Mageina Tovah (born July 26, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Glynis Figliola in the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

Joan of Arcadia ''Joan of Arcadia'' is an American fantasy family drama television series telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi ( Amber Tamblyn), who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays on CBS ...

'' (2003–2005), as Ursula Ditkovich in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy and Zelda Schiff, the head librarian in '' The Magicians.

Early life

Tovah was born Mageina Tovah Begtrup in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, where her father was a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

psychiatrist in the Green Berets, and her mother was an Army physical therapist. Her family later settled for a time in

Clarksville, Tennessee Clarksville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States. It is the fifth-largest city in the state behind Nashville, Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis, Knoxville, and Chattanooga. The city had a population of 166,722 as of the 202 ...

, before moving to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...

. Mageina attended Martin Luther King Junior Magnet High School in Nashville. She skipped a year of high school, taking both her Junior year of honors English and her Senior year of AP English at the same time. She graduated from high school at the age of 16. For college, Mageina started at The California Institute of the Arts, and graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses ** South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in three and a half years. She later moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. She is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Her brother, Gavi Begtrup was a candidate in the Cincinnati, Ohio mayoral primary election in 2022.

Career

Tovah had a recurring role on ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005). Her television work also includes guest roles on a number of TV shows. These include ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the 1992 film of the same name, also written by Whedon, although the events of the film are not consid ...

'', ''

NYPD Blue ''NYPD Blue'' is an American police procedural television series set in New York City, exploring the struggles of the fictional 15th Precinct detective squad in Manhattan. Each episode typically intertwines several plots involving an ensembl ...

'', '' Six Feet Under'', ''

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series starring Michael Chiklis that premiered on March 12, 2002, on FX in the United States, and concluded on November 25, 2008, after seven seasons. Known for its portrayal of corrupt pol ...

'', ''

Cold Case A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...

'', '' Shameless'', ''

Crossing Jordan ''Crossing Jordan'' is an American crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its dete ...

'', ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'', '' Private Practice'', and '' The Magicians''. Tovah's

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

work includes roles in ''

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'' is a 2004 American live-action/animated adventure comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. The film was directed, co-written, and produced by series creat ...

'', ''Dark Heart'',''

Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas ''Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas'' is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Scott Lew, starring Patrick Fugit and Olivia Wilde. Plot The film starts out with the quote "Nothing can ever be truly, fully understood. Not even the mos ...

'', and a recurring role as Ursula Ditkovich in the films ''

Spider-Man 2 ''Spider-Man 2'' is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and Michael Chabon. Based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, it is the ...

'' and ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by Raimi, his older brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's ...

''. Tovah also made an appearance in the

Jonas Åkerlund Hans Uno Jonas Åkerlund (; born 10 November 1965) is a Swedish film director, screenwriter, music video director, and drummer. His video for Madonna's song " Ray of Light" won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record of fiv ...

-directed

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

's hit song " Beautiful".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tovah, Mageina 1979 births Living people People from Clarksville, Tennessee Actresses from Nashville, Tennessee Actresses from Honolulu Actresses from Tennessee American film actresses American television actresses Jewish American actresses California Institute of the Arts alumni University of Southern California alumni 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American Jews