Janet Varney

Janet Varney is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She is known for voicing the character of Korra in the Nickelodeon animated television series The Legend of Korra, co-starring as Sheriff Evie Barret in the television series Stan Against Evil, and a recurring role as Becca Barbara in You're the Worst.

Varney has hosted The JV Club podcast since 2012 and is also the co-host of the Avatar: Braving the Elements podcast. She is the co-founder, creative director and producer of the long-running comedy festival SF Sketchfest in San Francisco.

Early life
Varney was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona. She graduated as salutatorian from Rincon High School in 1993 and is an alumna of San Francisco State University, where she majored in theater, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1997. She later pursued a career in interior design before eventually finding her way back into acting. Varney was raised Mormon, but left the church at 17 and began to identify as an agnostic. Varney is of English and Scottish descent.

Career

Television projects
Varney made her television debut in 2004 as a guest on the Comedy Central debate show Crossballs. She has appeared as a guest star in series including Bones, Better Off Ted, How I Met Your Mother, Hot in Cleveland, and Psych. Varney has had recurring roles on the shows Entourage (HBO), Burning Love (Yahoo! Screen), Country Comfort (Netflix), You're the Worst (FX), and Take My Wife (Seeso).

In 2012, she co-created Neil's Puppet Dreams with Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka. In 2012, Varney also began her role voicing the main character of Korra on the Nickelodeon animated series The Legend of Korra, a spin-off of the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Varney voiced the character of Korra for all four seasons of the show, which ended in 2014.

In 2016, Varney was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for her role on Everyone's Crazy But Us, a web series produced on Funny or Die.

Varney was a main cast member on IFC's Stan Against Evil, playing  Sheriff Evie Barret. The show ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2018. She was also the host of ESCAPE!, a web series broadcast on Geek & Sundry where teams of celebrities work together to get out of an escape room. The show ran for one season in 2017.

In 2018 Varney created, produced and starred in Fortune Rookie, an 8-episode web series presented by IFC.

Dinner and a Movie
In 2005, Varney replaced Lisa Kushell as the host of the TBS cooking and entertainment show Dinner and a Movie. She appeared with Paul Gilmartin and Claud Mann in each episode, introducing films and injecting humor during the preparation of a creative dinner for some themes. The series was cancelled in 2011.

RiffTrax
Varney has written and performed several comedic audio commentaries for films along with fellow SF Sketchfest co-founder Cole Stratton. These appear on the RiffTrax website under the RiffTrax Presents branding, as they are officially sanctioned by RiffTrax founder and Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumnus Michael J. Nelson.

She has performed in Rifftrax commentaries for the following films:
Footloose
Poltergeist
Ghost
Dirty Dancing
Jaws 3-D
Flatliners
The Lost Boys
Dreamscape
Batman vs Superman

Podcasts
In March 2012, Varney launched a podcast titled The JV Club, hosted on Nerdist.com from 2012 to 2018. In November 2018, it was announced that The JV Club would be moving to the Maximum Fun network. The podcast released its 500th episode in Jan 2023.

Varney has participated on a regular basis on the improv comedy podcast Spontaneanation with Paul F. Tompkins, where she is referred to as "Little Janet" Varney. She is also one of the core cast members of the improvised SciFi podcast Voyage to the Stars, and the podcast Thrilling Adventure Hour.

Avatar: Braving the Elements, an official Nickelodeon companion podcast to Avatar: The Last Airbender, premiered on June 22, 2021, hosted by Varney (the voice of Korra) and Dante Basco (the voice of Zuko). Varney and Basco discuss key moments and behind-the scenes information from each episode.

She has appeared on the podcast Hello from the Magic Tavern as the character Braidwynn the Warrior Elf that disguises herself as Crone Bakeress.

Since 2022, Varney has voiced the character of Janet Lubelle on Welcome to Night Vale.

Other professional projects
Varney is the co-founder, creative director and producer of SF Sketchfest, the San Francisco Comedy Festival, and is also the co-founder of the San Francisco sketch group Totally False People. She is a core member of the Los Angeles based improv group Theme Park Improv. She performed with the Los Angeles and San Francisco-based group Sequel 4000.

Personal life
Varney dated comedian Chris Hardwick from 2004 to 2011. In 2018, Varney came out as bisexual. In young adulthood, Varney was diagnosed with depersonalization disorder.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links
Official Website

Dinner and a Movie website on tbs.com
Rifftrax Presents website at Rifftrax.com
Podcast Interview on The Gentlemen's Club with Caleb Bacon

Living people
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
Actresses from Tucson, Arizona
Actual play performers
American agnostics
American film actresses
American former Christians
American people of English descent
American people of Scottish descent
American podcasters
American television actresses
American television hosts
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women podcasters
Bisexual actresses
Former Latter Day Saints
Bisexual comedians
LGBT people from Arizona
San Francisco State University alumni
American women television presenters
American bisexual actors
American LGBT comedians
Year of birth missing (living people)