Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva (russian: Маргари́та Влади́мировна Леви́ева; born 9 February 1980) is a Russian-American actress.

Early life

Levieva was born in then

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Soviet Union (now

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, Russia), into a family of

Russian-Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

descent. Both of her grandmothers, as children, survived the

siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...

. From the age of three she began to engage in rhythmic gymnastics. Levieva emigrated to the United States at age 11 with her mother and twin brother Michael, and settled in

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay is a neighborhood in southern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bounded by Ocean Parkway to the west; Avenue T and Kings Highway to the north; Nostrand Avenue and Gerritsen Avenue to the east; and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. S ...

. Though she was accepted into

Laguardia High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia, is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square n ...

to study dance, she instead attended public high school in

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

with a double major in economics and psychology and minors in philosophy, sociology, and Russian history. Levieva went on to complete the Meisner Acting Program at the

William Esper Studio The William Esper Studio was founded in 1965 as a school for the performing arts in Manhattan, New York. The school is dedicated to the acting technique of Sanford Meisner. Its founder, William "Bill" Esper, is often referred to as the best-kno ...

in New York.

Career

In 2005, Levieva made a guest appearance on '' Law & Order: Trial by Jury'' and in the following two years starred in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

series '' Vanished'' and feature films '' The Invisible'', ''Billy's Choice'', and ''

Noise Noise is unwanted sound considered unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrations through a medium, such as air or water. The difference arise ...

''. Levieva starred in the 2019 independent film '' Inherit the Viper''. Her other film credits include ''It Happened In L.A.'' (2017), ''

The Diary of a Teenage Girl ''The Diary of a Teenage Girl'' is a 2015 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Marielle Heller, based on the hybrid novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner. It stars Bel Powley as a 15-year-old girl who becomes sexually active ...

'' (2015), '' Sleeping with Other People'' (2015), '' James White'' (2015), ''

For Ellen ''For Ellen'' is a 2012 American drama film written, produced and directed by So Yong Kim. It stars Paul Dano, who also served as an executive producer. It is Kim's first English-language film. Plot Joby Taylor is a struggling rock musician who ...

'' (2012), ''

The Lincoln Lawyer ''The Lincoln Lawyer'' is a 2005 novel, the 16th by American crime writer Michael Connelly. It introduces Los Angeles attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Connelly's mainstay character Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch. It was adapted as ...

'' (2011), '' Adventureland'' (2009), and ''

Spread Spread may refer to: Places * Spread, West Virginia Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Spread'' (film), a 2009 film. * ''$pread'', a quarterly magazine by and for sex workers * "Spread", a song by OutKast from their 2003 album ''Speakerboxxx/T ...

'' (2009). In 2009, Levieva made an appearance in the NBC drama '' Kings'' (in the episode "First Night"), starred in the play ''The Retributionists'', and made her Broadway debut in ''

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

''. She also starred in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

comedy-drama series ''

How to Make it in America ''How to Make It in America'' is an American comedy-drama television series that ran on HBO from February 14, 2010, to November 20, 2011. The series follows the lives of Ben Epstein (Bryan Greenberg) and his friend Cam Calderon (Victor Rasuk) as t ...

''. Levieva's television appearances include her series regular roles in

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

drama series ''

Revenge Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...

'' (2011–2015) and in

series '' The Deuce'' (2016–2019). In ''The Deuce'', Levieva played Abby Parker, an adventurous college student. Levieva stars as Jenny Franklin in the 2022

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' In From the Cold''. Jenny is a single mother from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, who, during a European vacation with her daughter, finds her life turned upside down when the CIA forces her to confront her long-buried past as a Russian spy, the product of a secret KGB experiment that endowed her with "special abilities".

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Levieva, Margarita 1980 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey Actresses from New York City Actresses from Saint Petersburg American film actresses American people of Russian-Jewish descent American people of Soviet descent American television actresses Jewish American actresses Living people New York University alumni People from Secaucus, New Jersey People from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn Soviet emigrants to the United States Soviet Jews People with acquired American citizenship 21st-century American Jews