Victor Varnado

Victor Varnado
Varnado on the set of Dream Job
Born (1969-05-15) May 15, 1969 (age 55)
Gary, Indiana, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • stand-up comedian
Years active1996–present
Websitevictorvarnado.net

Victor Varnado (born May 15, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is an African American man with albinism. He was born legally blind due to his albinism. He grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.[1]

Career

In Minneapolis, Varnado worked with the local improvisation troupes ComedySportz, The Bad Mamma Jammas and several regional theater companies, before landing his first role in the Big River Productions film Full Moon Rising, playing a copy clerk.

Soon after, his role in Giraffe Films' Kids Adventures in Oz spurred him on move to New York to pursue an acting career. His first "big break" came when he landed a role in Elton John's music video "Recover Your Soul".

Shortly after, he had a role in Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) with Ewen Bremner, Werner Herzog and Chloë Sevigny. He was subsequently cast in Universal's feature film End of Days (1999), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.[1] He was cast in a supporting role in Eddie Murphy's space-age comic thriller, The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002).[1]

Varnado was the winner of the Most Valuable Performer award in the 2001 Montreal Just For Laughs Improv Championship and bronze medalist in the 2002 Comedy Central Laugh Riots National Stand-Up Competition. He co-starred as Otis, an outrageous urban comic, in the independent film Hacks. Shown in the New York International Film Festival playing in Los Angeles, Hacks was an official selection for The Milan Film Festival.

Varnado worked on a superhero film with comic book legend Stan Lee.[2] He has performed character voices for a video game for Sony PlayStation 3 called Rat Race.[3]

Varnado is a member of Chicago City Limits, New York's longest running comedy improv theater company for which he was a writer and director as well as a regularly performing stand-up comedian. He has also been a guest on the popular podcast Keith and The Girl.

Varnado is the CEO of Supreme Robot Pictures, a production company that produced a mini-series for Penguin Random House called "The Great Fantasy Debate" and a stand-up comedy special event called "Bring Back Laughs" [4]

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
1996 Full Moon Rising Ollie
1999 Julien Donkey-Boy Rapper
End of Days Albino
2000 The Intern Messenger
2002 Hacks Otis
The Adventures of Pluto Nash Kelp
2003 A Guy Thing Hansberry
2007 Twisted Fortune Lil Toot
Fat Guy Stuck in Internet (TV) Kazaa-a-a-a
Permanent Vacation Stutter Boy
2009 War Against the Weak Himself
The Mercy Man Stokes
Contact High [5] Blind Man Austrian comedy
2011 Dream Job Tito

References

  1. ^ a b c Westhoff, Ben (April 17, 2007). "White Like Me". Village Voice. Archived from the original on December 11, 2009.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Justin (March 13, 2008). "Victor Varnado is not just another black-albino comic". Pittsburgh City Paper. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008.
  3. ^ 'Rat Race' Writer Explains PS3's First Sitcom Video Game, MTV News
  4. ^ "Pete Davidson, Hannibal Buress, Ilana Glazer Among Headliners for 'Bring Back Laughs' COVID-19 Relief Comedy Show". 25 September 2020.
  5. ^ Glawogger, Michael. "Contact High", Austria, 17 April 2009