Margarita Levieva

Margarita Vladimirovna Levieva (Russian: Маргари́та Влади́мировна Леви́ева; born 9 February 1980) is a Russian-American actress. Born in the Soviet Union, she was a competitive gymnast before going on to star in the films The Invisible, Adventureland, and Spread. On television, she is known for her roles as the faux Amanda Clarke/real Emily Thorne on Revenge, as Gina Zanetakos on The Blacklist and most recently as Abigail "Abby" Parker opposite James Franco on the HBO series The Deuce.\n', ' Levieva was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). She is from an upper class Russian Jewish family, and is the daughter of Irina Levieva, the President of Ostrov Realty Group. At the age of three, she began training in rhythmic gymnastics. When she was 11, Levieva\'s mother moved her and her twin brother to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn in New York City.\n', ' She continued to train in rhythmic gymnastics for a few more years after emigrating to the United States and achieved success regionally but did not compete at the U.S. Championships; she did not then hold U.S. citizenship and her family were undocumented immigrants at the time. She attended high school in Secaucus, New Jersey. Levieva received her bachelor\'s degree in economics at NYU and worked as a fashion buyer. Her continuing interest in acting led her to be accepted into the Meisner Training Program at the William Esper Studio.\n', '