Jamie Denbo

Early life

Denbo was born and raised in suburban Boston, in Swampscott, Massachusetts. She is an only child. Her mother is from Montreal, and her father is from New Jersey near Philadelphia; both parents were raised in Orthodox Jewish households. Jamie attended a Jewish day school from kindergarten to sixth grade. Several of Jamie's summers were spent at Camp Tel Noar in Hampstead, New Hampshire where she starred as Wendy in "Peter Pan" among several other plays.

Denbo attended college at Boston University, where she participated in improvisational comedy.

Career

Early in her career, Denbo performed comedy at the Comedy Warehouse at Disney World's Pleasure Island in Orlando, Florida. She eventually moved to New York City where she began performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB), where she continues to perform, now at the UCB's Los Angeles division, often performing with her husband John Ross Bowie and her comedy partner Jessica Chaffin. She also teaches classes there. She performed stand-up comedy for Just For Laughs in Montreal and Aspen Comedy Festival. She and Chaffin were slated to star in a comedy film after their success as supporting characters in the comedy feature The Heat.

Denbo was one of the stars of the sitcom Happy Hour, playing the role of Tina Difabio. She also played Susan Jones on the Goodnight Burbank video podcast. On August 5, 2007 she returned as co-anchor on the show. Her pilot Ronna & Beverly (based on the popular stage show she performs with Jessica Chaffin at the UCB) aired as a comedy special on the Showtime network in December 2009. In 2011, Denbo and Chaffin started the Ronna and Beverly comedy podcast where they interview different celebrities each week.

In 2010, she co-starred as Maggie Lefferts on the FX series Terriers. She has frequently appeared in comedy segments on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. She has made guest appearances on shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Happy Endings, The Life & Times of Tim, Reno 911!, Suburgatory, Bad Judge, Mike & Molly, Weeds, How I Met Your Mother, Mighty Med, Mulaney, Speechless and The Real O'Neals.

In December 2011, Denbo and Kerri Kenney-Silver made a pilot for Comedy Central called Dame Delilah’s Rabbit Hole Ranch based on a web-series they previously created and starred in. Her screenplay for Best Buds was sold to Vendome Pictures in 2010 with Natalie Portman attached to produce and star. Denbo is also a contributing writer for The Huffington Post.

Personal life

Denbo is married to comedy writer and actor John Ross Bowie. They have a daughter and a son.