Early life

Shawkat was born in Riverside, California, to Dina (née Burke) and actor Tony Shawkat. She grew up in nearby Palm Springs. She has two brothers. The actor Paul Burke was her maternal grandfather. Shawkat's father is Arab Iraqi, from Baghdad. Her mother is of half-Norwegian, one-quarter-Irish, and one-quarter-Italian descent.

When she is not acting, she likes to paint; she has participated in gallery shows in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Paris. She also likes to make music and sing in jazz bars.

Career

As Maeby Fünke, Shawkat was a regular cast member of Arrested Development for the entire run of the show from 2003 to 2006. The series received nearly universally positive reviews, with Shawkat's performance occasionally singled out for praise. Pop-culture commentator Brian M. Palmer remarked that she was "one of the brightest lights on a show populated solely by bright lights," and Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic described her as "one funny young lady." In an interview with The A.V. Club in 2010, Shawkat remarked that many of her "formative moments" as an actress took place on the Arrested Development set: " Mitch Hurwitz was like a father figure to me. In a way, it was great to be around, because I feel that my understanding of comedy was able to grow really well during that time."

In 2009, Shawkat appeared in Whip It co-star Har Mar Superstar's music video for "Tall Boy", which also featured Eva Mendes and Eric Wareheim. In October 2009, it was announced that Shawkat, Har Mar, and fellow Whip It co-star Page would produce and write a show for HBO called Stitch N' Bitch. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the show "follows two painfully cool hipster girls as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake enclave in hopes of becoming artists--of any kind."

Shawkat, along with Arrested Development co-star Mae Whitman, sang guest vocals on a number of tracks from indie-punk band Fake Problems' 2010 album Real Ghosts Caught on Tape.

Six years after the series was canceled by Fox, filming for a revived fourth season of Arrested Development began on August 7, 2012 and Shawkat reprised her role as Maeby Fünke. The season consists of 15 new episodes which debuted at the same time on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Each episode focuses on one particular character, with Shawkat's Maeby, now a high school senior, featured in episode 12, "Señoritis" and appearing in several other episodes of the season.

In 2015, Shawkat guest-starred on Broad City, portraying the romantic interest and look-alike of Ilana Glazer's character. Leading up to the episode, many have remarked on the physical similarities Shawkat and Glazer bear to one another.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Three Kings	Amir's Daughter
2005	Rebound	Amy
2005	Queen of Cactus Cove	Billie	Short film
2006	Deck the Halls	Madison Finch
2008	Bart Got a Room	Camille
2008	Prom Wars	Diana Riggs
2009	Amreeka	Salma
2009	Whip It	Pash
2010	The Runaways	Robin
2011	The Lie	Seven
2011	Cedar Rapids	Bree
2011	The Oranges	Vanessa Walling
2011	Our Deal	Night Creeper	Short film
2012	Damsels in Distress	Madge
2012	That's What She Said	Clementine
2012	Ruby Sparks	Mabel
2012	The Brass Teapot	Louise
2012	The Golden Age	Janice	Short film
2013	May in the Summer	Dalia
2013	The End of Love	Herself	Cameo
2013	Setup, Punch	Dottie Kaufman	Short film
2013	The To Do List	Fiona Forster
2013	Bunion	Rachel	Short film
2013	Night Moves	Surprise
2013	The Moment	Jessie
2014	Life After Beth	Roz
2014	Wild Canaries	Jean
2015	The Final Girls	Gertie Michaels
2015	The Driftless Area	Carrie
2015	Nasty Baby	Wendy
2015	Adam Green's Aladdin	Emily
2015	Green Room	Sam
2015	Me Him Her	Laura
2016	The Intervention	Lola
2016	Pee-wee's Big Holiday	Bella

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	JAG	Young Mac	1 episode: "Second Sight"
2000	The Trial of Old Drum	Dee	TV Movie
2002	State of Grace	Young Hannah Rayburn	Main cast 40 episodes
2002	Presidio Med	Tara Wegman	1 episode: "Good Question"
2003	Without a Trace	Siobhan Arintero	1 episode: "Maple Street"
2003	Boomtown	Denise Stein	1 episode: Home Invasion"
2003-2006; 2013	Arrested Development	Mae "Maeby" Fünke	Main cast 68 Episodes
2005	Last Call with Carson Daly	Herself	1 episode: "Episode dated 15 September 2005"
2005	Blow Out	Herself	1 episode: "Episode #2.1"
2006	Veronica Mars	Stacy Wells	1 episode: "The Rapes of Graff"
2006	Not Like Everyone Else	Brandi Blackbear	TV Movie
2007	The Business	Screenwriting Manicurist	2 Episodes: "Field Trip to Hollywood: Part 1", "Field Trip to Hollywood: Part 2"
2008	The Bad Mother's Handbook	Charlotte	TV Movie
2008	The Starter Wife	Robin	3 Episodes: "The Remains of the Snow Day", "Mollywood", "Das Booty Call"
2009	Arrested Development Documentary Project	Herself
2009	Crappy Holidays Present...		3 episodes: "Crappy Father's Day", "Crappy Pioneer Day", "Crappy Labor Day: Final Destination"
2009	Made in Hollywood	Herself	1 episode: "Episode #5.2"
2009	Sundance Directors Lab	Herself	1 episode: "First-Time Filmmakers"
2010	The League	April	1 episode: "The Expert Witness"
2013	NTSF:SD:SUV::	Gail	1 episode: "Burn After Killing"
2014	Drunk History	Frances Cleveland	1 episode: "First Ladies"
2014	Robot Chicken	Baroness (voice)	1 episode: "G.I. Jogurt"
2014	Getting On	Colleen Hoover	4 episodes
2015	Adventure Time	Young Betsy Poundcake (voice)	1 episode: "The Diary"
2015	Broad City	Adele	1 episode: "Coat Check"
2015	Drunk History	Virginia Hall	1 episode: "Spies"
2016	Portlandia	Mayor's Kid	1 episode: "Shville"
2016	Animals.	Sharon (voice)	1 episode: "Rats."

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2002	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series - Leading Young Actress	State of Grace	Nominated
2004	TV Land Award	Future Classic	Arrested Development	Won
2005	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Supporting Young Actress		Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2006		Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2014		Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]