Josh Ostrovsky

Josh Ostrovsky was born on February 18, 1982, in New York City, New York to parents Rebecca and Saul Ostrovsky. His father was a radiologist who had immigrated from Russia while his mother was a nutritionist. He has a younger brother who is presently an amateur bodybuilder and employed at the Pentagon.

As a child actor, he made appearances in several commercials, including the ad campaign for Hershey’s. He studied at Trevor Day School in the Upper East Side. He was suspended from Skidmore College and left New York University before graduating from the State University of New York at Albany with a degree in journalism in 2004.

Ostrovsky married his long-time girlfriend designer Katie Sturino in 2014. The couple divorced in 2017, after three years of marriage. In January 2017, he appeared on Wendy Williams’ show and announced that he was having a daughter with another woman and asked Williams to choose a name for her. She picked Janeathan.

While still a student at SUNY Albany, Josh Ostrovsky formed the comedy group Team Facelift with two other MCs, Machine and Alden Fonda, and one producer, Tommy Mas. During this period, he started to go by the name ‘The Fat Jew’. The group put out their only album ‘Mixed Emotions’ through their independent label Facelift Records in 2006. They also released the mixtapes ‘Famous In Japan’ in 2003, ‘Mixtape Vol. 1’ in 2005, ‘Fancy/Sleazy’ in 2007, ‘Passion Cove’ in 2008, and ‘6 Grams’ in 2010.

While still a student at SUNY Albany, Josh Ostrovsky formed the comedy group Team Facelift with two other MCs, Machine and Alden Fonda, and one producer, Tommy Mas. During this period, he started to go by the name ‘The Fat Jew’. The group put out their only album ‘Mixed Emotions’ through their independent label Facelift Records in 2006. They also released the mixtapes ‘Famous In Japan’ in 2003, ‘Mixtape Vol. 1’ in 2005, ‘Fancy/Sleazy’ in 2007, ‘Passion Cove’ in 2008, and ‘6 Grams’ in 2010.

In 2009, he set up the Instagram account named ‘TheFatJewish’. It went viral due to the soul cycle video posted in 2013 and got suspended in the same year for publishing inappropriate content. Ostrovsky, joined by his supporters, held a protest rally outside Instagram’s office in New York City with Vice.com live-streaming the gathering. His account was restored after just 15 minutes.

In 2015, he was listed by Time magazine as one of the 30 most influential people on the internet as well as picked by Seamless as their spokesperson. These days his social media posts are sponsored by some of the top international brands, including Virgin Mobile, Apple, Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Burger King.

He served on ‘The Daily 10’ on E! as an entertainment reporter, conducting numerous celebrity interviews. He also hosted the popular web series ‘An Intimate Conversation’. He was supposed to have his own show on Comedy Central but that deal fell through in 2015. That year, he entered into a modelling contract with One Entertainment. As an actor, he has appeared in the animated web series based on his life, titled ‘Story Time with Fat Jew’ (2015) and films ‘Zoolander 2’ (2016) and Nerve (2016). He is set to appear in the action-comedy ‘The Peach Panther’ and comedy ‘Status Update’.

Josh Ostrovsky was at the receiving end of heavy criticism in 2015 when it was discovered that he was posting other comedians’ jokes on Twitter and Instagram without their permission and after editing out the credits. Responding to the denunciation, including those by high-profile comedians such as Kumail Nanjiani, Norm Macdonald, Chelsea Peretti, Patton Oswalt, and Michael Ian Black, Ostrovsky started to leave in the credits on his posts on both social media platforms. IF THIS VIDEO DOESN’T MAKE YOU EVEN A LITTLE HAPPY YOU ARE A FUCKING MONSTER WHO IS COMPLETELY DEAD INSIDE A post shared by thefatjewish (@thefatjewish) on Dec 12, 2017 at 4:43pm PST