Alex Karpovsky

Last updated

Alex Karpovsky
Alex at Grumpies2.jpg
Born
Alexander Karpovsky

(1975-09-23) September 23, 1975 (age 48)
Education Boston University (BA)
University of Oxford (MA)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • writer
  • film director
  • producer
  • film editor

Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975) is an American director, actor, screenwriter, producer and film editor. He is best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on the HBO comedy-drama series Girls and Craig Petrosian on the Amazon Prime Video series Homecoming .

Contents

Early life and education

Alex Karpovsky was raised in Newton, Massachusetts. [1] He earned a bachelor's degree from Boston University before receiving a master's degree in visual ethnography at the University of Oxford. [1] [2]

Career

His debut feature, The Hole Story, earned him a slot in Filmmaker magazine's 25 new faces of independent film. His subsequent feature-length films include Woodpecker, Trust Us, This Is All Made Up, Rubberneck, and Red Flag, [3] the latter two of which were released as a double feature at New York City's Lincoln Center Theater. [4] In addition to these features, Karpovsky has directed numerous episodes of TV shows as well as commercials and music videos.

As an actor, he played Ray Ploshansky in the HBO comedy series Girls , and also appeared in the Coen Brothers' films Inside Llewyn Davis and Hail, Caesar! , was a series regular on Amazon's Homecoming , played Dr. Seiderman on Curb Your Enthusiasm , and had a leading role in the Peacock limited series, Angelyne . [5]

As a writer and producer, he has developed projects at Amazon, Comedy Central, FX, TBS, and Hulu.

As a voice performer, Karpovsky's work has appeared in Selected Shorts, The Paris Review , Modern Love , n+1 , Grand Theft Auto IV , and This American Life .

Karpovsky also collaborates with graphic designer Teddy Blanks. Together they work as Spielbergs, and created, wrote and directed the 2019 miniseries Oh Jerome, No, starring Mamoudou Athie. [6]

Filmography

Actor

YearTitleRoleNotes
2003Cry Funny HappyHenry
2005The Hole StoryAlex
2008Cubby KnowlesRobert Lincoln
2009 Beeswax Merrill Graf
Harmony and MeMean Man Mike
2010 Bass Ackwards Vlad
Lovers of HatePaul Lucas
Tiny Furniture Jed
Incredibly SmallTom
2011 Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same Rookie Agent
WussWally Combs
Almost in LoveSasha
2012 Sleepwalk with Me Ian Gilmore
Gayby Peter
Supporting Characters Nick Berger
RubberneckPaul Harris
Marvin, Seth and Stanley Seth Greenstein
Red Flag Alex
2013Good NightJake
Inside Llewyn Davis Marty Green
2014 The Foxy Merkins Merkin Man
Summer of Blood Jamie
2015Tired MoonlightMike
PossibiliaRick
Bloomin Mud Shuffle Chuck
7 Chinese Brothers Kaminsky
2016 Hail, Caesar! Mr. Smitrovich
Folk Hero & Funny Guy Paul Scott
My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea DrakeVoice role
2017 The Vanishing of Sidney Hall David Bauer
Fits and Starts Charles
Girlfriend's Day Styvesan
2018 The Front Runner Mike Stratton
Being Frank Ross
2019 The Sound of Silence Landon
The Return of the Yuletide KidMichael
2020The RideChris
2021 Cryptozoo DavidVoice role

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2012–2015 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Stephen Lomatin2 episodes
2012–2017 Girls Ray Ploshansky42 episodes
2014 Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends HimselfTelevision Special
2015The Show About The ShowHimself2 episodes
2016 Deadbeat Jared the LiarEpisode: "Medieval Dead"
2018 Drunk History Zvi Aharoni Episode: "Heists"
2018–2020 Homecoming Craig Petrosian13 episodes
2020 Curb Your Enthusiasm Doctor SeidermanEpisode: "The Spite Store"
2022 Angelyne Jeff Glaser5 episodes

Music video

YearTitleArtist(s)
2017 When You Die MGMT

Video game

YearTitleRole
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV The Crowd of Liberty City (voice)

Writer/director

YearTitleRoleNotesNetwork/Festival
2019Oh Jerome, NoWriter/DirectorEpisodes 101-108FXX
2018 Love DirectorEpisode 304Netflix
2016 The New Yorker Presents DirectorEpisode 105Amazon
2016 Girls DirectorEpisode 509HBO
2012Red Flag [7] Writer/DirectorfeatureLA Film Festival
2012Rubberneck [8] Writer/DirectorfeatureTribeca
2009Trust Us, This Is All Made Up [9] Writer/DirectorfeatureSXSW
2008Woodpecker [10] Writer/DirectorfeatureSXSW
2006The Hole Story [11] Writer/DirectorfeatureHarvard Film Archive

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References

  1. 1 2 Laskowski, Amy (April 3, 2014). "Girls Actor Comes to Cinematheque Tomorrow". BU Today. Boston University . Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  2. "Alex Karpovsky". alexkarpovsky.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  3. Neil Genzlinger, Film Festival Blooms With Ripe Perversity, The New York Times , April 22, 2012
  4. "Alex Karpovsky of Girls helms two new films, talks directing". UKScreen. Archived from the original on December 13, 2013. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  5. Rick Porter, Martin Freeman, Alex Karpovsky Join 'Angelyne' Limited Series at Peacock, The Hollywood Reporter , February 12, 2020
  6. Greene, Steve (November 13, 2019). "'Oh Jerome, No': How a Comedy About Failed Relationships Still Ends Up Relatably Funny". Indiewire. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  7. "RED FLAG - A GRAVE COMEDY FROM ALEX KARPOVSKY". redflagfilm.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  8. "RUBBERNECK — A Film By Alex Karpovsky & Garth Donovan". rubberneckfilm.com. Archived from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  9. "Trust Us, This Is All Made Up". trustusfilm.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  10. "Woodpecker: a film by alex karpovsky". woodpeckerfilm.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  11. "Alex Karpovsky". theholestoryfilm.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.