Milana Vayntrub

Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub (/ˈvaɪntruːb/ VYN-troob; Uzbek Cyrillic: Милана Александровна Вайнтруб; born March 8, 1987) is an Uzbekistan-born American actress and comedian. She came to prominence for her appearances in AT&T television commercials as saleswoman Lily Adams from 2013 to 2016, and again in 2020.[3] In addition to her commercial appearances, she starred in the series Other Space (2015) and had a recurring role on This Is Us (2016–2017). Vayntrub has also voiced Doreen Green / 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 WonderCon
Born
Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub

(1987-03-08) March 8, 1987[1][2]
Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, USSR
Nationality Russian Jewish, American
Alma materUCSD (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,[3][4] and is Jewish.[5] When she was two and a half years old, she and her parents immigrated to the U.S. as refugees, settling in West Hollywood.[6][7]

She started acting in Mattel Barbie commercials at the age of five, due in part to her family's financial problems.[8]

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.[8] She studied improv comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.[3]

Career

Vayntrub and Stevie Nelson teamed up to start the YouTube comedy channel Live Prude Girls where they produced a number of shorts and the hit web series Let's Talk About Something More Interesting.[9] Live Prude Girls went on to be featured on NewMediaRockstars' Top 100 Channels countdown, ranked at No. 93.[10]

Vayntrub has had small roles in film and television, including Life Happens. She has also starred in several CollegeHumor videos.[3] In 2011, Vayntrub was the lead in the music video for "Teenage Tide" by Letting Up Despite Great Faults. She appeared as Tara in two episodes of the sitcom Silicon Valley.

From 2013 to 2016, Vayntrub portrayed a saleswoman named "Lily Adams" in a series of TV commercials for AT&T.[3] She reprised the role in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, portraying the character as working from home.[11] She also portrayed Tina Shukshin as a series regular on the Yahoo! Screen series Other Space in 2015.

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 #CantDoNothing to spotlight the European migrant crisis.[6][7][12] She appeared in the television series This Is Us.

In July 2017, Vayntrub was cast in the lead role of Marvel Comics superheroine Doreen Green / Squirrel Girl in the New Warriors television pilot for Freeform.[13] Freeform ultimately passed on the series that November,[14] and despite attempts to move the series to another network, it was ultimately cancelled.[15][16] Despite the series' cancellation, Vayntrub voiced Squirrel Girl in the Marvel Rising franchise.[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]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Life Happens Tanya
2012 Junk Natasha
2016 Ghostbusters Subway Rat Woman
2019 Mother's Little Helpers Lucy Pride
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
2018 Robot Chicken Peppa Pig, Dino Daughter, Teenage Girl Voice role; Episode: "He's Not Even Aiming at the Toilet"
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors[19] 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"
2013 BowserVids Comedy Sketches Various 4 videos
2015 Wrestling Isn't Wrestling The Ultimate Warrior Short video[20]
2016 Jake and Amir Present: Lonely and Horny Episode 1[21] Elana 1 episode
2017 That Moment When[22] Jill 7 episodes
2019 The Shabbos Goy Hannah Short[23]
2020 Making Fun With Akilah and Milana 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"[24] Hot Chip
gollark: The human genome is something like 6GB, if I IIRC.
gollark: IRC over RFC 1149.
gollark: It uses tabs *and* Unicode spaces and regular ones.
gollark: You're being increasingly ridiculous. I solved indentation last year with the SPUAMAI algorithm.
gollark: Sure you can, there are lots of side-channel attacks you can execute on boxes.

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. Kurp, Josh (April 4, 2014). "Meet The Actress Who Plays 'Lily'", Your AT&T Commercial Crush". UPROXX. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  4. Backstage Staff (July 23, 2014). "The Third Annual Backstage 30: 28. Milana Vayntrub". Backstage. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  5. Vayntrub, Milana (December 6, 2012). "@SalteeMan no. I'm also a Jew and fundamentally opposed to any kind of cooking people to death". Twitter. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  6. Haltiwanger, John (February 2, 2016). "You've Seen This Woman A Thousand Times But Had No Idea She Was A Refugee". Elite Daily. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  7. "An amazing side of Milana Vayntrub you haven't seen (15 Photos)". The Chive. February 1, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  8. Box (January 25, 2015). "BA #061: Milana Vayntrub". Box Angeles. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  9. "Live Prude Girls". YouTube. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  10. NMR Staff (December 29, 2014). "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 100 – 76!". NewMediaRockstars. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  11. https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/atts-beloved-spokesperson-lily-is-back-and-working-from-home/
  12. "About Us". Can't Do Nothing. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  13. "Marvel's New Warriors Squirrel Girl". The Hollywood Reporter. 2017.
  14. 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.
  15. Polito, Thomas (September 15, 2019). "Exclusive: Marvel's 'New Warriors is Dead; Superhero Show Fails to Find a New Home". The GWW. Archived from the original on September 16, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  16. 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.
  17. Cheng, Susan; Flaherty, Keely (December 7, 2017). "Marvel's Launching A New Franchise Of Wonderful, Diverse Superheroes". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  18. Kelly-Clyne, Luke (April 10, 2020). "You've Never Seen Patty-Cake Played Like This". Vulture. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  19. Cheng, Susan; Flaherty, Keely (December 7, 2017). "Marvel's Launching A New Franchise Of Wonderful, Diverse Superheroes". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  20. "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling". YouTube. March 16, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  21. CollegeHumor (April 12, 2016), Jake and Amir Present: Lonely and Horny Episode 1, retrieved December 8, 2016
  22. "That Moment When". helloeko.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  24. HotChipVEVO (April 4, 2019), Hot Chip - Hungry Child (Official Video), retrieved April 7, 2019
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