Leeat Elkayam
Creativity Director
Hanukkah is a time to gather around the Hanukkiah and share memories from the past year. The Roar wanted to spice up your Hanukkah season with nine Hollywood celebrities you wouldn’t think are Jewish. Now you can bring them home to meet the parents!
Justin Kirk:
Best known for his role as Prior in Angels in America, Kirk’s mother was of Russian Jewish descent. Funny, in the movie, he dates a Jew! Oy Vey!
James Wolk:
Wolk was born and raised in Michigan in a Reform household. He is best known for his role in Mad Men as Bob Benson. If you’re going to invite him, you might as well invite his cousin, Ms. Kate Rosenberg!
Eric Dane:
“McSteamy”, more like “Mc-When-Can-We-Sign-The-Ketuba”. Eric Dane was raised with his mother’s Jewish background and even had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.
Daniel Radcliffe:
Radcliffe was born in West London, England, to a Jewish mother whose descendants come from Poland and Russia. So, can you light the menorah with your wand?
Alyson Hannigan:
The How I Met Your Mother star was born in Washington D.C. and raised in Atlanta. Her on-screen beau is also Jewish, so the marriage is kosher!
Josh Radnor:
Radnor was born and raised in Ohio as a Conservative Jew. Hannigan, Radnor, and Jason Segal could have all had their own Hanukkah party on the set of How I Met Your Mother!
Josh Bowman:
Bowman was born and raised in Berkshire, England and is most famous for his role as Daniel Grayson in the show Revenge. His father is Jewish, however he feels as if he is “Jew-ish.” That definitely qualifies him to light the menorah tonight, right?
Logan Lerman:
Lerman is a Beverly Hills born Jew and has been acting for most of his young life. His parents came from Eastern Europe, so he is very informed on the amount of oil needed to fry latkas.
Adam Brody:
Brody was born and raised in San Diego in a Jewish family. He most recently married Leighton Meester, a non-Jew, but that doesn’t mean she can’t convert and join him to light the menorah!
Happy Hanukkah from our Journalism family to yours. Lechaim!
James • Dec 22, 2014 at 10:43 pm
For future reference:
Actors of fully Jewish background: -Logan Lerman, Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mila Kunis, Bar Refaeli, James Wolk, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julian Morris, Adam Brody, Esti Ginzburg, Kat Dennings, Gabriel Macht, Erin Heatherton, Odeya Rush, Anton Yelchin, Paul Rudd, Scott Mechlowicz, Lisa Kudrow, Lizzy Caplan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Margarita Levieva, Elizabeth Berkley, Halston Sage, Seth Gabel, Skylar Astin, Mia Kirshner, Alden Ehrenreich, Eric Balfour, Jason Isaacs, Jon Bernthal.
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers -Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Eva Green, Emmy Rossum, Rashida Jones, Jennifer Connelly, Nora Arnezeder, Goldie Hawn, Ginnifer Goodwin, Amanda Peet, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman, Ben Barnes, Patricia Arquette, Kyra Sedgwick, Dave Annable.
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jews and/or identify as Jews: -Andrew Garfield, Ezra Miller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, Nicola Peltz, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Winona Ryder, Ben Foster, Nikki Reed, Zac Efron, Jonathan Keltz.
Oh, and Ansel Elgort’s father is Jewish, though I don’t know how Ansel was raised.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism -Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.