Biography
Devotees of HBO will have little trouble pinpointing actress Susie Essman; she made one of her most indelible impressions as the brassy, bossy, acid-mouthed Susie Greene, wife of
Larry David's manager Jeff Greene (
Jeff Garlin), on the quirky sitcom
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Essman grew up in Mount Vernon, NY, as the daughter of two prosperous Jewish parents: an internist father and a college professor mother who taught Russian at nearby Sarah Lawrence College. She began her career as a stand-up comedian and entered films courtesy of the
Tom Hanks/
Sally Field seriocomedy
Punchline (1988) (as -- fittingly -- a comedian), but hit her stride with
Curb, which debuted in 2002. Essman subsequently participated in director
Penn Jillette's monologue-heavy raunchfest
The Aristocrats (2005) and hosted the Bravo network's competition-themed reality series
Better Half (2007), before voicing a cat in the family-oriented animated comedy
Bolt (2008). ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide