His parents are Russian-Jewish immigrants, and his father is a professor of computer engineering at Boston University. Karpovsky says his mother 'doesn't speak a word of English'.
Raised in Newton, MA, he lives in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY. He studied visual ethnography at the world-famous University of Oxford.
Originally, the character he plays in Girls (2012) was slated to be called Karnovsky, but was later changed to Ray.
