Esther Povitsky

With a diminutive stature and a colossal talent for comedy, Esther Povitsky landed her first big break on the series "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (The CW, 2015-). Born in Skokie, Illinois in 1988, Povitsky began seriously pursuing her love of comedy while she was still a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was regularly enduring a three-hour train ride just to take improv classes at iO Chicago and The Second City when the recession hit. Watching both of her parents lose their jobs helped Povitsky see her own priorities with a new perspective. She dropped out of school and began pursuing comedy full time, relocating to Los Angeles and performing stand-up on a nightly basis. She landed her first TV role playing Jimmy's little sister in a handful of appearances on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" (ABC, 2003-) in 2010. By the following year, she was making guest appearances on a wealth of popular shows including "New Girl" (Fox, 2011-),  "Parks and Recreation" (NBC, 2009-2015), and "Key & Peele" (Comedy Central, 2012-2015). After being cast on "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" in 2015, Povitsky wrote, produced, and starred in a short film about a female-male friendship called "Alone Together" (2015). By 2018, the short was being adapted into a pilot, which was picked up by Freeform in 2018.