Robert Ben Garant

Robert Ben Garant
Garant performing at the UCB theater
in Los Angeles in March 2009
Occupations
  • Screenwriter
  • producer
  • director
  • actor
  • comedian
Years active1992–present
Spouse
Cathy Shim
(m. 2011)
Children2

Robert Ben Garant, credited earlier in his career as Ben Garant, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and director. He has a long professional relationship with Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver from their time on the sketch-comedy show The State, the cop show spoof Reno 911!, and numerous screenwriting collaborations.

Early life

Garant grew up in Farragut, Tennessee. He lived in New York City for several years and attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. While at NYU he was a member of sketch comedy troupe The State.

Career

Garant was a cast member on the 1993-1995 MTV sketch comedy series The State. In 2003, Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver, all members of The State, created the mockumentary show Reno 911!, which aired on Comedy Central; Garant appeared on the show as Deputy Travis Junior.

Garant and Lennon are frequent writing partners, and have written several successful screenplays together, including the Night at the Museum films. Their films have earned over $1.4 billion in box office revenue alone.[1]

Garant and Lennon created and starred in a 2010 sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. However, it was not ordered as a series. Later in 2010, Garant and Lennon created a pilot for FX called USS Alabama, a sci-fi/comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard a United Nations peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama. This pilot was not picked up either.

In 2011, Garant and Lennon released a book about their careers called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at The Box Office and You Can Too![1]

In 2020, Garant reprised his role as Deputy Travis Junior in the seventh season of Reno 911! which aired on Quibi. He also appeared in the 2021 Paramount+ movie, Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon. The eighth season of the series, now titled Reno 911! Defunded, premiered on The Roku Channel in February 2022.

Personal life

Garant currently resides in Los Angeles, California.[citation needed] He is married to actress Cathy Shim, and they have two children.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b "You Too Can be a Successful Screenwriter". NPR.org.
  2. ^ Cantor, Hallie (March 21, 2012). "Rob Corddry Is Having Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's Hell Baby". Vulture. Retrieved April 8, 2022.