, appearing in several episodes of Schumer's comedy series Inside Amy Schumer in 2015 and 2016.[11] O'Doherty received co-writing credit on the show, which received a 2016 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series.[12]
Following her involvement in the film Trainwreck, Judd Apatow approached O'Doherty about a role in the Netflix series Love. O'Doherty was cast as Bertie, the new roommate of Mickey, played by Gillian Jacobs.[13] O'Doherty starred in all three seasons of the series, from 2016 through 2018. In 2018, O'Doherty also appeared as Amy in The Festival directed by Iain Morris.
In 2022 O’Doherty was cast as Jillian Glopp in the Dan Goor sitcom Killing It, a character she continued for the series' second season in 2023.[14][15]
