Mageina Tovah is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress. She is best known for her roles as Glynis Figliola in the television series Joan of Arcadia

Joan of Arcadia

Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi , who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...

and as Ursula Ditkovich in the Spider-Man films.

Early life

Tovah was born Mageina Begtrup in Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu, Hawaii

Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...

, where her father was a US Army psychiatrist in the Green Berets, and her mother was an Army physical therapist. Her family later settled in Clarksville, Tennessee

Clarksville, Tennessee

Clarksville is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Tennessee, United States, and the fifth largest city in the state. The population was 132,929 in 2010 United States Census...

 and then moved to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. Mageina has a sister, Rebecca Begtrup, who is a pediatrician and psychiatrist in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mageina attended Martin Luther King Junior Magnet High School

Martin Luther King Magnet at Pearl High School

Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet for Health Sciences and Engineering at Pearl High School is a public high school located in Nashville, Tennessee....

 in Nashville, Tennessee. She skipped a year of high school, taking both her Junior year of honors English and her Senior year of AP English at the same time. She graduated from high school at the age of 16. For college, Mageina started at The California Institute of the Arts, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the USC

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 in three and a half years. She later moved to New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

.

Career

As well as her recurring role on Joan of Arcadia, Tovah's television work include guest roles on a number of TV shows. These include: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, NYPD Blue

NYPD Blue

NYPD Blue is an American television police drama set in New York City, exploring the internal and external struggles of the fictional 15th precinct of Manhattan...

, Six Feet Under, The Shield

The Shield

The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...

, Cold Case, Crossing Jordan

Crossing Jordan

Crossing Jordan is an American television crime/drama series that aired on NBC from September 24, 2001 to May 16, 2007. It stars Jill Hennessy as Jordan Cavanaugh, M.D., a crime-solving forensic pathologist employed in the Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Medical Examiner's Office...

and Private Practice. Tovah's feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 work includes roles in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American animated film based on the popular Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The film stars the voices of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Doug Lawrence, Scarlett Johansson, Alec Baldwin, Jeffrey Tambor, and...

, Dark Heart, Failure to Launch

Failure to Launch

Failure to Launch is a 2006 American romantic comedy film. In the movie a 35-year-old man lives in the home of his parents and shows no interest in leaving the comfortable life his parents, especially his mother, have made for him there.-Plot:...

, Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas

Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas

Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas is a 2006 film directed by Scott Lew, starring Patrick Fugit and Olivia Wilde.-Plot:Bickford Shmeckler is a lonely college student who keeps a journal of his philosophical ideas and theories. One night, during a party, his book is stolen by an inebriated Sarah Witt ...

and a recurring role as Ursula Ditkovich in the films Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Sam Raimi, written by Alvin Sargent and developed by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, and Michael Chabon. It is the second film in the Spider-Man film franchise based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...

and Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3

Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. It is the third film in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy based on the fictional Marvel Comics character Spider-Man...

.

Tovah also made a memorable appearance in the Jonas Åkerlund

Jonas Åkerlund

Jonas Åkerlund is a Swedish film and music video director, and drummer. He is best known for directing music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films...

-directed music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

's hit song "Beautiful

Beautiful (Christina Aguilera song)

"Beautiful" is a song written by Linda Perry and recorded by American singer Christina Aguilera for Aguilera's fourth studio album, Stripped...

".

Filmography

Selected Mageina Tovah film and TV show credits:
Acting Credits

2011

Breakout Kings

Jill Kincaid

2011

Neighbors - Sara Jerritt

2010

Chase

-

2009

The Factory - Brittany

2009

Lie to Me - Natalie

2009

Southland - Misty

2009

Hung - Christina

2008

The Mentalist - Constance

2008

Dream from Leaving

-

2008

The Walking Wounded - Sadie

2007

Live! -Kelly

2007

Spider-Man 3 -Ursula

2007

Private Practice - Rebecca Hobart

2006

Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas - Sam

2006

Dark Heart - Jessica

2006

Failure to Launch -Barista

2006

In from the Night -Priscilla Miller

2006

Standoff -Gwen Keegan

2005

Waterborne -Lillian

2005

Bones -Madame Nina

2004

Sleepover - Girl on Phone

2004

Spider-Man 2 -Ursula

2004

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie -Usher

2004

Y.M.I. -Nevermore

2004

Do Geese See God? -Rose Vendor

2003

The Pool at Maddy Breaker's -Louise

2003

Cold Case -Crystal Eckersdorf

2003

Joan of Arcadia -Glynis Figliola

2003

Hope Abandoned -Maid

2002

Reflections of Evil

-

2002

Half & Half -Ginny

2002

The Shield -Farrah

2002

Dine & Shine

-

2001

Crossing Jordan -Laura Bennett

2001

Six Feet Under -Pink-Haired Girl

2001

The Guardian -Debbie

2000

Boston Public

-

2000

Strong Medicine -Trinity

2000

Virus Man -Young Girl

1997

Buffy the Vampire Slayer -Jonesing Girl

1993

NYPD Blue -Anne Knepper

External links