{{short description|Australian comedian, actress and singer}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Jordan Raskopoulos | image = Jordan Raskopoulos.png | caption = Raskopoulos in 2022 | birth_name = Jordan Raskopoulos | birth_date = | birth_place = Sydney, Australia | occupation = {{hlist|Comedian|actress|singer|television personality|streamer}} | known_for = {{ubl|The Axis of Awesome|''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour''}} | website = {{url|jordanrasko.com}} | alias = | father = Peter Raskopoulos | relatives = Steen Raskopoulos (brother) }} '''Jordan Nicola Bridget Raskopoulos''' is an Australian comedian, singer, and television personality. She wrote and performed the Network Ten sketch comedy show ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'', and was lead singer for comedy rock group the Axis of Awesome (2006–2018). She came out as a transgender woman in 2016.
==Early life and education== Jordan Raskopoulos was born in Sydney, Australia. Her father is former footballer Peter Raskopoulos, and her brother is Steen Raskopoulos, a fellow comedian.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
==Career== ===Comedy and acting=== In 2003, Raskopoulos became involved with Impro Australia's Theatresports events including The Belvoir St Theatre Theatresports and the Cranston Cup competitions, winning state and national titles.<ref>[http://www.improaustralia.com.au/ Impro Australia], ImproAustralia.com.au.</ref> In 2005, she became part of the university sketch comedy supergroup The 3rd Degree, who performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. This group formed the base of the Network Ten's Logie award-winning cult ensemble sketch comedy television show ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'', in which Raskopoulos starred and for which she wrote.<ref name=grog>[https://archive.today/20130204072951/http://www.thegroggysquirrel.com/articles/2007/04/05/2007-melbourne-comedy-festival-reviews/jordan-raskopoulos-dominant-claw/ Jordan Raskopoulos' Dominant Claw], Australian Comedy Review, 23 April 2007.</ref>
After the success of ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'', Raskopoulos went on to appear in ''Stupid, Stupid Man'', ''Stand Up Australia'', ''Hole in the Wall'', ''Good News Week'' and ''Thank God You're Here'', and has provided voices for the ABC2 machinima series ''The Team''. She was a team captain for a season of the SBS Television sports show ''The Squiz''.<ref name=sbs>[http://www.sbs.com.au/shows/thesquiz/about/page/show/thesquiz The Squiz on SBS], SBS.</ref> In 2007, her debut solo stage show was called ''The Adventures of the Man with the Dominant Claw''.<ref>[http://www.theblurb.com.au/Issue74/Raskopoulos.htm Don't call me 'Clawed'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929213353/http://www.theblurb.com.au/Issue74/Raskopoulos.htm |date=29 September 2011 }}, The Blurb.</ref>
From 2006 until 2018, Raskopoulos fronted the award-winning musical comedy trio the Axis of Awesome, whose parody song "4 Chords" has received over 81 million hits on YouTube and is one of the highest-rated comedy videos on the site. The group came to attention after the release of their songs parodying the 2007 Australian federal election and received a Moosehead award at the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival for their show ''The Axis of Awesome Comeback Spectacular''.<ref name=neos>[http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/Infinity-rock-explosion Infinity Rock Explosion!] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714163720/http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/Infinity-rock-explosion |date=14 July 2011 }}, Neos Kosmos, 19 January 2010.</ref> From 2009, the Axis of Awesome produced four albums and toured extensively in the United States, UK, Europe, Asia and Australia, with sold-out seasons at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. After a hiatus in 2017, they officially announced they had broken up in 2018.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
Raskopoulos was one of a cast of voice actors in the Australian comedy sci-fi feature film ''Lesbian Space Princess'', which premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2024.<ref name=aff>{{cite web |title=Lesbian Space Princess |website=Adelaide Film Festival |url=https://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org/program/2024/lesbian-space-princess |access-date=28 October 2024}}</ref>
===TV appearances=== With the Axis of Awesome, Raskopoulos appeared on ''Q&A'', ''Good News Week'' and ''The Footy Show''.{{cn|date=October 2024}} In 2022, she appeared on ''Question Everything''.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
===Writing and streaming=== Prior to publicly coming out as a trans woman in 2016, Raskopoulos wrote articles on transgender issues for ''Junkee'' under the pseudonym Nicola Fierce.<ref name="beard">{{cite web |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAKBzFFa6U |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/kDAKBzFFa6U |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live| title = What's Happened To Jordan's Beard?|website=YouTube |date=14 February 2016 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{better source|date=October 2024}}
Raskopoulos also streams on YouTube and Twitch under the username JordanRasko.{{cn|date=October 2024}} On April 26, 2020, Raskopoulos posted a video featuring a parody song titled "We Built This Clitty," a parody of Starship's "We Built This City." The content of the song centers around Raskopoulos' personal experience with Gender Reassignment Surgery, employing humour as a narrative element. {{As of |2024|2|5}}, the video had accumulated 11,187 views and garnered 399 likes.<ref>{{youtube|accNkMdIdo4|We Built This Clitty}}. Jordan Raskopoulos, 27 April 2020.</ref>{{better source|date=October 2024}}
===Logies controversy=== Raskopoulos was cast in the supporting role of Trax in the 2012 movie ''Underground: The Julian Assange Story''<ref>[http://ten.com.au/underground-jordan-raskopoulos.htm Jordan Raskopoulos as Trax]. Underground: The Julian Assange Story. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216081737/http://ten.com.au/underground-jordan-raskopoulos.htm |date=16 February 2013 }}</ref> along with Rachel Griffiths, Anthony LaPaglia and Alex Williams. In January 2013, Raskopoulos requested users of the internet forum ''Something Awful'' to vote for her in the most popular actor category of the 2013 Logie Awards, promising in return to allow site users to write her acceptance speech. Some news outlets characterised this as "hacking" the Logies, as Raskopoulos, who despite a high-profile international comedy career was relatively unknown in Australian acting circles.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.news.com.au/technology/actor-from-underground-the-julian-assange-story-in-web-ridicule-campaign-over-logie-votes/story-e6frfro0-1226553856799 | title = Actor from Underground: The Julian Assange Story in web ridicule campaign over Logie votes | first1= Siobhan| last1= Duck| first2=Christopher| last2=Gillett | work =Herald Sun| date=15 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3526065| title = Vote for me to win a Logie award. You can write my acceptance speech}}</ref> Raskopoulos herself described her campaign as no different to any ordinary "fan" campaign.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/bit-of-a-joke-as-actor-turns-to-web-for-logie-tilt-20130115-2cqte.html | title = 'Bit of a joke' as actor turns to web for Logie tilt | first= Michael| last= Idato| work =The Sydney Morning Herald| date=15 January 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life== Raskopoulos is a transgender lesbian.<ref>{{Cite tweet |last=Raskopoulos |first=Jordan |author-link= |user=JordanRasko |number=1052001858082856961 |date=16 October 2018 |title=I am a white trans lesbian women and I can firmly say that none of the problems that I encounter stem from being white. Being white is a sweet deal. If you need the government to affirm that your whiteness is "ok" then you're a fucking baby. |script-title= |trans-title= |language= |retweet= |location= |access-date= |link= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |ref=}}</ref> She publicly came out as transgender in 2016 in a video called "What's Happened To Jordan's Beard" revealing that she got rid of her beard in February 2015 and that it would never come back as she was now transgender. She kept her given name but added the middle names Nicola and Bridget.<ref name="beard" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Croffey|first1=Amy|title=The Axis of Awesome's Jordan Raskopoulos transitions to a woman|url=http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life/the-axis-of-awesomes-jordan-raskopoulos-transitions-to-a-woman-20160215-gmu8ka.html|access-date=15 February 2016|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=15 February 2016}}</ref>
She has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder<ref>{{Cite tweet |last=Raskopoulos |first=Jordan |author-link= |user=jordanrasko |number=1300210596202209280 |date=31 August 2020 |title=Do other ADHDers who wear glasses find that your ADHD symptoms are worse when you're not wearing them? Somehow it feels like my eyes being unable to focus impacts on my brains ability to focus. |script-title= |trans-title= |language= |retweet= |location= |access-date=30 May 2022 |link= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |ref=}}</ref> and spoke about her anxiety disorder at a TEDx talk in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://tedxsydney.com/talk/living-with-high-functioning-anxiety-jordan-raskopoulos/ | title=Living with High Functioning Anxiety – Jordan Raskopoulos}}</ref>
Raskopoulos plays roller derby and has played ''Warhammer 40,000'' since she was 12 years old.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Raskopoulos |first1=Jordan |title=How I fell in love with roller derby {{!}} Jordan Raskopoulos |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/02/how-i-fell-in-love-with-roller-derby |access-date=15 March 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=2 February 2018}}</ref>
== Filmography ==
=== Film === {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |2012 |''Underground: The Julian Assange Story'' |Trax | |- |2019 |''I Am Woman'' |George Sylvia | |- |2025 | ''Lesbian Space Princess'' |Queen Leanne |Voice |}
=== Television === {| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |2005–2006 |''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' |Various characters |26 episodes |- |2006 |''The Team'' |Benedict |Voice |- |2008 |''Stupid, Stupid Man'' |Clown Boy |Episode: "The Fifteenth Floor" |- |2013 |''#7DaysLater'' |Father O'Rielly / Herb / Dog Whisperer |3 episodes |- |2014 |''In a Woman's World'' |Toby |Episode: "Picking Up" |- |2014 |''Clean and Jerk'' |Richie |Television film |- |2015 |''About Tonight'' |The Axis of Awesome - Host |Episode: "May the Fourth Be with You" |- |2015 |''How Not to Behave'' |Ensemble Cast |2 episodes |- |2016 |''The Wizards of Aus'' |Marvolo |Episode: "Molten Gelatinous Sex Ball" |- |2021 |''Wakefield'' |Anne |Episode #1.3 |- |2022 |''Question Everything'' |Herself |Season 2, episode 3 |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.jordanrasko.com/ Personal website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20090903100033/http://www.axisofawesome.net/ The Axis of Awesome] *{{IMDb name|2305136|Jordan Raskopoulos}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110830111137/http://www.ronniejohns.com/jordanchar.html Jordan Raskopoulos on "The Ronnie Johns Good Times Campfire Jamboree Half Hour Show".]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raskopoulos, Jordan}} Category:1982 births Category:Australian people of Greek descent Category:Australian stand-up comedians Category:Living people Category:Australian LGBTQ singers Category:Australian lesbian comedians Category:Australian women comedians Category:Transgender comedians Category:Transgender women singers Category:Lesbian singers Category:Australian lesbian musicians Category:Australian transgender musicians Category:Australian transgender women Category:LGBTQ people from New South Wales Category:21st-century Australian women singers Category:People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Category:Australian actors with disabilities Category:Singers with disabilities Category:Transgender people with disabilities Category:21st-century Australian LGBTQ people Category:Comedians from Sydney Category:Transgender lesbians