Alex Borstein

Alex Borstein
Borstein at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego
Born	Alexandrea Borstein (1973-02-15) February 15, 1973 Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
Alma mater	San Francisco State University ACME Comedy Theatre
Occupation	Actress, voice actress, comedienne, producer, writer
Years active	1992–present
Television	MADtv, Family Guy, Shameless, Getting On
Spouse(s)	Jackson Douglas (m. 1999)
Children	2
Website	www.alexborstein.com

Alexandrea "Alex" Borstein (born February 15, 1973) is an American actress, voice actress, writer, producer, and comedian. She is well known for her long-running role as Lois Griffin on the animated television series Family Guy, and as a cast member on the sketch comedy series MADtv. A native of Deerfield, Illinois, Borstein is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where she studied rhetoric. She was trained in improvisational comedy at the ACME Comedy Theatre, near Hollywood, California, and was selected to join MADtv after being scouted by talent agents who noticed her work at the theatre. She was a writer and voice actor for several television shows, including Casper, Pinky and the Brain, and Power Rangers: Zeo, before joining the cast of MADtv as a featured player, and later as a repertory player in 1997.

Early life

Borstein was born in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb north of the city of Chicago, in 1973 (according to her own official website), though some sources still say 1971. She was raised in Deerfield, Illinois. Borstein has two elder brothers. Her parents, Irv and Judy Borstein, are both mental health professionals. Borstein is Jewish. Her mother was raised in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to the United States after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Borstein attended San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California.

Career

Borstein trained in improv at the ACME Comedy Theater, where she met her writing partner and future husband Jackson Douglas. Shortly after they began working together on the animated series Casper and Pinky and the Brain, Borstein left her position at an ad agency – where she had written print ads for Barbie – to become a full-time writer. In 1996, while still writing for Casper, Borstein worked on the show Power Rangers Zeo as the voice of Queen Machina, the queen of the Machine Empire.

In 1997, Borstein became a cast member on the third season of the sketch comedy show MADtv. She originally joined the cast as a featured player, but was upgraded to the repertory mid-season.

Borstein was perhaps best known on MADtv for her character Ms. Swan; her other recurring characters included Eracist Anne, "Stick Chick" Echo, singer Jasmine Wayne-Wayne, child prodigy Karen Goddard, lounge singer Shaunda, News at Six outside-the-studio reporter Sue Napersville, and Cordo the GAP troll. When Seth Green made recurring appearances on the show as mean boss Mr. Brightling, Borstein would play his mother, Mama Brightling.

While working on MADtv, Borstein met Seth MacFarlane, who was then preparing to launch the animated sitcom Family Guy on FOX (MacFarlane was originally supposed to create animated shorts for MADtv, but declined in favor of creating an independent series). MacFarlane cast Borstein as the voice of key character Lois Griffin. After the show's debut in January 1999, Family Guy was cancelled by the network in 2002 but returned in 2005; as well as her role as the voice performer for Lois and several other characters throughout the series (including a brief appearance as Ms. Swan in a 2005 episode), Borstein is also a producer and staff writer. She has made at least three guest appearances, once as Lois Griffin, on the Comedy Central animated program Drawn Together.

In 2000, Borstein was cast as Sookie St. James in the WB drama Gilmore Girls. She portrayed Sookie in the pilot, but her MADtv contract prevented her from continuing in the role, which was recast with Melissa McCarthy. Borstein made recurring appearances on Gilmore Girls throughout the show's run, first as the harpist Drella.

As an actress, she has made appearances in such films as Killers and Dinner for Schmucks. She played the school principal in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, the best friend of Halle Berry's character in Catwoman, and an employee at CBS News in Good Night, and Good Luck. She also had an uncredited cameo in the Will Ferrell movie Kicking & Screaming as an obnoxious coffee shop patron. She also had a small role in the movie Bad Santa. On some commercials, she sometimes voices Olive Oyl from Popeye and Betty Boop. She also had a minor role in the film Ted, in 2012.

Borstein was a co-host of GSN's Celebrity Blackjack in 2004. In addition, she also appeared as a comedian contestant on IFC's short-lived, comedy-driven game show Bunk in 2012.

Borstein was cast as a press secretary in the 2007 sitcom pilot The Thick of It, but the series was not picked up for broadcast. She was seen in the 2009 comedy For Christ's Sake, which was directed by her real-life husband Jackson Douglas.

Borstein at 2012 Comic-Con

In 2010, Borstein joined the first season staff of the Showtime comedy-drama Shameless, as a writer and supervising producer. In its second season she held the position of writer and consulting producer. She also guest starred in the first season episode "But at Last Came a Knock", as Lou Deckner.

Borstein's production company is called Crackerpants, Inc. In 2007, they released the DVD Drop Dead Gorgeous (In a Down-to-Earth Bombshell Sort of Way), a recording of a live performance at the Alex Theatre, with opening act Teddy Towne. The title comes from one of many actual female character breakdowns Borstein reads from to illustrate sexism in the industry.

Borstein was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for her Family Guy episode "Lois Comes Out of Her Shell" (2013). Borstein appeared on an American version of the comedy Getting On; the series has gained positive reviews.

Personal life

Borstein is married to actor and writer Jackson Douglas, whom she met while studying improv at the ACME Comedy Theatre. Douglas proposed to her during the taping of a MADtv skit; the couple married in 1999. In the DVD commentary for the Family Guy episode "Stewie Kills Lois" – at the time she was pregnant – she joked about the possibility of naming her baby Stewie. They have a son named Barnaby Borstein Douglas (born c. 2008) and a daughter named Henrietta Borstein Douglas (born October 1, 2012).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Coyote Ugly	Bidding Auction Woman	Uncredited
2003	The Lizzie McGuire Movie	Miss Ungermeyer
	Bad Santa	Milwaukee mom
2004	Seeing Other People	Tracy
	Catwoman	Sally
	Billy's Dad Is a Fudge-Packer!	Betty Henderson	Short film
2005	Kicking & Screaming	Obnoxious Hummer Lady	Uncredited
	Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story	Lois Griffin, Various voices	Also writer DVDX Award for Best Screenplay (for a DVD Premiere Movie) (2006)
	Good Night, and Good Luck	Natalie	Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (2006)
2006	Little Man	Janet
2007	The Lookout	Mrs. Lange
2009	For Christ's Sake	Mrs. Marcus
2010	Killers	Lily Bailey
	Dinner for Schmucks	Martha
2012	Ted	Helen Bennett
	ParaNorman	Mrs. Henscher (voice)
2014	A Million Ways to Die in the West	Millie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993–1994	Mighty Morphin Power Rangers	Various voices	4 episodes
1996	Power Rangers Zeo	Queen Machina (voice)	42 episodes
	Big Bad Beetleborgs	Cataclaws (voice)	Episode: "Yo Ho Borgs"
1997–2009	MADtv	Herself, Various characters	124 episodes; also writer
1999–2003, 2005–present	Family Guy	Lois Griffin, Tricia Takanawa, Various voices	Also writer, producer Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (2013) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (2008)
2000–2005	Gilmore Girls	Various characters	8 episodes
2002	Titus	Nicky	Episode: "Bachelor Party"
2002–2003	3 South	Becky (voice)	3 episodes
2003	Friends	Bitter Woman on Stage	Episode: "The One with the Soap Opera Party"
	Frasier	Evelyn	Episode: "Farewell, Nervosa"
2005–present	Robot Chicken	Various voices	Recurring role
2006	American Dad!	Doctor Gupta (voice)	Episode: "Roger 'n' Me"
	Drawn Together	Jelly Donuts Leader, Lois Griffin, AIDS Walk Coordinator (voice)	2 episodes
2007	Slacker Cats	Latoyah (voice)	2 episodes
2008–2009	Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy	Various voices	3 episodes
2009–2013	The Cleveland Show	Lois Griffin, Various voices	16 episodes
2009	Glenn Martin, DDS	Clerk (voice)	Episode: "Deck the Malls"
2011–present	Shameless	Lou Deckner	Also writer, consulting producer
2011	Night of the Hurricane	Lois Griffin (voice)	TV Special
2012	Hot In Cleveland	Preshi	Episode: "Rubber Ball"
2012–2014	Workaholics	Montez's Wife	2 Episodes
2012	Robot Chicken DC Comics Special	Wonder Woman, Various voices	TV Special
2012–2013	Bunheads	Sweetie Cramer, Hooker	2 episodes
2013–2015	Getting On	Dawn Forchette	Main cast
2016	Bordertown	Janice Buckward, Becky (voice)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Family Guy Video Game!	Lois Griffin, Various characters	Spike Video Game Award for Best Cast (2006)
2012	Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse	Lois Griffin, Various characters
2014	Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff	Lois Griffin, Various characters

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Special Relativity	Nox, Lucinda

External links

• Official website
• Alex Borstein at the Internet Movie Database
• Alex Borstein at AllMovie
• SuicideGirls interview with Alex Borstein