Annabelle Gurwitch

Gurwitch was born to a Jewish family[http://www.jewishjournal.com/the_ticket/item/comedian_annabelle_gurwitch_on_50_being_the_new_50 Jewish Journal: "Comedian Annabelle Gurwitch on 50 being the new 50" by Naomi Pfeffermanin] retrieved June 14, 2015 in Mobile, Alabama, and grew up in Florida, graduating from Miami Beach High School in 1980. While there, she took acting classes with Jay W. Jensen. After high school, she attended The Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Gurwitch began working as an actress Off-Broadway in New York City, including productions with Theater for a Young Audience at Henry Street Settlement, The Public Theater, the 20th Anniversary production of Uncommon Women and Others at Lucille Lortel. Her first long-running television role was as Gina Daniels on The Guiding Light in the mid 1980s.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Gurwitch's theater credits include: The World Premiere of Donald Margulies' A Coney Island Christmas{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2012/legit/reviews/coney-island-christmas-1117948841/|title=Coney Island Christmas|last=Verini|first=Bob|date=November 28, 2012|website=Variety.com}} at The Geffen Playhouse, the West Coast Premiere of Go Back to Where You Are{{Cite web|url=http://www.odysseytheatre.com/go_back_where_you_are.php|title=Go Back to Where You Are|last=Greenspan|first=David|date=July 2016|website=odysseytheatre.com|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-date=September 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160930014743/http://www.odysseytheatre.com/go_back_where_you_are.php|url-status=dead}} by David Greenspan at The Odyssey, the West Coast premier of Women in Jeopardy{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.com/news/2015/dec/09/women-jeopardy/|title=Women in Jeopardy! Big Laughs and Banana Cake at Ensemble|last=Donelan|first=Charles|date=December 9, 2015|website=Santa Barbara Independent}} at EST Santa Barbara, productions with LA Theaterworks including Sixteen Wounded with Omar Metwally, Our Lady of 121 Street{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/fishburne-gurwitch-pena-lead-los-angeles-cast-of-our-lady-of-121st-street-feb-4-8-com-117412|title=Fishburne, Gurwitch, Peña Lead Los Angeles Cast of Our Lady of 121st Street, Feb. 4-8|last=Hernandez|first=Ernio|date=January 19, 2004|website=playbill.com}} opposite Laurence Fishburn and Adam's Rib{{Cite web|url=https://latw.org/title/adams-rib|title=Adam's Rib|last=Kanin|first=Garson|date=January 2005|website=LA Theatre Works}} with Adam Arkin.

Her performance, off Broadway at the Joe Quintero Theater, in the title role of Murray Mednick's Joe and Betty garnered her a place in The New York Times "Top Ten Performances in Theatre of the Year 2002." She also appeared in the Los Angeles Times "Top Ten Performances of the Year in Theatre 2001."{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

She developed her solo show based on I See You Made an Effort, in workshops at the All for One Solo Fest, NY and Skylight Theater, Los Angeles, in 2017. It was featured in the subscription offerings at The Scottsdale Center of Performing Arts and The Temple Theater, at The Des Moines Performing Arts Center, amongst other touring locations. Her live appearances include: The Moth, Joe's Pub, House of Speakeasy, New York Comedy Festival, and the Thurber Spring Lecture Series.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Gurwitch co-wrote two episodes of the 1980s children's animated series ThunderCats.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/16/533216570/annabelle-gurwitch-dont-treat-me-like-family|title = Annabelle Gurwitch: 'Don't Treat Me Like Family'| website=NPR.org }} Gurwitch and Paul Gilmartin were the original hosts of the TBS show Dinner and a Movie, which combined cooking instruction with the viewing of a feature film. Gurwitch served as co-host for six years, departing in 2002.

In 1996, she appeared in Encino Woman, a TV movie sequel to 1992's Encino Man.{{cite news |last1=Cummings |first1=Sue |title=Encino Woman |url=https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/encino-woman-1200445609/ |access-date=8 September 2024 |work=Variety |date=17 April 1996}}

Other television hosting work included stints on Not Necessarily the News, Syfy's The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael, VH1's Best Of..., series, Style Network's You're Invited, and Dot Comedy. She was the host of Wa$ted! on Planet Green for three seasons.{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120605848597453427|title=Will 'Bright Green' Bring Discovery The Long Green?|last=Schechner|first=Sam|work=WSJ|access-date=2018-01-23|language=en-US}}

Gurwitch has appeared on TV series including The Equalizer, Miami Vice, Dexter, The Cleaner, Medium, State of Mind, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, Seinfeld and Boston Legal.

In 2002 Gurwitch appeared as the host of Meow TV, along with her cat Stinky, a show distributed on CD inside bags of Meow Mix. Meow TV presented itself as "Television By Cats, For Cats."{{cite news |title=CNN.com - 'Meow TV' to premiere this month - May. 21, 2003 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/21/offbeat.meow.tv/index.html |access-date=5 May 2021 |work=CNN |date=21 May 2003}}

In 2007 Gurwitch wrote, produced, directed, and appeared in the documentary film Fired!.{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}} It documents the experiences of twenty-five people, including Gurwitch, who were fired from various jobs. They recount their firings through interviews, skits, comedy routines, and filmed excerpts from the previously produced stage play of the same title. David Cross, Jeff Garlin, Bob Odenkirk and Anne Meara were all featured in addition to UAW workers, former US Secretary of Labor Bob Reich, economist Ben Stein and many other job seekers. The film was played at the US Department of Labor and labor film festivals around the country including the DC Labor FilmFest.

Gurwitch's other films include Melvin Goes to Dinner, Pizza Man and The Shaggy Dog.{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}}

She is the author of five books, most recently, You're Leaving When? which was published in March 2021. The book comically details her awkward and chaotic encounters with an eccentric French boarder. These encounters came after her decision to start renting bedrooms in her house to boarders to avoid having to sell it after her divorce.{{cite news |last1=del Barco |first1=Mandalit |title=Annabelle Gurwitch's Mid-Life Maelstrom: Divorce, Cancer, 'Downward Mobility' |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/03/07/974229491/annabelle-gurwitchs-mid-life-maelstrom-divorce-cancer-downward-mobility |access-date=5 May 2021 |work=NPR.org |date=7 March 2021 |language=en}}

In April 2017, Gurwitch published Wherever You Go, There They Are: Stories About My Family You Might Relate To.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2017/06/16/533216570/annabelle-gurwitch-dont-treat-me-like-family|title=Annabelle Gurwitch: 'Don't Treat Me Like Family'|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-04-29|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=http://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/they-are-family/|title=Annabelle Gurwitch Explores Family Ties|work=Atlanta Jewish Times|access-date=2018-04-29|language=en-US}}{{cite news |last1=Gurwitch |first1=Annabelle |title=Wherever You Go, There They Are |url=https://www.oprah.com/book/may-2017-reading-room-wherever-you-go-there-they-are?editors_pick_id=68513 |access-date=5 May 2021 |work=Oprah.com |date=20 April 2017}}

I See You Made an Effort, published in 2014,{{Cite news|url=https://www.prevention.com/mind-body/annabelle-gurwitch-aging-vengeance|title=Enough With The "Aging Gracefully" Idea. It's All About "Aging With A Vengeance."|date=2014-09-11|work=Prevention|access-date=2018-01-23|language=en}} was a New York Times bestseller{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/fashion/Annabelle-Gurwitch-New-Book-Aging.html|title=Annabelle Gurwitch's New Book Asks Questions About Aging|last=Newman|first=Judith|date=2014-03-21|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-01-23|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing finalist. The year Gurwitch was a finalist for the Thurber Prize marked the first time the three finalists were all female.{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/08/25/thurber-prize-for-american-humor-announces-first-all-female-trio-of-finalists/|title=Thurber Prize for American Humor Announces First All-Female Trio of Finalists|last=Armao|first=Mark|date=August 25, 2015|website=Wall Street Journal}} Gurwitch adapted this book as a solo show, first produced at the Skylight Theater{{Cite web|url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/av/annabelle-gurwitchs-i-see-you-made-an-effort-adapted-for-theater/#!|title=Annabelle Gurwitch's "I See You Made an Effort" Adapted for Theater|last=AV|first=LARB|date=May 26, 2015|website=Los Angeles Review of Books}} and then toured nationally in 2017. Included in this book is Autumn Leaves, a 2012 ebook Gurwitch published with Zola Books that recounts an erotic fantasy she once had about one of the staff members at an Apple Genius Bar.{{cite web|url=http://www.web2carz.com/people/who-you-should-know/1583/50-shades-of-annabelle |title=50 Shades of Annabelle |publisher=Web2Carz |year=2012 |accessdate=September 25, 2013}}

Gurwitch once worked for Woody Allen, but was fired during an encounter in which he said that she looked "retarded" among other insults. In 2006 she published a book of essays inspired by that dismissal called Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed which subsequently became the Fired! documentary film.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Gurwitch and then-husband Jeff Kahn signed a six-figure deal with Crown to publish a memoir called You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up. The two adapted the book into a theatrical production, in association with Off-Broadway Booking.

Her essays and satire have been published in The New Yorker,{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/16/please-unsubscribe|title=Please Unsubscribe|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=November 16, 2015|magazine=The New Yorker}} The New York Times,{{Cite web|url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/10/death-without-dignity/?mtrref=www.google.com&assetType=opinion&mtrref=opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com&gwh=0D65DA8114702A26968665BD715D5FED&gwt=pay&assetType=opinion|title=Death Without Dignity|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=June 10, 2015|website=New York Times}} Wall Street Journal,{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-wonder-woman-lets-cast-more-women-in-bit-parts-too-1500048119?mod=e2twl|title=After 'Wonder Woman,' Let's Cast More Women in Bit Parts Too|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=June 14, 2017|website=Wall Street Journal}} The Los Angeles Times,{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-annabelle-gurwitch-20170406-story.html|title=Annabelle Gurwitch on family — the one you're born with, and the one on your book cover|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=April 12, 2017|newspaper=LA Times}} McSweeney's,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/book-publicity-in-the-age-of-trump|title=Book Publicity in the Age of Trump|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=April 21, 2017|website=McSweeney's Internet Tendency}} O Magazine,{{Cite web|url=http://www.oprah.com/inspiration/annabelle-gurwitch-how-a-few-questions-returned-my-mother-to-me|title=The Conversation You Need to Have with Anyone You Love|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=May 3, 2016|website=Oprah}} among other publications. She was a regular commentator for NPR's All Things Considered.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/05/31/317035492/in-hollywood-50-is-the-new-80-what-happens-when-it-girls-get-old|title=In Hollywood, 50 Is The New 80: What Happens When 'It Girls' Get Old|last=Del Barco|first=Mandalit|date=March 31, 2014|website=NPR}} She frequently makes appearances on NPR including on The Moth,{{Cite web|url=https://themoth.org/stories/members-of-the-council|title=Members of the Council|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=Jul 25, 2017|website=themoth.org}} Ask Me Another{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/ask-me-another/531091193/annabelle-gurwitch-dont-treat-me-like-family|title=Don't Treat Me Like Family|last=Gurwitch|first=Annabelle|date=June 16, 2017|website=npr.org}} and Marketplace.{{Cite web|url=https://www.marketplace.org/2017/05/15/economy/make-me-smart-kai-and-molly/blog-annabelle-gurwitch-afraid-gig-economy|title=Annabelle Gurwitch is afraid of the gig economy|last=Ryssdal|first=Kai|date=May 15, 2017|website=marketplace.org}}

Gurwitch is a contributing writer for NPR's Day to Day, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Nation, and she has written for Child, Publishers Weekly, Marie Claire, More, Men's Health, Glamour, Cooking Light, Premiere, Penthouse and Los Angeles.

Her essays have appeared in two anthologies: Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Humiliation, Heartbreak, and Overcoming It AllBuchanan, Andrea. Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Humiliation, Heartbreak, and Overcoming It All Simon Spotlight Entertainment; 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-4169-4876-6}} and Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped, and Canceled.Friedman, Jon. Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped, and Canceled Villard; 2009. {{ISBN|978-0-345-50096-0}}

Gurwitch has one child{{cite web |title=The Worst of Times w/ Annabelle Gurwitch |url=https://getpodcast.com/podcast/go-ask-ali/the-worst-of-times-w-annabelle-gurwitch_86e4770a04 |publisher=Go Ask Ali |access-date=30 March 2021}} and lives in Los Angeles.{{Citation |title=Seriously Entertaining: Annabelle Gurwitch on "Long, Strange Trip" | date=March 23, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V1x6XuXNTk |access-date=2023-07-06 |language=en}} She has written and given talks on how her southern Jewish roots have influenced her family life.{{Cite news|url=https://www.jweekly.com/2017/04/10/shalom-yall-bittersweet-family-tales-from-the-deep-south/|title=Shalom y'all: Bittersweet family tales from the Deep South|last=NAGLER MILLER|first=Robert|date=April 10, 2017|newspaper=J}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/245074/unorthodox-episode-105-wrestling-jerusalem-film-annabelle-gurwitch|title=We Are Family|website=Unorthodox}}{{Cite web|url=https://patch.com/connecticut/greenwich/annabelle-gurwitch-make-effort-greenwich-0|title=Annabelle Gurwitch to Make an Effort in Greenwich|last=UJA|first=JCC Greenwich|date=November 13, 2014|website=Greenwich Patch}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.charlottejewishnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/03-Mar-2015-WEB.pdf|title=17th Annual Spring Lecture Featuring Annabelle Gurwitch|date=March 2015|website=The Charlotte Jewish News|access-date=January 15, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180116081323/http://www.charlottejewishnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/03-Mar-2015-WEB.pdf|url-status=dead}} On November 14, 2020, The New York Times published her opinion piece "The Coronavirus Saved My Life", describing how she went in for a Covid-19 test and came out with a stage 4 metastatic lung cancer diagnosis.[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/14/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-testing-cancer.html The Coronavirus Saved My Life] New York Times. retrieved November 14, 2020

• Fired! : tales of the canned, canceled, downsized and dismissed, New York: Touchstone, 2006. {{ISBN|9780743289856}}, {{OCLC|974417816}}
• You say tomato, I say shut up : a love story, New York: Crown Publishers, 2010. {{ISBN|9780307463777}}, {{OCLC|419797211}}
• I see you made an effort : compliments, indignities, and survival stories from the edge of 50, New York : Blue Rider Press, 2014. {{ISBN|9780399166181}}, {{OCLC|952009094}}
• Wherever You Go, There They Are: stories about my family you might relate to. Penguin Books, 2018. {{ISBN|9780399574894}}, {{OCLC|994426415}}
• You're Leaving When?: Adventures in Downward Mobility, Counterpoint Press, 2021. {{ISBN|9781640094475}}

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