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Jewish Actors, Jewish Characters

Meital Dohan, Adam Goldberg, and Laura Silverman in conversation with Sara Ivry
APRIL 22, 2007 2:45 PM
FREUD PLAYHOUSE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

Thirty years ago, Jewish characters often resembled Rhoda — lovable, eccentric, antithetical sidekicks to the mainstream. Now, Jewish characters are abundant and more assimilated, raising the question of what it means to play a Jewish character. How does an actor prepare for the role? Laura Silverman, Adam Goldberg, and Meital Dohan are all performers who have taken recent parts that weave in and around Jewish identity on shows and in films like Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Hebrew Hammer, and Weeds. Moderated by Sara Ivry, this panel examines how Jewish identity gets played out on screen in the 21st century.

MEITAL DOHAN was born and raised in Israel. She graduated from Nissan Nativ, Israel's prestigious acting school, in 1998. She earned an Israeli Oscar nomination for her performance in Gods Sandbox (2002 Manchester film festival winner) and Giraffes (2003 Scottsdale Arizona Film Festival winner). She played the central comedy role in Ugliest Esti, which won the TV Oscar for Best Comedy Series award in 2003. She currently plays Yael Hoffman in the Showtime series Weeds.

ADAM GOLDBERG is an actor and director best known for his roles in Dazed and Confused, Saving Private Ryan, A Beautiful Mind, The Hebrew Hammer, Déjà Vu, and a recurring role on Friends. He is also the writer and director of the feature films Scotch and Milk and I Love Your Work.

LAURA SILVERMAN is best known for her role as the reality show producer Jane in the HBO cult series, The Comeback. Silverman currently appears in the Comedy Centrals series The Sarah Silverman Program. She has also appeared in The King of Queens, HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, ABC's The Norm Show, and FOX's Family Guy. She played Laura the receptionist in Comedy Central's Emmy-winning series Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Silverman has also appeared in several feature films including her sister's comedy Jesus is Magic and David Mamet's State and Main.

SARA IVRY is Senior Editor at Nextbook.org and the host of Nextbook's weekly podcast. She has worked on the staff of The New York Times Magazine and at WBUR, a public radio station in Boston, writing news and producing interviews. She has written for The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Real Simple, Flaneur, and other publications.