Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus (born September 6, 1985) is an American actress and comedian. Lapkus is known for portraying Susan Fischer in the

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 ...

comedy-drama series ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a ...

'' (2013–2014, 2019) and Jess in the HBO comedy-drama series '' Crashing'' (2017–2019). She has also appeared in the television series '' Are You There, Chelsea?'' (2012), ''

Hot in Cleveland ''Hot in Cleveland'' is an American television sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White. The series, which was TV Land's first original series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's hig ...

'' (2012), '' Clipped'' (2015), ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

'' (2018–2019), and '' Good Girls'' (2020–2021), and in the films ''

Jurassic World ''Jurassic World'' is a 2015 American science fiction action film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Derek Connolly from a story by Jaffa and Silver. It is the first installment in the ...

'' (2015), '' The Unicorn'' (2018), and ''

The Wrong Missy ''The Wrong Missy'' is a 2020 American romantic comedy film directed by Tyler Spindel which was produced by Happy Madison Productions. With a screenplay by Chris Pappas and Kevin Barnett, the film stars David Spade as a recently single business ...

'' (2020). She played the voice role of Lotta in the animated comedy series ''

Harvey Girls Forever! ''Harvey Girls Forever!'' (originally titled ''Harvey Street Kids'' in its first season, then retroactively retitled) is an American animated comedy television series produced by Brendan Hay and Aliki Theofilopoulos for DreamWorks Animation Tel ...

'' (2018–2020). Lapkus has appeared on various podcasts, including '' Comedy Bang! Bang!'', ''improv4humans'', and her own podcasts ''

With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus ''With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus'' is an improvisational comedy podcast hosted by Lauren Lapkus where each week the guest is the host. Lapkus takes the guest role in each episode, allowing her guest host to decide the podcast's title, subject m ...

, Laptime with Lauren Lapkus'', ''Threedom'', ''Raised by TV'', and ''Newcomers''.

Early life

Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus was born on September 6, 1985 in Evanston, Illinois. At an early age she filmed sketches with her older brother and later at Evanston Township High School she participated in the annual student revue and variety show YAMO. During her senior year of high school, she began taking improv classes at the

iO Theater iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted ...

. She attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

graduating in 2008 with a degree in English, while she continued performing improv most nights. Lapkus credits watching many television sitcoms and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' while young for inspiring her to become a comedian. Upon graduation, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where she became involved with

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

. After living in New York City for 15 months, she relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

in 2010.

Career

After almost a year in Los Angeles, Lapkus began landing roles in a number of commercials, including

Snickers Snickers is a chocolate bar made by the American company Mars, Incorporated, consisting of nougat topped with caramel and peanuts that is encased in milk chocolate. The annual global sales of Snickers was over $3 billion . In the United ...

and

Jack in the Box Jack in the Box is an American fast-food restaurant chain founded February 21, 1951, by Robert O. Peterson (1916–1994) in San Diego, California, where it is headquartered. The chain has over 2,200 locations, primarily serving the West Coast ...

as well as a sketch on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, California, as part of ABC's ...

'' From these successes, she got herself representation and during pilot season landed a supporting role in the short-lived '' Are You There, Chelsea?''. After self-taping her audition, Lapkus was cast as security guard Susan Fischer on the first and second seasons of the

series ''

Orange is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a ...

''. In 2015, Lapkus and the cast won the

Screen Actors Guild Award Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. In 2014, Lapkus launched her own podcast on the

Earwolf Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate com ...

network, called ''

'', in which each week her guest is the host of their own podcast, and she appears as a character on their show. Her guests have included

Paul F. Tompkins Paul Francis Tompkins (born September 12, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his work in television on such programs as ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', '' Real Time with Bill Maher'', and ''Best Week Ever'', later ...

Betsy Sodaro Betsy Sodaro is an American actress from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. Sodaro is best known for her appearances on comedy programs such as ''Another Period'', '' Duncanville'', '' Clipped'', ''Animal Practice'', '' Nailed ...

Andy Daly Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series ''Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. ...

Nick Kroll Nicholas Kroll (born June 5, 1978) is an American actor, voice actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for creating and starring in the Comedy Central series '' Kroll Show'', ''The Oh, Hello Show'', the FX comedy series ''The L ...

, and

Scott Aukerman Scott David Aukerman (born July 2, 1970) is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. Starting as a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series ''Mr. Show'', Aukerman is ...

. She has said that she "never expected to get into podcasts at all" and to her it is funny she has one. In mid-2014, Lapkus was cast in ''

'', which she filmed in both

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. Many of her scenes with

Jake Johnson Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger (born May 28, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, film producer and screenwriter best known for his role as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'' (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' C ...

were improvised. In 2015, she portrayed Joy the receptionist in TBS's '' Clipped.'' In 2016, Lapkus wrote and starred in her own 30-minute episode of the

sketch show Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

'' Netflix Presents: The Characters''. Between 2017 and 2019 Lapkus appeared in the HBO series '' Crashing'' in the reoccurring role of Jess, the main character's ex-wife. In 2020, Lapkus launched a weekly podcast ''Newcomers'' with co-host Nicole Byer on the

HeadGum Headgum is an American podcasting network founded in 2015 by Marty Michael, Amir Blumenfeld, and Jake Hurwitz. The latter twoknown collectively as comedy duo Jake and Amirbuilt upon the success of their podcast '' If I Were You'' to launch the ...

podcast network, in which the two friends watch film franchises for the first time and provide commentary on each movie as newcomers to the series. On the podcast, Lapkus and Byer have covered the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

'',

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmma ...

'',

Fast & Furious ''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, ...

'', and ''

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

'' franchises. Past guests have included John Gemberling, Demi Adejuyigbe,

, and

. Lapkus performs improv regularly. She is a cast member of UCB's flagship show Asssscat and improv group Wild Horses.

Personal life

Lapkus married actor and improviser Chris Alvarado on May 3, 2014. She announced their separation on February 14, 2016, and they divorced later that year. Lapkus married actor

Mike Castle Michael Newbold Castle (born July 2, 1939) is an American lawyer and politician who was governor of Delaware (1985–92) and the U.S. representative for (1993–2011). He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes the entire ...

on October 5, 2018. On May 18, 2021, Lapkus announced that she and her husband were expecting a baby girl in the summer. She gave birth to a daughter named Holly in 2021.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Podcasts

References

External links

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Lauren Lapkus on Breaking it Down with Frank MacKay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lapkus, Lauren 1985 births Living people Actresses from Evanston, Illinois American film actresses American people of Greek descent American people of Lithuanian descent American people of Serbian descent American podcasters American television actresses American women comedians American women podcasters Comedians from Illinois DePaul University alumni Evanston Township High School alumni Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians