#jewish actresses
Neuroscientist and Emmy Award-nominated actress Mayim Bialik is best known for her roles as Amy Farrah Fowler on the CBS television series The Big Bang Theory and the eponymous character of the NBC television series Blossom. She is also the current host of the revival of Candid Camera. In addition to being a talented actress and neuroscientist, Mayim is a proud Jew. Here’s how we know:
-Mayim was born to first-generation Jewish American parents in San Diego. She was raised in Reform Judaism, but now says she aligns more closely with Modern Orthodox Judaism. Her name is the Hebrew word for “water.” [x] [x]
-Mayim minored in Hebrew and Jewish Studies while at college studying neuroscience at UCLA. While at UCLA, she was an active member of the university’s Hillel, started a women’s Rosh Chodesh group, and composed and conducted music for a Jewish a cappella group. [x]
-Mayim does speaking events around the United States for multiple Jewish organizations, and writes regularly for the Jewish parenting website Kveller.com. She is also a founding member of the Shamayim V'Aretz Institute, a Jewish animal welfare organization. [x] [x]
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Actress, activist, and author Marlee Matlin, best known for her roles in films and television series such as Children of a Lesser God,The L Word, and Switched at Birth, became the first deaf performer to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was 21 years old when she received the award, and holds the record for being the youngest person to receive this prestigious award. This amazing actress is also Jewish, and here’s how we know:
-Marlee’s family is of Russian and Polish Jewish background, and Marlee grew up attending the Jewish Temple for the Deaf, Bene Shalom, in Skokie, Illinois. [x]
-Marlee had a bat mitzvah and was later interviewed about her bat mitzvah experience for the book Mazel Tov: Celebrities’ Bar and Bat Mitzvah Memories. [x]
-Marlee has said that her Jewish background has been part of the driving force for the large amount of charity work she has done, including her work for the Starkey Hearing Foundation, which gives free hearing aids to children who cannot afford them. [x]
-Marlee has participated in advertising for the Jewish Federations of North America, which does philanthropic work to benefit Jewish causes. [x]
Got a Jewish fave you want us to spotlight? Suggest it through our askorsubmit box!
