Victor Varnado (born May 15, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is an African American man with albinism. He was born legally blind due to his albinism. He grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and later moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Career
In Minneapolis, Varnado worked with the local improvisation troupes ComedySportz, The Bad Mamma Jammas and several regional theater companies, before landing his first role in the Big River Productions film Full Moon Rising, playing a copy clerk.
Soon after, his role in Giraffe Films' Kids Adventures in Oz spurred him on move to New York to pursue an acting career. His first "big break" came when he landed a role in Elton John's music video "Recover Your Soul".
Shortly after, he had a role in Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) with Ewen Bremner, Werner Herzog and Chloë Sevigny. He was subsequently cast in Universal's feature film End of Days (1999), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was cast in a supporting role in Eddie Murphy's space-age comic thriller, The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002).
Varnado was the winner of the Most Valuable Performer award in the 2001 Montreal Just For Laughs Improv Championship and bronze medalist in the 2002 Comedy Central Laugh Riots National Stand-Up Competition. He co-starred as Otis, an outrageous urban comic, in the independent film Hacks. Shown in the New York International Film Festival playing in Los Angeles, Hacks was an official selection for The Milan Film Festival.
In 2002, Varnado co-created the Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival with filmmaker and producer Jay Stern, a monthly event the duo hosts, and as of 2026, it is still going.
Varnado worked on a superhero film with comic book legend Stan Lee. He has performed character voices for a video game for Sony PlayStation 3 called Rat Race.
Varnado is a member of Chicago City Limits, New York's longest running comedy improv theater company for which he was a writer and director as well as a regularly performing stand-up comedian. He has also been a guest on the popular podcast Keith and The Girl.
Varnado is the CEO of Supreme Robot Pictures, a production company that produced a mini-series for Penguin Random House called "The Great Fantasy Debate" and a stand-up comedy special event called "Bring Back Laughs".
Filmography Year Title Role Other notes 1996 Full Moon Rising Ollie 1999Julien Donkey-Boy Rapper End of Days Albino 2000 The Intern Messenger 2002 Hacks Otis The Adventures of Pluto Nash Kelp 2003 A Guy Thing Hansberry 2007 Twisted Fortune Lil Toot Fat Guy Stuck in Internet (TV) Kazaa-a-a-a Permanent Vacation Stutter Boy 2009 War Against the Weak Himself The Mercy Man Stokes Contact High Glawogger, Michael. "Contact High", Austria, 17 April 2009 Blind Man Austrian comedy 2011 Dream Job Tito
References
External links Official website (2013 snapshot) Victor Varnado on MySpace
Iron Mule Short Comedy Film Festival