Susie Essman

Susan "Susie" Essman (born May 31, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, television producer, and voice artist. She is best known for her role as Susie Greene on the HBO television sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm. She is also known for her portrayal of "Mittens" in Bolt. She makes recurring appearances at Levity Live, a comedy club at the Palisades Center in West Nyack, New York. --- Essman was born in 1955 and was raised in the middle-class New York City suburb of Mount Vernon. Her father, Leonard Essman, was an internist; he died in 2001. Her mother, Zora, taught Russian at Sarah Lawrence College. Essman is Jewish. She received her bachelor's degree from SUNY Purchase College. Essman has been traveling and appearing at clubs throughout the country for more than two decades. Her first half-hour special appeared on Comedy Central in 1992; as much of her comedy draws from her ethnic background, she has been featured in such documentaries as, "Heroes of Jewish Comedy" and "A History of Jewish Comedy". Essman is best known for her role as Susie Greene, the wife of Jeff Greene (portrayed by Jeff Garlin), on the HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm. Essman told the New York Times that by the show's third season, she could not "walk down the street anymore without people stopping her and begging her to say [her character's catchphrase] 'You fat fuck.'" In 2007, Slate named Essman's character one of the best on television, and a reason the publication looked forward to the return of the show. --- Essman does not eat meat—"Not a moral thing," she explains, but "aesthetic"; chicken "grosses me out"—and "lives on sushi". She married Jim Harder, a commercial real estate broker, in September 2008. She owns a Shih Tzu named Sumo.