Laraine Newman is a founding member of the Los Angeles-based comedy company The Groundlings. She got her first break when appearing in a Lily Tomlin special produced by Lorne Michaels. Michaels later hired Laraine to be part of a late night show meant to run in place of reruns of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. That show was Saturday Night Live. She is an original cast member.

Her more current TV roles have been on IFC’s Birthday Boys, Comedy Bang Bang, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Laraine’s enjoyed a thriving career in feature and television animation. She can be heard in three current Netflix animated series: Puss ‘N Boots, in which she plays the role of Pajuna,Dawn of the Croods playing Gran and One-Eyed Amber and Trollhunter  playing Miss Janeth, Nana and other voices she can’t remember now. She plays the role of Professor Hootsburgh in the BAFTA Award-nominated Disney Jr. series Doc McStuffins.

Her other notable TV animation credits include:  Adventure Time, American Dad, Beware The Batman, Turbo Fast, Kung Fu Panda, Motor City, Scooby-Doo, Metalocalypse, Beavis and Butthead, The Fairly Odd Parents, The Garfield Show, Spongebob Squarepants, As Told By Ginger, Danny Phantom, Justice League, Catdog, Oswald the Octopus, Superman, The Wild Thornberries, Cow and Chicken, The Oblongs, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, and Hysteria.

Film credits include Zootopia, The Secret Life of Pets,  Nerdland, Minions, Inside Out, The Boxtrolls, Despicable Me 2, Wreck-It Ralph, Tom and Jerry Wizard of Oz, Monsters University, The Lorax, Tangled, Toy Story 3, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Up, Wall-E, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, Horton Hears a Who, Barnyard, Ice Age: the Meltdown, and Ponyo to name a few.

Onscreen film roles include Stardust Memories, American Hot Wax, Girls Season 38, I’m Losing You, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Jingle All the Way, Invaders From Mars, Problem Child 2, and Tunnel Vision.

Laraine has also worked as a writer. She is a contributing editor for the online food magazine One for the Table. She has written for McSweeney’s and The Believer as well as reviews for The Jewish Journal, The L.A. Times Magazine, Esquire, Huffington Post, and a forward to the book Best Laid Plans. She is on the board of San Francisco Sketchfest, where she can be seen performing every year. She also performs live in the long-running Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography and is proud to be a part of a new show written by her niece, Charlotte Dean, called Charlotte’s Shorts, which can be seen at The Groundlings.