Garfunkel and Oates
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If you want to have a long career in television, you can’t always settle for the starring role. There’s plenty of work to be had in making guest appearances, which is something that actress Riki Lindhome knows very well. Her background in improv and more recently with music has made her a very versatile actress, and she even got her shot at leading a show in the mid 2010s after years of waiting. Now in her 40s, Lindhome will likely be plugged into shows for many years to come, while also focusing on her comedy career.
Lindome was born in Coudersport, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1979 which is in the northern part of the state on the border of New York, though she grew up on the other side of the border. Lindhome excelled while in school, and was noted for her fantastic writing ability. When she graduated from high school, Lindhome stayed fairly close to home by heading to Syracuse University.
While there, Lindhome got on stage for the first time, taking improv classes and working with a comedy group. Like many that took improv in college, Lindhome had an interest in acting and decided to take the splash and pursue that path full-time. Not everyone thought it was a great idea, though. “I think my parents wanted me to be whatever I wanted to be,” Lindhome said. “But I do remember them - when I first moved out to L.A. - sending me applications to grad school for teaching.”
Lindhome was in a short independent film in 2001, though in ernest got her acting career started in 2002. She landed guest spots on the shows “Titus”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Gilmore Girls”, the latter of which she’d eventually become a recurring character for a brief period. The mid 2000s saw the beginning of Lindhome’s film career, too, getting her first credit in the Oscar winning film “Million Dollar Baby”.
During the middle part of the 2000s, many of Lindhome’s films were short movies or independent releases, though she did have a couple of feature films with “Pulse” and “Berkeley”. She continued to be busy making guest appearances on television, popping up on television shows such as “Heroes”, “Pushing Daisies” and “The Big Bang Theory”. By the beginning of the 2010s, Lindhome had been one of the most frequently seen guest stars on television.
This continued into the early part of the new decade with spots on “Drop Dead Diva”, “United States of Tara” and “House”, and that was just in the first two years. Lindhome started voice acting during this time, as well, appearing on the shows “Adventure Time” and more recently with “Big Hero 6: The Series”. Films from this era of her career have included “Fun Size”, “Search Party” and “Much Ado About Nothing”.
Most recently, Lindhome had lent her voice to some notable movies such as “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water” and “The Lego Batman Movie”. She also had a 2018 film with “Under the Silver Lake” and will be part of the upcoming “Knives Outs”. Though most known as a guest star, Lindhome finally did land a starring role on TV in 2015 when she played Beatrice Bellacourt on the Comedy Central series “Another Period”. The show, which also starred Natasha Leggero, aired on the network for three seasons.
Talking about her most successful show, Lindhome says that “People think it’s not based on reality, but in a way it is.” She added that “For example, our first episode this season was about Harriet Tubman. We have her as this branding expert; she’s the only face of the Underground Railroad because she knew how to get her name out there - that’s not true, but it’s conceivable. We try to have truth mixed in and then wonder what could have happened.”
She and Leggero wrote the pilot themselves and only employed a small writer’s room during the series. Lindhome was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she was able to get a leading role on a cable network series. “All the time,” she said about recognizing her luck at that point. “Probably at least once a week since this started, I’ll have one of those moments where I’m like, ‘What!?’”
You might also recognize Lindhome for her career in comedic music as she and friend Kate Micucci formed a duo known as Garfunkel and Oates, named after the second-fiddle parts of some of music’s most famous duos. Garfunkel and Oates formed in 2007 and they’ve enjoyed quite a bit of success on the comedy circuit. They’ve released three albums, all of which have reached the top five of the US Comedy charts, including “Slippery When Moist” in 2012 that reached number one.
Fame isn’t easy to find, and Lindhome knows that. “If you’re trying to be an actor, sometimes you get lucky and you end up on ‘The Office’,” she said. “But if you don’t, and you know that you have something to say, it’s really, really fortunate to be able to get to write and star in your own comedy.” She and Micucci had a pilot for their own show on HBO that wasn’t picked up, but they were able to get a miniseries on the IFC Network. “It’s great to get to make something in your own voice.”
Lindhome’s advice for those that want to work in acting, music or comedy is simple. “If you believe in what you’re doing, you should just do it,” she said. “You’ll keep getting better.”
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