Mageina Tovah

Tovah is Jewish. Her father is a pediatric psychiatrist and her mother is a pediatric physical therapist, both practicing their professions in the Army. She grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where the family moved when she was 12 years old, after they had lived on a farm in Clarksville, Tennessee. After finishing high school when she was 16, she went to Cal Tech to study engineering and math. From there she went to the University of Southern California, where her interests changed to the theater.

Tovah and a friend formed Silo Theatre Company in Los Angeles after college. "It was terrific," she said. When her friend moved to New York, she shut down Silo and began acting with the Ray Bradbury Theater in Los Angeles. Tovah had a recurring role on Joan of Arcadia (2003–2005). Her television work includes guest roles on a number of TV shows. These include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue, Six Feet Under, The Shield, Cold Case, Shameless, Crossing Jordan, American Horror Story, Private Practice, and The Magicians. Tovah's feature film work includes roles in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Dark Heart, Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas, and a recurring role as Ursula Ditkovich in the films Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. Tovah made an appearance in the Jonas Åkerlund-directed music video for Christina Aguilera's hit song "Beautiful". Hux, directed by Tovah, was named Best Dramatic Short at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival in 2016.