Kurtzuba was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where she graduated from Omaha Central High School. Growing up, she performed in local theater productions, with her first role at the age of 10 as an orphan pickpocket in the musical Oliver, and won the Miss Nebraska Pre-Teen pageant. She briefly attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism, before being accepted to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned an acting degree.
After graduating, she spent time performing in experimental off-off-Broadway productions, before going into commercial theater. Her first Broadway show was as part of a backup trio to Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz in 2003. As a member of the original Broadway casts of Mary Poppins in 2006 and Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008, she performed at the 2007 and 2009 Tony Awards. Her Off-Broadway credits include the 2018 revival of Stephen Adly Guirgis' Our Lady of 121st St., directed by Phylicia Rashad for Signature Theatre, The Joys of Sex, directed by Jeremy Dobrish for Variety Arts Theater, and Bat Boy: The Musical, directed by Scott Schwartz at the Union Square Theatre.
Kurtzuba portrayed Mrs. Kovacevic, a social services clerk with a Russian accent, in the 2014 film adaptation of Annie. Her performance was praised in the Los Angeles Times and Variety. She is featured on the song "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here" on the Annie soundtrack album. In The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, she played Kimmie Belzer, a single mom hired by Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and the only female stockbroker at the company. In the Scorsese Netflix film The Irishman, starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, she portrays Irene, the wife of De Niro's character. She also appeared in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Away We Go opposite John Krasinski.

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