# Alex Karpovsky

Alexander Karpovsky (born September 23, 1975) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and film editor. He is best known for his role as Raymond "Ray" Ploshansky on the HBO comedy drama series Girls (2012–17), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He is also known for his roles as Craig on the Amazon Prime Video psychological thriller series Homecoming (2018–20) and Jeff Glaser on the Peacock drama miniseries Angelyne (2022).

## Early life and education

Alex Karpovsky was raised in Newton, Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor's degree from Boston University before receiving a master's degree in visual ethnography at the University of Oxford.

## Career

His debut feature, The Hole Story, earned him a slot in Filmmaker magazine's 25 new faces of independent film. His subsequent feature-length films include Woodpecker, Trust Us, This Is All Made Up, Rubberneck, and Red Flag, the latter two of which were released as a double feature at New York City's Film at Lincoln Center. In addition to these features, Karpovsky has directed numerous episodes of TV shows as well as commercials and music videos.
As an actor, he played Ray Ploshansky in the HBO comedy series Girls, and also appeared in the Coen Brothers' films Inside Llewyn Davis and Hail, Caesar!, was a series regular on Amazon's Homecoming, played Dr. Seiderman on Curb Your Enthusiasm, and had a leading role in the Peacock limited series, Angelyne.
As a writer and producer, he has developed projects at Amazon, Comedy Central, FX, TBS, and Hulu.
As a voice performer, Karpovsky's work has appeared in Selected Shorts, The Paris Review, Modern Love, n+1, Grand Theft Auto IV, and This American Life.
Karpovsky also collaborates with graphic designer Teddy Blanks. Together they work as Spielbergs, and created, wrote and directed the 2019 miniseries Oh Jerome, No, starring Mamoudou Athie.

## Filmography
### Actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Cry Funny Happy | Henry | |
| 2005 | The Hole Story | Alex | |
| 2008 | Cubby Knowles | Robert Lincoln | |
| 2009 | Beeswax | Merrill Graf | |
| 2009 | Harmony and Me | Mean Man Mike | |
| 2010 | Bass Ackwards | Vlad | |
| 2010 | Lovers of Hate | Paul Lucas | |
| 2010 | Tiny Furniture | Jed | |
| 2010 | Incredibly Small | Tom | |
| 2011 | Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same | Rookie Agent | |
| 2011 | Wuss | Wally Combs | |
| 2011 | Almost in Love | Sasha | |
| 2012 | Sleepwalk with Me | Ian Gilmore | |
| 2012 | Gayby | Peter | |
| 2012 | Supporting Characters | Nick Berger | |
| 2012 | Rubberneck | Paul Harris | |
| 2012 | Marvin, Seth and Stanley | Seth Greenstein | |
| 2012 | Red Flag | Alex | |
| 2013 | Good Night | Jake | |
| 2013 | Inside Llewyn Davis | Marty Green | |
| 2014 | The Foxy Merkins | Merkin Man | |
| 2014 | Summer of Blood | Jamie | |
| 2015 | Tired Moonlight | Mike | |
| 2015 | Possibilia | Rick | |
| 2015 | Bloomin Mud Shuffle | Chuck | |
| 2015 | 7 Chinese Brothers | Kaminsky | |
| 2016 | Hail, Caesar! | Mr. Smitrovich | |
| 2016 | Folk Hero & Funny Guy | Paul Scott | |
| 2016 | My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea | Drake | Voice role |
| 2017 | The Vanishing of Sidney Hall | David Bauer | |
| 2017 | Fits and Starts | Charles | |
| 2017 | Girlfriend's Day | Styvesan | |
| 2018 | The Front Runner | Mike Stratton | |
| 2018 | Being Frank | Ross | |
| 2019 | The Sound of Silence | Landon | |
| 2019 | The Return of the Yuletide Kid | Michael | |
| 2020 | The Ride | Chris | |
| 2021 | Cryptozoo | David | Voice role |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2012–2015 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Stephen Lomatin | 2 episodes |
| 2012–2017 | Girls | Ray Ploshansky | 42 episodes |
| 2014 | Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends | Himself | Television Special |
| 2015 | The Show About The Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Deadbeat | Jared the Liar | Episode: "Medieval Dead" |
| 2018 | Drunk History | Zvi Aharoni | Episode: "Heists" |
| 2018–2020 | Homecoming | Craig Petrosian | 13 episodes |
| 2020 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Doctor Seiderman | Episode: "The Spite Store" |
| 2022 | Angelyne | Jeff Glaser | 5 episodes |

### Music video

| Year | Title | Artist(s) |
| 2017 | When You Die | MGMT |

### Video game

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2008 | Grand Theft Auto IV | The Crowd of Liberty City (voice) |

### Writer/director

| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Network/Festival |
| 2025 | Allow Me To Destroy You | Writer/Director | (Upcoming feature-length film) | |
| 2019 | Oh Jerome, No | Writer/Director | Episodes 101-108 | FXX |
| 2018 | Love | Director | Episode 304 | Netflix |
| 2016 | The New Yorker Presents | Director | Episode 105 | Amazon |
| 2016 | Girls | Director | Episode 509 | HBO |
| 2012 | Red Flag | Writer/Director | feature | LA Film Festival |
| 2012 | Rubberneck | Writer/Director | feature | Tribeca |
| 2009 | Trust Us, This Is All Made Up | Writer/Director | feature | SXSW |
| 2008 | Woodpecker | Writer/Director | feature | SXSW |
| 2006 | The Hole Story | Writer/Director | feature | Harvard Film Archive |