Alex Karpovsky
Born
Alexander Karpovsky

(1975-09-23) September 23, 1975 (age 48)
Newton, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationBoston 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.

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

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Cry Funny Happy Henry
2005 The Hole Story Alex
2008 Cubby Knowles Robert Lincoln
2009 Beeswax Merrill Graf
Harmony and Me Mean Man Mike
2010 Bass Ackwards Vlad
Lovers of Hate Paul Lucas
Tiny Furniture Jed
Incredibly Small Tom
2011 Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same Rookie Agent
Wuss Wally Combs
Almost in Love Sasha
2012 Sleepwalk with Me Ian Gilmore
Gayby Peter
Supporting Characters Nick Berger
Rubberneck Paul Harris
Marvin, Seth and Stanley Seth Greenstein
Red Flag Alex
2013 Good Night Jake
Inside Llewyn Davis Marty Green
2014 The Foxy Merkins Merkin Man
Summer of Blood Jamie
2015 Tired Moonlight Mike
Possibilia Rick
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 Drake Voice 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 Kid Michael
2020 The Ride Chris
2021 Cryptozoo David Voice role

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2012–2015 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Stephen Lomatin 2 episodes
2012–2017 Girls Ray Ploshansky 42 episodes
2014 Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends Himself Television Special
2015 The Show About The Show Himself 2 episodes
2016 Deadbeat Jared the Liar Episode: "Medieval Dead"
2018 Drunk History Zvi Aharoni Episode: "Heists"
2018–2020 Homecoming Craig Petrosian 13 episodes
2020 Curb Your Enthusiasm Doctor Seiderman Episode: "The Spite Store"
2022 Angelyne Jeff Glaser 5 episodes

Music video

Year Title Artist(s)
2017 When You Die MGMT

Video game

Year Title Role
2008 Grand Theft Auto IV The Crowd of Liberty City (voice)

Writer/director

Year Title Role Notes Network/Festival
2019 Oh Jerome, No Writer/Director Episodes 101-108 FXX
2018 Love Director Episode 304 Netflix
2016 The New Yorker Presents Director Episode 105 Amazon
2016 Girls Director Episode 509 HBO
2012 Red Flag[7] Writer/Director feature LA Film Festival
2012 Rubberneck[8] Writer/Director feature Tribeca
2009 Trust Us, This Is All Made Up [9] Writer/Director feature SXSW
2008 Woodpecker [10] Writer/Director feature SXSW
2006 The Hole Story[11] Writer/Director feature Harvard Film Archive

References

  1. ^ a b 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.

External links