Kira Soltanovich

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Born Name:  Kira Soltanovich

Born Date:  September 15, 1973

Born Place:  Lviv, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union)

Died Date: 

Died Place: 

Occupations:  Stand-up comedian, writer, actress

Brief Biography:  Kira Soltanovich is best known for her nine-year run as the voice of the "Phony Photo Booth" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She immigrated to the United States with her parents when she was two years old and grew up in San Francisco. She is highly regarded in the comedy community for her sharp, fearless crowd-work abilities and high-energy storytelling.

Early Life and Education:
Immigrant Roots: Her family left the USSR in the mid-1970s, a background that heavily influences her sharp, immigrant-perspective humor.
San Francisco Upbringing: She developed her comedic chops throughout grade school and high school in the Bay Area.
Theater Degree: She graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting and Writing before moving to Los Angeles to pursue stand-up full-time.

Career Highlights:
The Tonight Show: She served as a long-time correspondent and sketch player for Jay Leno, later joining him as a writer and announcer on FOX's You Bet Your Life.
Television Series: Soltanovich was a series regular for four seasons on Oxygen's hidden-camera prank show Girls Behaving Badly. She also co-hosted the game show Winsanity alongside Donald Faison.
Comedy Specials: She has a half-hour special called Here Comes Trouble on Showtime and a self-produced one-hour special on Amazon called You Did This To Me. Notably, she shot her Amazon special while seven months pregnant, making her one of the first comedians to do so.
Writing Credits: An accomplished joke writer, she has written for legendary comic Joan Rivers, Scott Baio, and Disney projects featuring Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber.

Podcasts:
Her experiences with motherhood inspired The Kira Soltanovich Show, a podcast where she interviews fellow professional comedians about the chaotic intersection of comedy and parenting.