Jane Levy's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Suburgatory Tessa Altman

Main Movie Roles

BIOGRAPHY:

Jane Colburn Levy is best known for her current role as Tessa Altman on the ABC comedy series Suburgatory. She made her TV debut on Showtime's Shameless, and is due to appear in two movies in 2012. She has been named by critics as one of the breakout stars of 2011, and Forbes named her on their list of 30 under 30 who are "reinventing the world".

Levy was born in Los Angeles County, the daughter of Mary, an artist, and Lester Levy, a musician. She grew up in Marin County, Northern California, where she attended high school. While at school she was on the hip hop dancing team and was captain of the soccer team, and appeared in community theatre productions of Annie and the Wizard of Oz. She describes herself at school as being a "floater", someone who got along with everyone. While at school she visited England for five months. She attended Goucher College for a semester before transferring to the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

She failed her first attempt at passing her driving test due to an automatic fail; she would later revisit the test while filming the episode "Driving Miss Dalia" of Suburgatory.

She moved back to Los Angeles after two years in New York. Levy gained the role of Mandy Milkovich in a five episode arc on the Showtime series Shameless within a few weeks of returning to the west coast.

In Spring 2011, she landed the first lead role of her career on the sitcom Suburgatory, with Jeremy Sisto and Cheryl Hines. Since being in the show she has been compared to Emma Stone, due in part to her red hair. Levy has been pleasantly surprised by the success of the show, and enjoys the ability to develop a character over 22 episodes. Her favourite moment of season one was when the character Ryan Shay (played by Parker Young) confuses Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

She was named by both TV Guide and TheInsider.com as one of the breakout stars of 2011, and was included on the top eleven list of funniest women compiled by AOL. Forbes named her as one of the handful of entertainment stars on their list of 30 under 30 who are "reinventing the world" (a list of the brightest stars of the future). Noting that Suburgatory was "one of the big hits of the new [TV] season" and that Levy would be seen in two upcoming films, Forbes called her "one to watch”.

Levy is due to appear in two upcoming films in 2012, Fun Size and Nobody Walks, the latter being the first movie from Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz. Fun Size will be released at Halloween, and co-stars Victoria Justice and comedian Chelsea Handler. While filming it, Levy was disappointed that she failed to meet Johnny Knoxville, as he was on set for the one week of shooting that she was not.

On February 3, 2012, it was announced that Levy would star in the upcoming remake of the horror classic, The Evil Dead. Levy will play Mia, who replaces the former lead character of the film, Ash, who was played by Bruce Campbell in the original and its two sequels. Lily Collins was originally cast in the role before dropping out and being replaced by Levy.


TRIVIA: