AGE: 32.

PROVENANCE: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

PLAYTIME: Jacobs has performed since childhood, when she was enrolled in an acting class. “The school called my mom and said that I had no friends and was talking to myself on the playground, and she should put me in some kind of extracurricular activity. I fell in love—it was like a fish in water.”

TRAINING DAYS: The actress spent her youth actively involved in local theater before honing her craft at the rigorous Juilliard School. “When you meet someone else from Juilliard, you kind of lock eyes and do that solemn nod of ‘I know what you’ve been through,’ and it is an instant bond.”

THE SHOW GOES ON: Jacobs’s big break came in 2009 with her lead role as Britta Perry on the cult-favorite series Community, whose sixth season debuts on Yahoo in March, after being canceled by NBC last year. “We all sort of moved on, grieved the show, and started to get other jobs, and then on the very final days of our contracts Yahoo picked up the show. It is like the show that cannot die.”

THE MOTHER LOAD: In addition to Community, the Hollywood darling is keeping busy with a multi-episode character arc on this season of Girls, and a role in the anticipated sequel Hot Tub Time Machine 2, out next month. “I think my mom is less stressed about me choosing to be an actor now.”