Who is Susie Essman from Curb Your Enthusiasm? Net Worth, Bio

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Susie Essman Wiki Bio

Susan ‘Susie’ Essman was born in The Bronx, New York City USA, on 31 May 1955 – her zodiac sign is Gemini, and she holds American nationality. She’s an actress and comedienne, with more than 40 acting credits to her name, perhaps known best for her portrayal of Susie Greene, one of the lead characters in the critically acclaimed comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, created by Larry David, who also stars in it alongside Susie and Cheryl Hines. The series follows the lives of Larry and his friends, has been airing since 2000, and has won 24 awards, including two Primetime Emmys, while it’s been nominated for 53 other awards.

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Early life and education

Susie was raised in Mount Vernon, New York City alongside her brother and three sisters, by their mother Zora (nee Pressman) who worked at Sarah Lawrence College as a Russian language teacher, and their father Leonard Essman who was a clinical oncologist and internist. Susie’s grandparents emigrated from Poland and Russia, and she’s Jewish.

She grew up being interested in a number of activities, and began practicing acting with her high school’s drama club when she was 15. Susie was also quite sporting, as she enjoyed playing volleyball and soccer with her peers, but her focus was always on acting and comedy.

Upon matriculating in 1973, she enrolled at Sunny Purchase College, from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1977; Susie went on to perform comedy at various clubs around New York State in the following 10 years, prior to launching her acting career.

Roles in movies

Susie made her debut film appearance in the popular 1988 action adventure comedy “Crocodile Dundee II”, directed by John Cornell, and which starred Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski and John Meillon. It follows an Australian man as he’s protecting his girlfriend from organized criminals, so have fled to northern Australia from New York State; the movie won two awards.

A couple of Susie’s most notable performances in the ‘90s were perhaps in the 1991 action adventure comedy “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, the 1997 action science fiction drama “Volcano”, and the 1998 action thriller “The Siege”.

In 2000, she was cast to play Ellen Friedman in the romantic comedy drama “Keeping the Faith”, directed by Edward Norton, who also starred in it alongside Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman.

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It follows a rabbi and a priest who have fallen in love with the same woman; the movie won two of the eight awards for which it was nominated. Susie went on to play a supporting character in the 2002 drama “The Secret Lives of Dentists”, and then voiced Mittens in the popular 2008 animated adventure comedy “Bolt”.

Shirley’s most recent movie role has been in the 2017 musical comedy drama “Band Aid”, written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, who also starred in it alongside Adam Pally and Fred Armisen. It follows a couple who have founded a band together, in an attempt to save their relationship; the movie won two of the four awards for which it was nominated.

Roles in TV series

Susie made her debut TV series appearance in the 1989 episode “The Hockey Team” of the comedy “Kate & Allie”, then the ‘90s saw her appear in an episode or two of only a couple of series, such as the comedy “True Colors”, another comedy “Hardcore TV”, and the comedy drama “Ned and Stacey”.

What marked the 2000s for her was perhaps her portrayal of Veronica Reynolds in the 2004 episode “Everybody Loves Raimondo’s” of the mystery crime drama “Law & Order”, created by Dick Wolf and Rick Eid, and which today stars Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin and Dennis Farina. Each episode covers the police investigation of a crime, and then the prosecution in court; the series has been airing since 1990, and has won 53 awards, including six Primetime Emmys, while it’s been nominated for 203 other awards.

The 2010s saw Susie make a guest appearance in a number of hit series, such as the mystery crime drama “Blue Bloods”, and the comedies “Weird Loners” and “The Goldbergs”.

Most recently, in 2022, she played Elaine in the episodes “The One, The Only” and “On the Market” of the comedy drama “Hacks”, created by Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs, and which stars Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. It follows the mentorship between Las Vegas comedienne Deborah Vance and a 25-year-old girl, and the series has won 31 awards, including three Primetime Emmys, while it’s been nominated for 57 other awards.

Other credits

Susie worked as a comedy advisor on the 1988 romantic comedy movie “Punchline”.

She wrote two episodes of the series “Caroline’s Comedy Hour” in 1989, as well as writing and producing the 2005 movie “Untitled Susie Essman Project”.

Susie has made a guest appearance in a number of talk-shows, most recently in “Josh Gates Tonight”, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”, and “Today”.

Awards and nominations

Susie was nominated for a 2015 Critics Choice Television Award for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series, and a 2015 International Online Cinema Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama or Comedy Series, both for “Broad City”.

She was also nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series in 2006, 2010 and 2018, all for her and her colleagues’ performance in “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.

Love life and relationships

Susie prefers to keep the details of her love life to herself, but it’s still widely known that she’s been married to American real estate broker Jim Harder since September 2008; the two exchanged vows in a private ceremony, attended by only a couple of their closest friends and family members.

Susie doesn’t have children, and while this is widely believed to be because she wants to focus on her acting career, there are also those who believe that she’s perhaps infertile. Her husband has four children from his former marriage/relationship.

Susie hasn’t spoken of any other men (or women) whom she has perhaps been with, and as of June 2022, she’s married to Jim Harder, and doesn’t have children.

Hobbies and other interests

Although she has an Instagram account and occasionally answers her fans’ questions, Susie isn’t that active on the network, as she’s uploaded only 20 pictures onto it, most of which feature her during her everyday life; her account’s today followed by close to 2,000 people.

She’s passionate about travelling, and has been all around the world for both work and pleasure; Susie mostly enjoys visiting historical places and tasting various cuisines while travelling, and her dream travel destination is Japan.

She’s a philanthropist, and has donated money to several charity organizations working with underprivileged children, as well as to a couple of animal shelters; she has a Shih Tzu dog called Popeye.

Susie has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are the late Leslie Nielsen, Ben Stiller and Julia Roberts, while a couple of her favorite movies include “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”, “Airplane!”, and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.