Milana Vayntrub

Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub (/ˈvaɪntruːb/ VYN-troob; Uzbek Cyrillic: Милана Александровна Вайнтруб;[3] born March 8, 1987) is an Uzbekistan-born American actress, comedian, and activist. She came to prominence for her appearances in AT&T television commercials as saleswoman Lily Adams from 2013 to 2016 and since 2020. In addition to her commercial appearances, she was a series regular on Other Space (2015) and had a recurring role on This Is Us (2016–2017). Vayntrub has also voiced Squirrel Girl in the Marvel Rising franchise after being cast as the character in the unaired television pilot, New Warriors, based on the comics team of the same name.

Milana Vayntrub
Vayntrub at the 2019 premiere of Captain Marvel
Born
Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub

(1987-03-08) March 8, 1987[1][2]
Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California, San Diego (BA)
OccupationActress, comedian, activist
Years active1995–present
Known forPlaying saleswoman Lily Adams in a series of AT&T television commercials

Early life and education

Vayntrub was born in Tashkent, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic,[4] and is Jewish. When she was two years old, she and her parents immigrated to the U.S. as refugees to escape antisemitism, settling in West Hollywood. She started acting in Mattel Barbie commercials at the age of five, due in part to her family's financial problems. Vayntrub briefly attended Beverly Hills High School, but dropped out after her sophomore year, got a GED, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from University of California, San Diego.[5] She studied improv comedy with the Upright Citizens Brigade.[6][7]

Career

Vayntrub made her acting debut appearing in three episodes of the NBC television series ER in 1995.[8] She and Stevie Nelson teamed up to start the YouTube comedy channel Live Prude Girls where they produced a number of shorts.[6] Live Prude Girls went on to be featured on NewMediaRockstars' Top 100 Channels countdown, ranked at number 93.[9] Vayntrub has had small roles in film and television, including Life Happens and Silicon Valley.[10] She has also starred in several CollegeHumor videos.[7]

From 2013 to 2016, Vayntrub portrayed a saleswoman named Lily Adams in a series of TV commercials for AT&T.[7] She returned to the role in 2020.[11] She also portrayed Tina Shukshin as a series regular on the Yahoo! Screen series Other Space in 2015. Between 2016 and 2017, she appeared in the television series This Is Us, playing Sloane Sandburg.[8] In July 2017, Vayntrub was cast in the lead role of Marvel Comics superheroine Squirrel Girl in the New Warriors television pilot for Freeform.[12] Freeform ultimately passed on the series that November, and despite attempts to move the series to another network, it was ultimately cancelled.[13][14] Despite the series' cancellation, Vayntrub voiced Squirrel Girl in the Marvel Rising franchise.[15] Also in 2017, Vayntrub starred in the Eko interactive web television series That Moment When as Jill.[16]

She starred in the film Mother's Little Helpers in 2019, which premiered at South by Southwest.[17] In April 2020, Comedy Central's YouTube channel released three sketches starring Vayntrub and Akilah Hughes as part of a new digital sketch series called Making Fun With Akilah and Milana.[18] She starred in the Quibi web television series Die Hart and in the short film The Shabbos Goy as Hannah, both released in July 2020.[19][20]

Activism

In January 2016, after visiting Greece and meeting with refugee families fleeing the Syrian Civil War, Vayntrub co-founded a website and social media movement called Can't Do Nothing to spotlight the European migrant crisis.[6]

Personal life

In 2020, Vayntrub was subjected to a wave of online sexual harassment, as photos of her were been manipulated into memes focused on her breasts while lewd comments about her breasts were made on posts on both her and AT&T's social media accounts.[21] Vayntrub asked for users to stop the harassment in a livestream on Instagram, stating, "...it hurts my feelings. I'm hurting and it's bringing up, like, a lot of feelings of sexual assault". AT&T later issued a statement defending Vayntrub, stating "We will not tolerate the inappropriate comments and harassment of Milana Vayntrub, the talented actor that portrays Lily in our ads. We have disabled or deleted these comments on our social content that includes Lily and we will continue to fight to support her and our values, which appreciate and respect all women."[22][23]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Life Happens Tanya
2012 Junk Natasha
2015 Wrestling Isn't Wrestling The Ultimate Warrior Short film
2016 Ghostbusters Subway Rat Woman
2019 Mother's Little Helpers Lucy Pride
2020 The Shabbos Goy Hannah Short film
TBA Werewolves Within Post-production

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1995 ER Tatiana 3 episodes
1997 Days of Our Lives Young Kristen
2001–2002 Lizzie McGuire Posse Member #1 / Cute Burper / Dancer 3 episodes
2004 The Division Katerina Ominsky Episode: "Acts of Desperation"
2012 The League Cute Girl in Bar Episode: "The Hoodie"
2013 Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous Felcia Episode: "Zach Stone Is Gonna Get Wild"
Food Network Star Video Caller Episode: "4th of July Live"
Key & Peele Vampire Episode: "Sexy Vampires"
2014 House of Lies Christy 2 episodes
Californication Bad Actress Episode: "Like Father Like Son"
Silicon Valley Tara 2 episodes
2015 Other Space Tina Shukshin 8 episodes
2016 Love Natalie 2 episodes
2016, 2017 @midnight Herself 7 episodes (July 22, August 17, 18, December 14 & February 13, 2017, March 29 & 30, 2017)
2016–2017 This Is Us Sloane Sandburg 8 episodes
2017 That Moment When Jill 7 episodes
2018 Robot Chicken Peppa Pig, Dino Daughter, Teenage Girl Voice role; Episode: "He's Not Even Aiming at the Toilet"
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors[24] Doreen Green / Squirrel Girl Voice role; Television short
Marvel Rising: Initiation
New Warriors Unaired pilot
2019 Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts Voice role; Television short
Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron
Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands
2020 Die Hart Leah 2 episodes

Web
Year Title Role Notes
2011–2014 CollegeHumor Originals Various characters 15 episodes
2012 Daddy Knows Best Nancy Episode: "Game Night"
2016 Jake and Amir Present: Lonely and Horny Elana 1 episode
2020 Making Fun With Akilah and Milana Herself 3 videos[18]

Music videos
Year Title Artist Notes
2007 "Can't Be Saved" Senses Fail
2011 "Teenage Tide" Letting Up Despite Great Faults
2019 "Hungry Child" Hot Chip

References
  1. Vayntrub, Milana (March 8, 2013). "I feel like the luckiest girl with the funniest fans!". Twitter. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  2. Vayntrub, Milana (March 8, 2014). "My mom and my hamburger birthday cake". Twitter. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  3. http://www.peoples.ru/art/cinema/actor/milana_vayntrub/
  4. Backstage Staff (July 23, 2014). "The Third Annual Backstage 30: 28. Milana Vayntrub". Backstage. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  5. Box (January 25, 2015). "BA #061: Milana Vayntrub". Box Angeles. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  6. Siemaszko, Corky (November 20, 2016). "'Lily' from those AT&T ads has a message for Syrian refugees". NBC News. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  7. Kurp, Josh (April 4, 2014). "Meet The Actress Who Plays 'Lily'", Your AT&T Commercial Crush". Uproxx. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  8. Levine, Daniel S. (July 11, 2017). "Milana Vayntrub: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  9. NMR Staff (December 29, 2014). "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 100 – 76!". NewMediaRockstars. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  10. Bradley, Diana (August 31, 2020). "'We will continue to fight to support her': AT&T backs spokesperson Milana Vayntrub after online harassment". PRWeek. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
  11. Smiley, Minda (May 12, 2020). "AT&T's Beloved 'Lily' Is Back, This Time Working From Home". Adweek. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  12. "Marvel's New Warriors Squirrel Girl". The Hollywood Reporter. 2017.
  13. Goldberg, Lesley (November 1, 2017). "Marvel's 'New Warriors' Won't Air on Freeform, Series Will Be Shopped Elsewhere (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved November 1, 2017.
  14. Goldberg, Lesley (September 25, 2019). "'Ghost Rider' Drama From Marvel TV Dead at Hulu". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  15. Cheng, Susan; Flaherty, Keely (December 7, 2017). "Marvel's Launching A New Franchise Of Wonderful, Diverse Superheroes". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  16. Ha, Anthony (November 14, 2017). "Eko's 'That Moment When' is an interactive comedy series all about social awkwardness". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  17. Ramos, Dino-Ray (March 7, 2019). "'Mother's Little Helpers' Trailer: Siblings Say Goodbye To Their Dying Burnout Mother In SXSW Dramedy". Deadline. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  18. Kelly-Clyne, Luke (April 10, 2020). "You've Never Seen Patty-Cake Played Like This". Vulture. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  19. Saveliev, Alex (November 10, 2020). "The Shabbos Goy". Film Threat. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  20. "Watch the Trailer for Kevin Hart and John Travolta's Quibi Action Comedy Die Hart". Fort Leavenworth Lamp. July 6, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  21. Jackson, Gita (August 26, 2020). "The 'AT&T Girl' Knows You're Obsessed With Her". Vice. Retrieved February 5, 2020.
  22. Mendez II, Moises (August 25, 2020). "The 'AT&T Girl' is tired of sexual harassment online". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  23. Haring, Bruce (August 29, 2020). "AT&T Ad Actress Milana Vayntrub Pleas For Online Harassers To Cease & Desist". Deadline. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  24. Cheng, Susan; Flaherty, Keely (December 7, 2017). "Marvel's Launching A New Franchise Of Wonderful, Diverse Superheroes". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
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