https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYcx43AmAyY

Here’s the thing: It gives one great hope that one can be, say, an academic, and be portrayed in a film by Rachel Weisz. This isn’t to denigrate Lipstadt’s appearance or Weisz’s acting abilities; they just really don’t look alike. Still, at least Weisz is actually a Jewish woman portraying a Jewish woman.

This got me thinking: Who plays Jewish women in biopics, and what do they look like? I dove down the worst kind of rabbit hole: Wikipedia.

In a list of biopics (film or TV), Jews don’t tend to come up often; we’re a minority, fine. But (with the exception of Holocaust movies, ugh) Jewish women seem to be a rarity, and have films depicting their lives and accomplishments far less frequently than men. Furthermore, the women more often tend to be “glammed up” with their casting. It’s easier to be an accomplished actor without outlying attractiveness if you’re a man, and this is especially clear in biopics.

Male Jewish real-life folks on screen have a range of portrayals— in recent or prominent films depicting Jewish men, we’ve had Peter Sarsgaard as Stanley Milgram, Vincent D’Onofrio as Abbie Hoffman,Kevin Spacey as Jack Abromoff, and Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman. None of these men (actors or subjects) read immediately as heartthrobs, and none of the actors are Jewish. Or, you can have schlubby-coded Jewish men play these roles (very recently, Jonah Hill has portrayed Michael Finkel and Efraim Diveroli).

Occasionally, you can have heartthrobs portray Jewish characters: take Allen Ginsberg, who’s been portrayed by both James Franco  and Daniel Radcliffe (both of Jewish descent).

So what of the ladies?

It’s so hard to find real Jewish women portrayed on screen, particularly as the leads, and especially if you remove Holocaust victims and Biblical characters (enough Christian-made films about Esther. Please).

Somewhat recent Jewish women on film include:

• Keira Knightley as psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein— Jon Stewart once aptly said of Knightley that she “acts with cheekbones so improbable they were probably sprinkled with God Dust,” though to be fair, this film also cast Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud, so, an upgrade all around.
  
• Helen Mirren has played Ayn Rand. I’m not even going to touch how ludicrous that is.
  
• An upcoming HBO series about the Madoffs (Bernie is Robert De Niro) has Michelle Pfeiffer as Ruth Madoff.

Note that all of these woman are both Hollywood standards of attractive, and also not Jewish. Once again, there are exceptions; Natalie Portman plays Ruth Bader Ginsburg in an upcoming film, and she’s a Jewish actor. And Gertrude Stein has been played by a range of wonderful actors not cut from the Hollywood glamor mold, both Jewish (like Miriam Margolyes) and Gentile (like Kathy Bates). But honestly, the sample size is too small to get any reliable patterns, which in and of itself is telling.

And so, keep an eye out for my next piece: A list of ideas for Jewish female actresses that could easily star in biopics, and ideas for  who they might portray. We need more examples, period.

In the meantime, please comment below, or tweet Jewcy with your own ideas.  Try to keep both actor and subject of Jewish descent, and if possible, avoid movies about sex symbols,  therefore repeating casting the same three gorgeous Hollywood actors. As in, try to resist casting Mila Kunis as Hedy Lamarr, as great as that might be.

Images via YouTube

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Good morning, world! It’s obligatory Jewish Celebrity Baby Post Time!

In case you missed it, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher had a baby girl on Wednesday. (TMZ conducted some ground-breaking investigative journalism and deduced the baby’s pic from Kutcher’s cute but evasive line-up.) They named her Wyatt Isabelle, so she’s got her bases covered should she decide to become a cowboy in the wilds of Iowa or a character in a Y.A. novel about private schoolgirls on the Upper East Side.

According to the ever-reliable Daily Mail, they’ll be raising the baby Jewish. Kunis is of Ukrainian-Jewish stock, and Kutcher dabbled in Kabbalah when he was married to Demi Moore, so he’s practically one of the tribe. Sorta.

Mazal tov, guys!

(Image: Robyn Beck/Getty)

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On Sunday, Israeli actress Moran Atias took a stand in Times Square—literally—to draw attention to the abduction of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. For several minutes, she stood in the middle of the busy thoroughfare, holding a sign which read: “Three Israeli teens KIDNAPPED from their homeland. Eyal. Naftali. Gilad.” Over the course of the three minute video posted to Atias’ Facebook page, passersby glance at the poster, though no-one stops to converse or ask about its meaning. Atias also uploaded a shorter version of the video to her Instagram page, with the following message:

“Three Israeli teens were KIDNAPPED from Their homeland. Eyal . Gil-Ad and Naftali . My heart is with their family and my mind is with my country. ALWAYS no matter how far I am.”

The boys—Gilad Shaar, 16, Naftali Frankel, 16, Eyal Yifrach, 19—were kidnapped on Thursday night while hitchhiking in the West Bank, where they are all studying at Yeshiva. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Hamas for the boys’ disappearance, but no organization has come forward to claim responsibility.

Atias rose to fame as model, but her breakthrough acting role was as Inez in the 2008 TV spin-off of the Oscar-winning film, Crash. She is currently starring in Third Person with Liam Neeson and Mila Kunis.

Related: Interview: “Crash”ing into Moran Atias

Image: ChinellatoPhoto / Shutterstock.com

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Mila Kunis is pregnant! Which means—as many Hollywood observers have astutely noted—Ashton Kutcher is going to be a father! Not since ScarJo’s pregnancy reveal three weeks ago has a celebrity baby generated so much excitement.

The newly engaged couple haven’t actually confirmed the news (wouldn’t it be funny if this was just a giant scam perpetuated by e-online, the Facebook trending bar, and our insatiable appetite for celebrity gossip? YES), but in the meantime, it’s fun to speculate about the ridiculously beautiful and funny child they might bring into the world.

Congrats!

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With a great-looking, talented, and very Jewish cast, the trailer for Tar, which premiered at the Rome Film Festival last year, is finally here. À la I’m Not There, the film portrays poet C.K. Williams with various actors throughout his life. Directed by 12 NYU film students (team work!), Tar stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Zach Braff, but there’s still no release date. Whatever, we’re still excited for it.

Watch the trailer here:

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Mila Kunis is the recipient of a film award this week—but not one she’ll be writing home about anytime soon. According to the New York Daily News, the Ukrainian star was voted the actress who porn enthusiasts would most like to see in an adult film.

The Sex Tracker survey was conducted, online no doubt, by XCritic.com and Vivid Entertainment (move over, Quinnipiac). Kunis led with 38 percent of the vote, Jennifer Lawrence got 23 percent, Sofia Vergara got 15 percent, and former Disney star Selena Gomez got 10 percent, which just seems wrong.

Mazel tov, Mila. You mother must be so proud.

(Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

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Mila Kunis, the awesome Jewish actress we can’t get enough of, has confirmed that she’s cooler than pretty much every other actress out there during a press junket for her upcoming James Franco-filled flick Oz the Great and Powerful.

Watch as she rolls with the punches—and the pick-up lines—in this hilarious interview with a starstruck BBC Radio 1 reporter.

Watch Mila Kunis’ Best Interview Ever [The Scroll] Previously: Awkward High School Yearbook Photos of Your Favorite Jewish Stars
Lisa Frank Unicorns Take Over Urban Outfitters—And Mila Kunis is on Board

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Vulture has unearthed the high school yearbook photos of dozens of celebrities, confirming that no matter how famous someone ends up, they probably had an awkward phase growing up. Not even the most glam of celebrities can escape the pitfalls of adolescence, and now you can gawk at the former gawkiness of endlessly photoshopped stars. (Though the picture of fresh-faced Lindsay Lohan just makes us sad.)

From the embarrassingly time-stamped (we’re looking at you, Anthony Weiner) to the suspiciously different-looking, not even your favorite Jewish celebrities are safe from class photo embarrassment.

Mark Zuckerberg Jesse Eisenberg had not yet perfected his perpetually-in-high-school look, but it’s not for lack of trying. Paul Rudd, apparently, was always Paul Rudd. Mila Kunis rocked the curly half-pony even after her Lisa Frank days (not pictured: Ashton Kutcher). Natalie Portman, however, takes the cake with her studious pre-Harvard look and Long Island-straight hair.

See the rest of the images here.

(Images via Vulture)

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• Jewish inmates in Florida prisons will finally get their kosher food. [JTA]

• The original Girls were from the 1920s, and their moms worried about them marrying Jewish men. [New Yorker]

• Speaking of Girls, how about the time Zosia Mamet got ‘Lewis and Clarked’ in a hotel room by a guy who tried to make Mamet’s Mitt Romney-loving dad pay for. [NYT]

• From the department of relationships we don’t support: Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher might be house hunting in Chicago. [HuffPo]

• Jewcy favorite Andy Samberg will star in a new show on Fox about New York City detectives. [THR]

• Homeland’s Mandy Patinkin got a nice shout out during Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s highly entertaining opening monologue at last night’s Golden Globe awards:

The post Daily Jewce: Zosia Mamet Got ‘Lewis and Clarked,’ Andy Samberg’s New Gig appeared first on Jewcy.

• There’s a food revolution happening in Poland, and it sounds pretty good. [Washington Post]

• Ramaz alum Leandra Medine—better known as her sartorial alter ego, Man Repeller—made the New York Post’s list of 13 Women to Watch Under 30. [NYP]

• Mila Kunis cooks Russian food. That is all. [Esquire]

• Meanwhile, when Carmelo Anthony was lurking by the Celtics bus the other night, he was “probably not there to to tell his opponents they could still get to Veselka and order the latkes.” [WSJ]

• Jeff Garlin is getting a podcast called “By The Way,” and comedy pals like Larry David and Judd Apatow will be stopping by. [HuffPo]

• Until then, here’s Apatow talking to Alex Baldwin on Baldwin’s similarly-named WNYC show, “Here’s the Thing:”

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