Milana Vayntrub was an Uzbek-American actress who broke out in 2017 when she joined the cast of "Marvel's New Warriors" (Freeform, 2018- ) as Squirrel Girl. Vayntrub, who was raised Jewish, was born in the former Soviet Union, and fled the country with her parents at age 3 to avoid religious persecution. Upon moving to America in 1989 her family settled in West Hollywood, California. Vayntrub attended Beverly Hills high school for two years before dropping out. She earned her GED and went on to attend the University of California, San Diego, where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Communications. Having been bit by the performing bug, Vayntrub began taking improvisational comedy classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Hollywood. Having learned the time-honored tradition of improvisational comedy, Vayntrub began appearing in a number of comedy short films with her friends, including "6 Women" (2010), "I Dunno" (2012), and "Give up the Ghost" (2012). In 2014 she appeared in two episodes of the HBO comedy "Silicon Valley" (HBO, 2014- ), and went on to land recurring TV roles on "Other Space" (Yahoo, 2015), and "This Is Us" (NBC, 2016- ). In addition to her work on TV, Vayntrub also became known for her recurring part on a series of popular AT&T commercials. With her acting career on the rise, Vayntrub was cast as the cult favorite Marvel superhero Squirrel Girl on the Freeform series "Marvel's New Warriors," which premiered on the cable network in early 2018.