Ladies and gentlemen, I have something important to tell you: Jason Biggs isn’t Jewish. Shocked? A lot of people are, and Jason himself knows it. In fact, he’s made a career of playing Jewish people and he likes that you think he’s one of the Chosen People… but he ain’t.
From Haaretz:
“There’s not a day that goes by where someone doesn’t say to me, ‘Wait, what? You’re not Jewish?’ They’re totally shocked,” Biggs says on the phone from Los Angeles. This, despite the fact that his Twitter tagline is “The Jewiest Looking Non-Jew.”
But it’s more than just his looks, says the actor, who was raised Catholic in New Jersey and is of English and Italian descent. “I think there is a physical thing, obviously, I think I have a certain look – if you can say there is a Jewish look, I would certainly fall right into that,” he says. But, he adds, his characters have “a certain nervousness, a certain pathos, a certain everyman kind of quality,” which are identifiably Jewish traits.
“It goes back a long, long time – I’ve been playing Jewish characters almost exclusively since I was a little kid,” says Biggs, 36.
But why does he seem so Jewish? Did he grow up around it, like many East Coast kids?
“That’s the funny part. Where I grew up there were only two Jewish kids in my entire school,” he said. So, in other words, no. The only thing he can think of is that as a young actor, he traveled a lot to New York and played Jewish roles and had a window into that world. “I got to know and understand the religion and the culture more than most kids in my town.”
Well… cool? I mean, this is sort of a bizarre bit of cultural appropriation that you don’t often see – and that most people wouldn’t be so blatant about, but I don’t think Jason Biggs has ever tried to be anything other than obnoxious at best and downright insufferable at worst, so knock yourself out, bro.
For future reference:
Actors of fully Jewish background: -Logan Lerman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Bar Refaeli, James Wolk, Julian Morris, Esti Ginzburg, Kat Dennings, Erin Heatherton, Odeya Rush, Anton Yelchin, Paul Rudd, Scott Mechlowicz, Lizzy Caplan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gal Gadot, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Marla Sokoloff, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Adam Brody, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gabriel Macht, Halston Sage.
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers -Jake Gyllenhaal, Dave Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Eva Green, Emmy Rossum, Jennifer Connelly, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman.
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jews and/or identify as Jews: -Andrew Garfield, Ezra Miller, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Ben Foster, Nikki Reed, Zac Efron.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism -Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
What was the point of this?
What’s the point of talking about Jason Biggs’ “Jewishness”? In freaking 2014? Why does he play Jews but the actors listed above mostly do not? These are good questions.
P.S., since you’re obviously not racist, I’ll assume you were “shocked” Brad Pitt isn’t Jewish as well.
f-u
Anytime.
Die, Larry, die.
Buddy your a Great Actor.
Dont care what you are. I have about 4 Dvds of you and your good. Im from Jersey 40 yrs ago. Sarasota Fla. NOW.
Jennifer, were you also “shocked” that blowing every boy in your 4th grade class (and most of the girls) wasn’t the best idea ever?
LOL, this is my favourite trolling comment ever!