We all know Lily from AT&T, but we want you to know that there is more to her than meets the eye! Behind that perky personality and sweet smile, there is a wonderful woman who will surprise you. After she appeared in commercials, she enjoyed a great TV career. When she is not busy acting or making us laugh, she spends her time on causes she is passionate about that. Isn’t it great to hear that she is not afraid to use her voice to talk about important issues? Read on to learn more about the actress who brought Lily to life!
Here Is The Truth About The Actress Who Plays Lily In AT&T Commercials
The activist-comedian Milana Vayntrub once said, “People are really waking up to global responsibility, especially our generation, and I think the internet has a big part in it. I think it’s maybe just a time of so much strife in the world that it’s hard to ignore. Then there are brilliant comedians that make it something digestible but also infuriating.” While a lot of people know her from those AT&T ads, the truth is that she is a super fascinating woman. You might know her as Lily, but the character pales in comparison against the actress who brought her to life!
Trying Her Hand At Modeling
Most Americans will be familiar with Lily, the hilarious and helpful AT&T employee. What makes Milana Vayntrub so special is that people did not forget her as soon as the commercial break came to an end. We are not surprised to hear that she has modeled in the past. After all, it was inevitable when someone that good-looking lives in Los Angeles! While she carries an air of innocence, the truth is that she is not the most chaste person on the planet. For one thing, she worked on a web series for CollegeHumor from 2011 to 2014! You will see her in fifteen episodes of the series in question.
Trying Her Hand At Modeling
She Had A Cameo In Californication
In 2014, Milana Vayntrub showed up in an episode of Californication for a cameo. The hit TV show ran from 2007 to 2014 and starred David Duchovny, who was best known for X-Files. Let us just say that it was far from wholesome. The actress only had a minor role, but she once said that she had a blast during her time on the set. According to her, it was a lot of fun to work with the actor!
She Had A Cameo In Californication
Her First Small Screen Role
That was not her first time on TV either. The truth was that her small screen debut happened all the way back in the ‘90s. She played a character by the name of Tatiana for three episodes of ER in 1995. It might not have been a big role, but it was enough to get people to pay attention to her. Acting has always been her passion! In 1993, she started working on TV commercials. However, she did not get her big break so easily. At the time, her parents made little Milana work to help support the family.
Her Current Net Worth
Right now, Milana Vayntrub has a fortune of $500,000 to her name. The actress has only recently landed big TV roles. This is the reason she does not have the highest net worth in the industry just yet. We are sure that this figure is only going to go higher in the future. With her skills, it is only a matter of time!
Her Current Net Worth
She Had A Stint On Silicon Valley Too
Aside from the aforementioned roles, Milana Vayntrub also worked on Silicon Valley. The show followed a group launching a new startup in Silicon Valley. She played a character called Tara from 2014 to 2016. This was a rather small role, but her impeccable comedic timing made a lot of viewers laugh during her tenure on the show. While the show is best known for its humor and satire, it tackles serious themes too. You should check it out if you have not seen it yet!
She Had A Stint On Silicon Valley Too
Big Fan Of Dogs
Milana Vayntrub is many things, and an animal lover is just one of them. Her motto is “All animals all the time.” This photo shows her spending some time with her furry pals. You are going to see lots of photos of animals on her social media pages. In fact, her Instagram photos often show her with department canines and ‘modeling’ dogs. That might just be the cutest thing that we have ever heard!
Big Fan Of Dogs
How She Became Lily Adams
Milana Vayntrub only really shot to stardom after she landed the role of Lily Adams. In 2013, she got her big break by starring in the AT&T ad! Once the commercial came out, viewers wanted to see more of her after watching the funny yet useless sales associate. This turned out to be a good marketing move for AT&T. Aside from that, the actress also benefited because she piqued the attention of the public!
How She Became Lily Adams
Playing The Role
Let us hear it from Hank Perlman, who directed Hungry Man. “I think Milana’s Lily resonates with audiences because she’s a multi-dimensional character in a way that’s rare for commercials,” he said. The director has worked on most of the commercials of the carrier! He also shared, “We try as hard as we can not only to make her funny but to make her as strong, smart, and human as possible. And hopefully, all of that makes her as relatable as a character in a 30-second commercial can be.”
Playing The Role
Moving To The United States
Milana Aleksandrovna Vayntrub was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on March 8, 1987. At the time, the country had been under the Soviet Union. The family was Jewish, and her parents were scared that they would be persecuted for this. This was why they left Tashkent when Milana was only three years old. They first headed to Austria, went to Italy, and waited there for permission to go to the United States. In 1990, the Vayntrub family arrived in West Hollywood.
Moving To The United States
Her Parents Are Role Models
What was it like when they finally reached the United States? “Once here, my parents worked their butts off to give me a good education and upbringing…They did a great job,” Milana said. Her mother and father were great role models and taught her the value of hard work. After all, that was how they gave her a respectable yet fulfilling life! It must have helped her craft her own path down the line.
Her Parents Are Role Models
Her Younger Sister
Milana is not the only child since she has a little sister! They might have a rather big age difference, but this has not stopped her from feeling proud of her sister. She even talked about her sibling on Instagram. “My little sister graduated! Glad she finally got a hat to cover her enormous brain,” said the caption. It is clear that she puts her family at the top of her priority list!
Her Younger Sister
Her Excellent Sense Of Humor
Is it really shocking to find out that she has a good sense of humor? She is a joker who enjoys making fun of both herself and others. At the moment, she is a TV star and standup comedian. We are not going to be shocked if she appears on the big screen in the near future either. With her humor and good comedic timing, she can connect with others very well. We have already seen what she can do in the AT&T ads!
Her Excellent Sense Of Humor
Her Radio Work
If you ask us, it is admirable that she uses her platform to raise awareness about various causes. For one thing, she is very passionate when it comes to the refugee crisis. This lovely woman is passionate about extending help to people in need! AT&T has even supported her in this: “Milana’s passion for her cause is absolutely remarkable. We respect Milana’s personal interests outside of her role in our ads.”
Her Radio Work
Not Too Concerned About Her Looks
Milana has a stunning figure, so it is unbelievable to hear that she does not maintain it in any special way. She has said that she is happy with how she looks. You are not going to find her promoting any product that claims to improve your looks! In fact, she has never done anything like that in the past. It seems to us that she just wants to focus on comedy and activism.
Not Too Concerned About Her Looks
Working On ‘Other Space’
In 2015, Milana landed a main role in a Yahoo! Screen project called Other Space. It follows a team of space explorers exploring a new universe. Her character goes by the name Tina Shukshin. To no one’s surprise, she is great at providing comic relief when she appears on the screen! It makes for a short watch since it only has one season and eight episodes. You have no excuse not to watch it.
Working On ‘Other Space’
Joining The Cast Of ‘This Is Us’
She also snagged a role in a drama called This Is Us. The TV show is popular among TV viewers and made the public pay even more attention to her. In 2016, she was in the show in the role of Sloane Sandburg. She was the love interest of one of the main characters. She was in the show for a total of eight episodes!
Joining The Cast Of ‘This Is Us’
How The Family Migrated
Milana was no more than three years old when the Vayntrub family got to the United States. Her parents made the decision to leave Uzbekistan since the state had been persecuting Jewish people back then. It was difficult for them to flee Eastern Europe, but they eventually made their way to America. The dissolution of the Soviet Union took place in 1991, not long after they left.
How The Family Migrated
Playing Denise In ‘Roommates Enemies’
Milana Vantrub appeared in a TV show known as Roommates Enemies from 2012 to 2013. For three episodes, she brought a character called Denise to life. Back then, she was starting to make a name for herself in Hollywood. While she is not the most famous Hollywood star just yet, it is still worth noting that she has enjoyed a steady stream of work. She is doing better than most aspiring actresses!
Playing Denise In ‘Roommates Enemies’
She Was In ‘Lizzie McGuire’ As Well
Check out this photo of Milana when she was in a Disney show called Lizzie McGuire. The actress portrayed a dancer for three episodes of the show from 2001 to 2002. That was the third time that she appeared on the TV screen. She was in Days of Our Lives in 1997 before that. These bit parts helped her build an acting portfolio from the ground up.
She Was In ‘Lizzie McGuire’ As Well
Starring In ‘All Nighter’
You have likely noticed how she has appeared on the small screen a fair number of times in the past. In 2017, she got a film role at long last! She worked on a film called All Nighter. It tells the story of an estranged man paying his daughter in Los Angeles a visit, only to see that she has gone missing!
Starring In ‘All Nighter’
Bringing Squirrel Girl To Life
But what has she been up to as of late? Just so you know, the star was in a TV show called Marvel’s New Warriors. It came out in 2018 and follows the story of six young people with special powers. The characters try to use it to improve the world even though their skills are not quite as impressive as those possessed by the Avengers. It also talks a lot about helping others and dealing with growing pains!
Bringing Squirrel Girl To Life
Supporting Refugees
Her family got help from an organization when they first arrived in the United States. “We had a lot of help when we got to America. One of the organizations that helped us, they had a record of all the money they spent on us for our health care bills and education programs, and so my favorite thing that I’ve done is just pay them back because they invested in us. It’s my karmic duty to help them because we’ve been helped so much,” Milana said. We are glad to see that she has not forgotten her roots!
Supporting Refugees
Syrian Refugee Crisis
When Milana and her dad had been vacationing in Greece, she went to Lesbos. This is the island that a lot of Syrian refugees use as an entry point to Europe. The actress made it her goal to offer them support! She was a former refugee herself, so it was quite personal to her. Take a look at this photo, which shows Milana with a Syrian family. At the time, they were headed to a registration camp.
Syrian Refugee Crisis
Creative Collaboration Is The Best
She is a comedian and likes to discuss her personal life when she goes on the stage. What can we expect from her in the future? “I would love to keep directing commercials, I love it so much, I love working with brands and ad agencies and old white men who have been doing this for 60 years. I love creating challenging and opposing ideas and using that to make something bigger and better than just my brain, or just their brain could have come up with. The creative collaboration is my favorite thing,” she said.
Creative Collaboration Is The Best
She Took An Unusual Path
Milana is a pretty woman with great comedic timing, but that is not all. Did you know that she got her communications degree from the University of California in San Diego? She also went to college early after dropping out of high school and getting her GED at only 16 years old! Just so you know, she put her degree to use. In fact, she launched her own organization with what she learned from her college days.
She Took An Unusual Path
A Subreddit About Her
Can you believe that there is a subreddit dedicated to her? It should not come as a shock that so many people have a fascination with her. With her sharp wit, good looks, and comedic timing, it was a given! A lot of people think of her as a real and relatable figure, which makes her stand out from other celebs.
A Subreddit About Her
Her Parents Provided For Her
Milana talked about her childhood in an interview with InStyle magazine. “My parents worked their butts off to afford private school, summer camp, and gymnastics classes (which I’m pretty sure is a prerequisite for all Russian kids) so that I could take part in everything this Promised Land had to offer,” she shared. Isn’t it nice to see that she does not take their hard work for granted?
Her Parents Provided For Her
She Felt Like An Outsider
Still, it was not exactly easy for her. She said, “Despite all their love and hard work, as a kid, I remember feeling as though I couldn’t culturally catch up to my peers. Especially when it came to beach towels—these really stupid, but really cool, but actually really stupid towels. All my classmates owned these colorful beach towels with Disney characters on them. I desperately wanted one, but instead, I had this orange and white patterned thing, a glorified Slavic doily—that my parents brought with them from Uzbekistan. To me, it was a smoke signal alerting all potential friends that I was NOT. FROM. HERE.”
She Felt Like An Outsider
Taking Pride In Her Heritage
This was the visa that Milana and her mother used when they first headed to the United States. In those days, she was still far too young to get her own visa and had to come with her mother. She was still very young and has no recollections of her home country. We are glad that her parents made sure to share their culture with their children! Apparently, they spoke and continue to speak Russian in their home.
Taking Pride In Her Heritage
Her Own Organization
She is the co-founder of #CantDoNothing. The organization works to spread awareness and raise funds for refugees in various parts of the world. “It is important for us to emphasize not just the problem, but all the things we can do to end it,” she said. “We hope everyone will post about #CantDoNothing on their social media, and challenge three friends to participate by tagging them. I really believe we all have to power to be influencers, to use our voice and create a ripple effect of Good.”
Her Own Organization
Flashing The Whole World
She is clearly serious about these advocacies and causes, but she makes sure to have fun in her free time too! Milana likes to spend time with her pals and does fun things with them. It is clear that she is capable of letting go when she wants to. There was a time when she flashed people from the comfort of her hotel room. We doubt that anyone saw her, but we love that she was not scared to do such a thing.
Flashing The Whole World
Crushing On George Clooney
She was allegedly thrilled to work on the same set as George Clooney when she was on ER. “It was also season one with George Clooney, and he was amazing. I just kept trying to invite him over. He was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come over for a playdate.’ I was like, ‘Mom! Can you cook something, so we have a reason for him to come over?’ My mom and I were both just goo-goo-gaga over him,” said the actress.
Crushing On George Clooney
How She Knew She Was Funny
Esquire talked to her as well! This was what she said about finding out that she was funny and realizing what she could do with it: “Yes. Comedy came early. I knew when I was a kid that I was silly, and I knew that I liked people who were funny, but I don’t think I knew I was funny. I didn’t really think about it.”
How She Knew She Was Funny
She Knows Lily Was Her Big Break
When she spoke to Esquire, Milana shared that she was aware that most people knew her from her commercials and YouTube videos. She said, “Usually my AT&T commercials or my YouTube videos. Sometimes they’ll get introduced to me from the commercials, and they’ll go look me up and find my YouTube videos. Or they’ve been a fan for a while, and they’re really supportive of the commercials.”
She Knows Lily Was Her Big Break
On Playing Sloane
But what did she have to say about her character in This Is Us? Milana revealed, “Sloane is [really good at] making her dreams come true. Sure, she’s hit some road bumps and let her impulses distract her, but we’ve all been there. The Christmas/Hanukkah episode meant a lot to me for so many reasons. When I was a kid, I learned about Passover from a cartoon called Rugrats, and it really stuck with me. I was excited to potentially teach people the story of Hanukkah. I’ve actually had a teacher tweet at me saying she’s using the scene in her classroom.”
On Playing Sloane
‘Family Guy’ Mentioned Her
You might be surprised to hear how big those AT&T commercials were. A good indicator of this was a reference to her in Family Guy. There was a scene in which Peter wants to track down pretty commercial stars. After asking Lois for his list of these people, she tells him to go and check the fridge!
‘Family Guy’ Mentioned Her
First Time On TV
Before her family arrived in the United States, they had to make a few detours. First, the family went to Austria. After that, they got to Italy and had no choice but to wait for their visas to go to the United States. Back then, the Vayntrub family was interviewed by the news about where they were from and what they were going to do next. Here is a photo of Milana and her father during that interview!
First Time On TV
His Little Girl
It turns out that Milana and her parents have been close since she was a little girl. She is especially close to her dad! They even took a holiday together, and this ended up becoming a pivotal moment for her. That was the time she got to speak to Syrian refugees and learn about their struggles.
His Little Girl
Using Her Social Media Accounts
By now, you must know that she is a hilarious person. However, she knows how to take things seriously when she has to. This is the case with her organization. You will not only see things about comedy and acting on her Twitter page! After all, she likes to post videos and articles about her organization too. Milana is aware that social media can be used for good, so she uses it to talk about #CantDoNothing.
Using Her Social Media Accounts
Her Presence On Social Media
Let us see what Milana has to say about promoting her cause through social media. “I took to social media to spread the Can’t Do Nothing word, because the truth is if I see a burger, I want a burger. If I see a kitten, I want to pet a kitten. My hope is that if you see someone doing good, you might want to do some good, too. And if we inspire each other, we can create a ripple effect of good,” she once said.
Her Presence On Social Media
Her Most Recent Role
Milana was part of a small screen project called Marvel’s New Warriors. She was happy to get the opportunity to portray Squirrel Girl. The public seemed even more thrilled about it than she was. Little girls dressed up like this character. There were also men who did the same thing! Of course, folks who were at Comic-Con had been excited when Milana showed up for the Q&A portion.
Her Most Recent Role
Dropping Out Of High School
She is a bright girl, so you might be surprised to hear that she was a high school dropout. But why? She answered, “I wanted to be an artist. I loved painting, photo-editing, and graphic design. Like at a lot of public schools, the arts program was limited, but my local community college had amazing teachers with a boatload of creative courses. I didn’t like high school, I wanted more diversity, flexibility, and freedom. I got in trouble for talking, disagreeing with teachers, and cheating on tests pretty regularly. But the strongest driving force was probably that my boyfriend at the time had dropped out and I thought he was the smartest, coolest, hottest and best person in the world. So the most real answer is a boy.”
Dropping Out Of High School
How She Landed The Role Of Lily
In an interview, Milana got to talk about the way she snagged the role of Lily in the AT&T commercial. “Just your old run-of-the-mill audition. Nobody had any plans of it being a campaign. We shot the first one in November of 2013, and it started airing in December. When I was asked to come back to shoot more, I assumed it was my last time every time… but always hoped it wasn’t,” she explained.
How She Landed The Role Of Lily
Talking To Dopeness
Milana also had the chance to speak to Dopeness magazine. She did a photo shoot, which was as colorful as she is! The actress gave smart and funny answers to questions about her career and personal life. She said that it was not a straight path for her! “Yeah, I always thought I’d be an actress because I got into it really young. When I was five, I was already doing commercials, and by the twelve, I was awkward, chubby, and wanted out. The insecurities that come with being a teenager made me think that I wasn’t good enough or that a career in entertainment was unrealistic. It wasn’t until college that I rediscovered how much I loved acting, and it’s also how I made my closest friends,” Milana explained.
Talking To Dopeness
How The Audition Went
Did she have an easy time when she auditioned for the part of Lily? Apparently, the answer is not really. “Yeah. I was actually having a bad day. I don’t remember why, but I was crying earlier and then had to sit in a waiting room for another 45 minutes. Maybe I did well because I didn’t have any fucks to give? (laughs) But I improvised a lot, and eventually, they asked me to come back and read with a bunch of different guys to make sure we work well together. We made one commercial that did well, and they kept asking me to come back. It’s been one of the luckiest experiences of my life,” Milana said.
How The Audition Went
The Best AT&T Moment
If you ask her about her favorite scene in the commercials, it is the one with Gordon Ramsay in it! Let us hear the amazing story from Milana herself: “Working with Gordon Ramsey was hilarious. The guy had a really hard time not dropping F-bombs. This may be bad for his image, but he’s actually a lovely human being.” You might have a hard time believing that, but we are sure that she is telling the truth here.
The Best AT&T Moment
She Nearly Gave Up
Can you believe that she thought about forgetting acting when she was a teenager? At the time, she was frustrated by the fact that she kept getting small roles and not big ones. “I just kind of stopped for a while because I didn’t think I wanted to do it. I stopped around middle school and high school because I remember thinking, ‘I should probably focus on something more realistic.,’” she explained.
She Nearly Gave Up
Having Matt Damon On Her Show
Milana Vayntrub was the writer and star of a YouTube web series called Let’s Talk about Something More Interesting. Stevie Nelson, a friend of hers, accompanied her on the show. Each episode lasts 3 minutes long and features a guest star! Do you want to know what kind of people they got to feature on the show? Just check out this episode from 2013, which stars Matt Damon. Who would have thought that we could laugh that hard while listening to them talk about the global water crisis? She is truly one of a kind!
Having Matt Damon On Her Show