Wissam Shawkat

Shawkat (/ˈæliə ˈʃoʊkɑːt/ AL-ee-ə SHOH-kaht; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress and artist. She is known for her roles as Hannah Rayburn in State of Grace, Maeby Fünke in the Fox/Netflix television sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2006; 2013; 2018–2019), Gertie Michaels in the 2015 horror-comedy film The Final Girls, and Dory Sief in the TBS comedy series Search Party (2016–present). She also guest starred as Frances Cleveland, Virginia Hall, and Alexander Hamilton on Comedy Central's Drunk History.

Early life

Shawkat was born in Riverside, California, to Dina Shawkat (née Burke) and film producer Tony Shawkat. She grew up in Palm Springs. She has two brothers. Her father is an Arab, from Iraq. Her mother is of Norwegian, Irish, and Italian descent.

Career

From 2001–2004, Shawkat played Hannah in State of Grace. As Maeby Fünke, Shawkat was a regular cast member of Arrested Development for the entire run of the show from 2003 to 2018. The series received nearly universally positive reviews, with Shawkat's performance occasionally singled out for praise. Pop-culture commentator Brian M. Palmer remarked that she was "one of the brightest lights on a show populated solely by bright lights," and Scott Weinberg of eFilmCritic described her as "one funny young lady." In an interview with The A.V. Club in 2010, Shawkat remarked that many of her "formative moments" as an actress took place on the Arrested Development set: " [Show creator] Mitch Hurwitz was like a father figure to me. In a way, it was great to be around [the cast], because I feel that my understanding of comedy was able to grow really well during that time."

In 2009, Shawkat appeared in Whip It co-star Har Mar Superstar's music video for "Tall Boy", which also featured Eva Mendes and Eric Wareheim. In October 2009, it was announced that Shawkat, Har Mar, and Whip It co-star Ellen Page would produce and write a show for HBO called Stitch N' Bitch. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show "follows two painfully cool hipster girls as they relocate from Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood to Los Angeles' Silver Lake enclave in hopes of becoming artists—of any kind."

Shawkat, along with Arrested Development co-star and close friend Mae Whitman, sang guest vocals on a number of tracks from indie-punk band Fake Problems' 2010 album Real Ghosts Caught on Tape.

Six years after the series was canceled by Fox, filming for a revived fourth season of Arrested Development began on August 7, 2012 and Shawkat reprised her role as Maeby Fünke. The season consists of 15 new episodes which debuted at the same time on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Each episode focuses on one particular character, with Shawkat's Maeby, now a high school senior, featured in episode 12, "Señoritis" and appearing in several other episodes of the season.

In 2015, Shawkat guest-starred on Broad City, portraying the romantic interest and look-alike of Ilana Glazer's character for one episode; the two were only attracted to one another due to their similar appearances. Leading up to the episode, many had remarked on the physical similarities Shawkat and Glazer bear to one another.

Shawkat stars on the TBS comedy Search Party, which premiered on November 21, 2016 and had been renewed for season three as of 23 April 2018.

Shawkat plays the role of Tyler, a high-living American partier in Dublin, in the 2019 film Animals, directed by Australian director Sophie Hyde. It is a film made by women and starring women as lead characters, about a friendship which changes after Laura (played by Holliday Grainger) gets engaged to her teetotalling boyfriend. Shawkat said that she had never played a character like Tyler before, with her previous characters more relatable, and she was "excited to play someone who was so fun, but so damaged".

Personal life

When not acting, she likes to paint; she has participated in gallery shows in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Paris. She also likes to make music and sing in jazz bars. Ever since the filming of Whip It, she has been best friends with fellow actress Ellen Page. She is bisexual.

Shawkat is the granddaughter of actor Paul Burke.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Three Kings	Amir's Daughter
2005	Rebound	Amy
2005	Queen of Cactus Cove	Billie	Short film
2006	Deck the Halls	Madison Finch
2008	Bart Got a Room	Camille
2008	Prom Wars	Diana Riggs
2009	Amreeka	Salma Halaby
2009	Whip It	Pash Amini
2010	The Runaways	Robin
2011	The Lie	Seven
2011	Cedar Rapids	Bree
2011	The Oranges	Vanessa Walling
2011	Our Deal	Night Creeper	Short film
2012	Damsels in Distress	Mad Madge
2012	That's What She Said	Clementine
2012	Ruby Sparks	Mabel
2012	The Brass Teapot	Louise
2012	The Golden Age	Janice	Short film
2013	May in the Summer	Dalia
2013	The End of Love	Alia Shawkat	Cameo
2013	Setup, Punch	Dottie Kaufman	Short film
2013	The To Do List	Fiona Forster
2013	Bunion	Rachel	Short film
2013	Night Moves	Surprise
2013	The Moment	Jessie Jamil
2014	Life After Beth	Roz
2014	Wild Canaries	Jean
2015	The Final Girls	Gertie Michaels
2015	The Driftless Area	Carrie
2015	Nasty Baby	Wendy
2015	Adam Green's Aladdin	Emily
2015	Green Room	Sam
2015	Me Him Her	Laura
2016	The Intervention	Lola
2016	Pee-wee's Big Holiday	Bella
2016	Paint It Black	Josie
2016	20th Century Women	Trish
2017	Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town	Agatha Benson
2018	Blaze	Sybil Rosen
2018	Duck Butter	Naima	Also writer
2019	Animals	Tyler
2019	First Cow	Woman with Dog
2019	I Lost My Body	Gabrielle (voice)	English dub

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	JAG	Young Sarah MacKenzie	Episode: "Second Sight"
2000	The Trial of Old Drum	Dee	TV film
2002	State of Grace	Young Hannah Rayburn	Main cast; 40 episodes
2002	Presidio Med	Tara Wegman	Episode: "Good Question"
2003	Without a Trace	Siobhan Arintero	Episode: "Maple Street"
2003	Boomtown	Denise Stein	Episode: "Home Invasion"
2003–06; 2013; 2018–19	Arrested Development	Mae "Maeby" Fünke	Main cast; 79 episodes
2006	Veronica Mars	Stacy Wells	Episode: "The Rapes of Graff"
2006	Not Like Everyone Else	Brandi Blackbear	TV film
2007	The Business	Screenwriting Manicurist	2 episodes
2008	The Bad Mother's Handbook	Charlotte	TV film
2008	The Starter Wife	Robin	3 episodes
2010	The League	April	Episode: "The Expert Witness"
2013	'	Gail	Episode: "Burn After Killing"
2014	Drunk History	Frances Cleveland	Episode: "First Ladies"
2014	Robot Chicken	Minerva McGonagall (voice)	Episode: "G.I. Jogurt"
2014	Getting On	Colleen Hoover	4 episodes
2015	Adventure Time	Betsy Poundcake (voice)	Episode: "The Diary"
2015	Broad City	Adele	Episode: "Coat Check"
2015	Drunk History	Virginia Hall	Episode: "Spies"
2016	Portlandia	Mayor's Kid	Episode: "Shville"
2016	Animals.	Sharon (voice)	Episode: "Rats."
2016–17	Adventure Time	Charlie (voice)	2 episodes
2016–present	Search Party	Dory Sief	Main cast; 20 episodes
2016	Drunk History	Alexander Hamilton	Episode: "Hamilton"
2017–19	Transparent	Lila	8 episodes
2017	Big Mouth	Roland (voice)	Episode: "Pillow Talk"
2018–19	Summer Camp Island	Blanche/Cinnamon Raisin Toast (voice)	6 episodes
2019	Living with Yourself	Maia	Recurring role
2020	The Old Man	Angela	Upcoming series, main cast

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2002	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series – Leading Young Actress	State of Grace	Nominated
2004	TV Land Award	Future Classic	Arrested Development	Won
2005	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Supporting Young Actress		Won
	Screen Actors Guild Award	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2006		Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2014		Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series		Nominated
2017	Gracie Award	Actress in a Breakthrough Role	Search Party	Won

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