Emily Axford

Axford grew up in the suburbs of Albany, New York. She attended Bethlehem Central High School, just south of Albany. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion from George Washington University in 2007. At GWU, she was a part of the co-ed improv troupe called ReceSs. After college, Axford studied at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City and then Los Angeles, where she first ventured into internet sketch comedy.From 2011 to 2017, Axford was a writer and actress for digital comedy company CollegeHumor. In 2017, Axford transitioned to working as an executive producer and actor on the Pop show Hot Date, which had begun as a web series for CollegeHumor, alongside her husband Brian Murphy. From 2015 to 2019, Axford co-starred in both the College Humor and TruTV iterations of Adam Ruins Everything.

Axford and Murphy co-wrote HEY, U UP? (For a Serious Relationship): How to Turn Your Booty Call into Your Emergency Contact, a satirical relationship advice book that was published in 2018. She and Murphy have, in conjunction with Caldwell Tanner, hosted 8-Bit Book Club (2016–2018), a podcast in which they read and discussed video game novels.

Axford participates in a variety of actual play web series where she plays tabletop role-playing games. She is a player and occasional gamemaster in the HeadGum podcast Not Another D&D Podcast with Murphy, Tanner, and Jake Hurwitz. Axford is a primary cast member of Dimension 20, an actual play anthology web series which premiered in 2018; it was created by CollegeHumor for the streaming service Dropout. She has starred as a variety of characters between the two shows' several campaigns, most of which utilize Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. She is a featured member of Dimension 20's aftershow, Adventuring Party. In 2023, Axford appeared as a guest player in the third campaign of Critical Role.