Julie Taymor (68) is a theater, opera, and movie director and writer. Her stage adaptation of The Lion King has been seen by more than 90 million people in 100 cities around the world. It received 11 Tony Award nominations; Taymor garnered Tony Awards for Best Director and Costume Designer. The production has been honored…
Actress Milena Markovna “Mila” Kunis (37) was born in the Soviet Ukraine and moved with her family to the United States at age 7, in part because of antisemitism in the former Soviet Union. She is perhaps best known for playing Jackie Burkhart on the television series That ’70s Show (1998–2006), a part she got…
Israeli superstar actress Gal Gadot (35) is renowned for her beauty (Miss Israel 2004) and acting chops. In addition to playing Wonder Woman in the 2017 blockbuster film by the same name, Gadot has appeared in several other movies, including Fast & Furious (2009), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Justice League (2017).…
Mike Nichols (Nov. 6, 1931 – Nov. 19, 2014) was an extraordinarily prolific and talented film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. His many directorial film credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Graduate (1967), Catch-22 (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971), Silkwood (1983), Working Girl (1988), The Birdcage (1996), Closer, (2004) and Charlie…
The four-part original Netfleix miniseries Unorthodox became an international hit and has now received eight Emmy Award nominations. The story revolves around Esther “Esty” Shapiro, a young Orthodox woman who eventually leaves her life in the strict Satmar Hasidic sect in which she grew up. The series — much of it in Yiddish with English…
Doris Roberts (November 4, 1925 — April 17, 2016) had a successful acting career on television and in film lasting some six decades. Roberts, who garnered five Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award, was best known as the overbearing Marie Barone on the popular sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which aired for nine seasons.…
William Shatner (89) is best known for portraying Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek, both on television and in the movies. He has, however, appeared in many other vehicles during his seven-decade-long show business career. They include the television series T.J. Hooker and Rescue 911. Shatner’s work has garnered him two Emmy Awards. In…
Dan Levy, 36, played the flamboyant gay character David Rose in the hit Canadian-produced sitcom Schitt’s Creek. It just finished a highly successful run that lasted six seasons, thereby breaking the hearts of its legions of ardent fans. In real life, Levy is the openly gay son of comedic actor Eugene Levy, another star on…
Barry Sonnenfeld, 69, is an acclaimed cinematographer and movie director. His directorial credits include The Addams Family; Addams Family Values; the three Men in Black films; Wild, Wild West; and Get Shorty. Sonnenfeld’s credits as a cinematographer include Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Throw Momma from the Train, and When Harry Met Sally. …
Actor, producer, director, philanthropist, and writer Kirk Douglas (Dec. 9, 1916 – Feb. 5, 2020) was an iconic superstar during Hollywood’s Golden Age, from the 1940s through the 1950s and early 1960s. He appeared in more than 90 movies — usually in “tough guy” roles — including the following: Champion (1949), Young Man with a…
To learn about these and many more AmazingJews, watch a compilation put together by JewOfTheWeek.net in 2015 and posted on YouTube.