Patti Harrison

Patti Harrison is a Vietnamese-American transgender comedian, actress, and writer who has been openly trans throughout her public career and whose work spans underground performance art, prestige television, and independent film. She began performing stand-up in New York before moving to Los Angeles, where she built a reputation for a ferociously funny, emotionally raw style drawing on her experience as a trans woman navigating a world not built for her. She had early appearances in Broad City (2014), Search Party (2016), and High Maintenance (2016) before landing series regular roles in Shrill (2019) and I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019). Her film work has been particularly striking: she earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her lead performance in Together Together (2021), a tender comedy about a woman hired as a surrogate by a middle-aged man, in which she brought unexpected depth and humor to a complicated emotional dynamic. She also appeared in Problemista (2024) and Bottoms (2024). Harrison has spoken about the challenges facing trans comedians in an industry that often reduces trans identity to spectacle or tragedy, and her drive to make comedy that treats trans women as full, funny, complicated human beings.