Josh Ostrovsky (born February 18, 1982) known commonly as The Fat Jew is an American Instagram celebrity, writer, actor, model, winemaker and entrepreneur.
Video Josh Ostrovsky
Early life and education
Ostrovsky was born and raised in New York City to a Russian-born radiologist father Paul, and nutritionist mother Rebecca. He grew up in Manhattan on the Upper West Side. He attended several schools as a child, starting at the Packer school in Brooklyn, and then he also attended Trevor Day School and the Dwight School, both on the Upper West Side. As a child actor, he appeared in several commercials, including one for Hershey's. After briefly attending New York University and Skidmore College, he enrolled in State University of New York at Albany, graduating in 2004 with a bachelor of arts in journalism.
Maps Josh Ostrovsky
Career
Music
While at SUNY Albany, Ostrovsky was a member of the rap trio Team Facelift, where he first started going by the name Fat Jew. He has said that the moniker was inspired by one of his counselors at Eisner Camp and by Screw magazine publisher Al Goldstein. Team Facelift formed in 2004, signed with Duck Down Records and released the album Mixed Emotions in 2006. They broke up in 2012.
In September 2016, Ostrovsky announced his Major Lazer tribute band Major Behavior, formed with DJ Maachew Bentley and billed as the world's first EDM tribute band. Major Behavior toured in 2016 as a part of Ostrovsky's IRL Tour. For the second IRL Tour in 2017, Major Behavior toured with Dillon Francis, RL Grime and Party Favor. Major Behavior was joined onstage by Major Lazer's Diplo during a May 2017 performance in Chicago.
Social media
In 2009, Ostrovsky started an Instagram account with the handle "TheFatJewish". The account went viral in 2013 after Ostrovsky posted a video parodying Soul Cycle, in which he led a spin class for homeless people on Citi Bikes parked on the street. In 2013, his Instagram account was suspended due to inappropriate content. In response, he organized a rally held outside Instagram's New York office. The protest was live-streamed on Vice.com, and his account was restored after 15 minutes. In 2014 The New York Times wrote that "he has parlayed a profane sense of humor that mocks the tropes of social-media culture and the hipsters who propagate them; an apparent affection for pot, pets and grandparents; and his own slovenly, outlandish physical appearance... into a huge web following." Time magazine named Ostrovsky to its 2015 list of The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet. As of September 2017, he has over 10 million followers on Instagram.
Ostrovsky has been hired to do product placement in his social media posts by companies including Burger King, Virgin Mobile, Apple, Budweiser and Stella Artois. In 2015 he signed on as a spokesperson for Seamless.
Film, television and commercials
In 2007, Ostrovsky was hired as an entertainment reporter interviewing celebrities on The Daily 10 on E! He later hosted the rap interview web series An Intimate Conversation. He sold a show parodying the Williamsburg, Brooklyn hipster culture to Amazon in 2013, which went unproduced. In 2014, he signed a deal to develop a scripted series for Comedy Central, based on his life. The deal was canceled in 2015. He signed with Creative Artists Agency in 2015, and that year began making regular appearances on Bloomberg News, starred in a Bud Light commercial that aired during Super Bowl XLIX, and appeared in the music video for DNCE's "Cake by the Ocean", as well as "Boys" by Charli XCX. He has appeared as himself in numerous reality television series, including 3AM and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. He has also played supporting roles in several films, including the upcoming teen comedy Status Update, starring Ross Lynch and Olivia Holt. He was featured in a 2017 ad campaign for Malibu Rum. He appears in the documentary The American Meme, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
Modeling and fashion
In June 2015, Ostrovsky signed a modeling contract with One Management. He claims to be the world's first male plus-size model. He appeared in a photo spread in Inked magazine's May 2015 issue, and was featured on the covers of the magazines treats! in 2016 and Nude in 2017.
At New York Fashion Week on September 16, 2015, his Dad Fashion Show debuted his collection of men's apparel.
Other ventures
Ostrovsky formerly hosted a radio show on Apple Music Beats 1 called "Money, Pizza, Respect". The book of the same name, a collection of personal essays and images, was published by Grand Central Publishing in 2015. The book's cover parodies the cover of Walter Isaacson's 2011 biography Steve Jobs.
Ostrovsky is a founder of Swish Beverages, which launched the wine White Girl Rosé in 2015, following it up in 2016 with the wines Babe Rosé With Bubbles and Family Time Is Hard Pinot Grigio. In 2018, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired a minority stake in the company.
Controversy
In 2015, Ostrovsky was caught posting screenshots of other comedians' jokes on Instagram and Twitter without their permission, and with the credits cropped out. After several stories were published about this behavior, Ostrovsky edited his past posts to credit the authors of the jokes.
Personal life
Ostrovsky and Katie Sturino were married in 2014. They announced their divorce in 2017.
Bibliography
- Money Pizza Respect (Grand Central Publishing, 2015)
Filmography
References
External links
- Official website
- Josh Ostrovsky on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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