Alex Borstein

Alexandrea Borstein (born February 15, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She is best known for voicing Lois Griffin in the animated comedy series ''Family Guy'' (1999–present), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She gained further acclaim for starring as Susie Myerson in the comedy-drama series '' The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' (2017–2023), which earned her two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Borstein also had lead roles as various characters on the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'' (1997–2009) and as Dawn Forchette in the medical comedy series '' Getting On'' (2013–2015). She had supporting roles in numerous films, including '' Showtime'' (2002), ''Bad Santa'' (2003), '' Kicking & Screaming'' (2005), '' Little Man'' (2006), '' Killers'' (2010), '' Ted'' (2012), '' A Million Ways to Die in the West'' (2014), '' Love the Coopers'' (2015), and ''Extinct'' (2021).

Early life

Borstein was born on February 15, 1973 (although some sources say 1971) in Highland Park, Illinois, a city north of Chicago. She was raised in Deerfield, Illinois, before her family moved to Northridge, California, a neighborhood of Los Angeles. She graduated from Chatsworth High School in 1989. She has two older brothers. Her parents, Irv and Judy Borstein, are both mental health professionals. She has stated that she is of Hungarian and Mongolian descent. She is Jewish.

Her father is from Atlanta. Her maternal grandmother, a Holocaust survivor, was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary, and immigrated to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Borstein is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where she studied rhetoric.

Career

1993–1998: Career beginnings and ''MADtv''

Borstein trained in improvisational comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater, near Hollywood, where she met her writing partner and future husband Jackson Douglas. Shortly after they began working together on the animated series '' The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper'' and '' Pinky and the Brain'', Borstein left her position at an ad agency – where she had written print ads for Barbie – to become a full-time writer. In 1996, while still writing for ''Casper'', Borstein worked on the show '' Power Rangers Zeo'' as the voice of Queen Machina, the queen of the Machine Empire.

In 1997, Borstein became a cast member on the third season of the sketch comedy show ''MADtv'' after being scouted by talent agents. She originally joined the cast as a featured player, but was upgraded to the repertory mid-season.

Borstein was best known on ''MADtv'' for her character Ms. Swan (owner of the ''Gorgeous Pretty Beauty Nail Salon''); her other recurring characters included Eracist Anne, "Stick Chick" Echo, singer Jasmine Wayne-Wayne, child prodigy Karen Goddard, lounge singer Shaunda, ''News at Six'' outside-the-studio reporter Sue Napersville, and Cordo the GAP troll. When Seth Green made recurring appearances on the show as mean boss Mr. Brightling, Borstein would play his mother, Mama Brightling.

1999–2009: Further success and ''Family Guy''

While working on ''MADtv'', Borstein met Seth MacFarlane, who was then preparing to launch the animated sitcom ''Family Guy'' on Fox. MacFarlane was originally supposed to create animated shorts for ''MADtv'', but declined in favor of creating an independent series. MacFarlane cast Borstein as the voice of character Lois Griffin. After the show's debut in January 1999, ''Family Guy'' was cancelled by the network twice in 2000 and 2002, but eventually returned in 2005. As well as her role as the voice performer for Lois and several other characters (including a brief appearance as Ms. Swan in a 2005 episode), she is also a producer and staff writer. She was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for the episode " Lois Comes Out of Her Shell" in 2013.

In 2000, Borstein was cast as Sookie St. James in the WB drama ''Gilmore Girls''. She portrayed Sookie in the pilot but her ''MADtv'' contract prevented her from continuing in the role. Borstein made recurring appearances on ''Gilmore Girls'' throughout the show's run, first as the harpist Drella and later as the stylist Miss Celine.

As a film actor, she played Ms. Ungermeyer the school principal in '' The Lizzie McGuire Movie'' (2003), the best friend of Halle Berry's character in ''Catwoman'' (2004), and an employee at CBS News in '' Good Night, and Good Luck'' (2005). She also had a small role in the movie ''Bad Santa'' (2003) and an uncredited cameo as an obnoxious coffee shop patron in the Will Ferrell movie '' Kicking & Screaming'' (2005). On some commercials, she sometimes voices Olive Oyl from Popeye

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