18 Jewish Celebrities And Their Connection To The Culture

If you've ever watched her hit show Broad City, you'll know that Ilana Glazer has been making art about her Jewish identity for years—and it was deeply appreciated by fans of the show.

Comedian and actor Sarah Silverman has been super open about being a Jewish actor in Hollywood. "The parts I get to play, you're either a sassy friend of the main character who's just in charge of exposition…or you're that guy's sleazy book agent, or scumbag executive," she said in an interview on the Howard Stern show, about her frustrations with being typecast.

P!nk has spoken about sharing her family's Jewish history with her children. In an interview with Reese Witherspoon, P!nk noted her daughter, Willow, came to this revelation while at the Holocaust Memorial in Germany: "She was like, 'Wait. So my mom's Jewish. ...Well, then I'm Jewish.' Yeah. 'Well, then this could have been us,'" she recalled.

"Being Jewish is complicated," Seth Rogen said in an interview with Marc Maron. "And being a famous Jewish person is, in some ways, a little bit more complicated," he noted, stating it can sometimes be tough to balance preserving Jewish history, culture, and values while "keeping an eye toward" the progressive causes he's passionate about.

Yes, Rashida Jones also has roots in the Jewish community. "I am a product of slaves," she told Net-a-Porter in 2018. "I am also a product of Jewish immigrants and Holocaust survivors. I have a responsibility to represent those things. The possibility of me being alive is so slim," the actress said.

In 2018, actress Mila Kunis, who has a Jewish family background, spoke with Dax Shepard about how she and husband Ashton Kutcher observe Shabbat in their own way with their kids. On Friday nights, their family rule is that they all eat dinner together: "We're all just going to talk," she said. "We're going to talk about the week... We're going to reconnect."

Singer and actress Barbra Streisand has always been open about the way her Jewish background influenced her life. "I was raised in a religious home," she told Refinery29 in 2019. "The Sabbath was always honored, candles were lit. My grandfather went to synagogue every Saturday and he would take me along."

Did you know that Ben Platt, who identifies as Jewish, came out about being queer while on a class trip to Israel? He spoke about it in his Netflix concert show, Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall.

Actress Beanie Feldstein and her brother, Jonah Hill, were raised Jewish. She was recently cast to play the lead in Funny Girl on Broadway, a show about Jewish actress and comedian Fanny Brice, which is a dream come true. Beanie's been emulating Barbra Streisand (who played Fanny on Broadway and in the film adaptation) since youth, per this Instagram post.

Jack Black was raised Jewish and attended Hebrew school throughout his childhood. "I had my bar mitzvah, and then I immediately bailed on the whole enterprise," he said in 2018 while being interviewed on the H3 Podcast. He noted that while he no longer practices the religion, he still remembers some of the Hebrew he learned in school.

Comedian and actor Adam Sandler has been super open about his Jewish upbringing and faith over the years, and being Jewish has played a part in many of his iconic roles. It's even influenced his music career—who could forget his iconic Hanukkah song, "Eight Crazy Nights"?

His wife, Jacqueline Samantha Titone, even converted to Judaism before the two married in 2003.

Though he currently identifies as atheist, Daniel Radcliffe's family has a Jewish background. "There was never [religious] faith in the house," Daniel told Parade in 2012. "I think of myself as being Jewish and Irish, despite the fact that I’m English."

Natalie Portman was born in Israel, and she's spoken openly about her faith, culture, and what it means for her to be Jewish today. "My great-grandparents were killed in the camps, and my grandfather’s younger brother was shot in Poland during the war," she told Harper's Bazaar UK in 2019, speaking on the importance of her family's history.

Because of his interfaith family (his mom is Protestant and his father is Jewish), Dan Levy has said before that he practices both religions. His show, Schitt's Creek, also pays homage to interfaith families on multiple occasions.

Troye Sivan grew up in a conservative Orthodox Jewish community in Australia, and he still values the role religion plays in his life today.

"To be completely honest, I could do without saying the prayers and whatever, but getting the family together and not turning on our phones for a Friday night, connecting, is something I really cherish," he told Vice in 2016.

Raised in Forest Hills, Queens, actor and comedian Billy Eichner said he identifies as a "Proud American Jew" and has spoken out against antisemitism. And, in an interview on Pete Holmes' podcast, You Made It Weird, he also revealed he had a Madonna/Broadway-themed Bar Mitzvah. (Mazel tov to that fabulousness!)

Yes, Jeff Goldblum has a Jewish background, though he's said in a PBS interview that while he enjoyed studying the Torah (which inspired him to become an actor), he encountered a bunch of bullies while attending Hebrew school. (Don't worry, though, his mom taught him how to fight them off.)

Maya has a Jewish background on her father's side, but she says her family is "agnostic Jewish, because my grandfather didn’t like being told what to do," per a 2018 interview in The New York Times Magazine.