Is Chelsea Handler Jewish?

Yes, Chelsea Handler is a Jew. Handler has written many books, is a stand-up comedian and hosts her own talk show, Chelsea Lately.

Handler grew up in Livingston, New Jersey. She is the youngest of six children and was raised as a Reform Jew by her father, Seymour, and her Mormon mother, Rita.

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Is Caleb Moore Jewish?

No, Caleb Moore was not a Jew. Moore was a snowmobile rider and a Winter X Games competitor.

Moore began his career riding ATVs and later switched to snowmobiles. Soon after learning to ride snowmobiles he won the bronze medal at the Winter X Games in 2010. In his career he won four medals.

During the 2013 Winter X Games, Moore crashed while doing a backflip. He walked off the course with a concussion but the injuries he sustained later claimed his life on January 31, 2013.

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Is Neil Patrick Harris Jewish?

No, Neil Patrick Harris is not a Jew. Harris is best known for his roles as Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother and on Doogie Howser, M.D.

Harris was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His parents, Sheila and Ron Harris, ran a restaurant. He attended La Cueva High School, where he acted in school plays and musicals.

Harris was named as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2010 and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in September 2011.

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Is Woody Allen Jewish?

Yes, Woody Allen is a Jew. Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician. His career spans over half a century.

Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg. He was born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, NY. He is the son of Nettie (November 8, 1906 – January 27, 2002), a bookkeeper at her family's delicatessen, and Martin Konigsberg (December 25, 1900 – January 13, 2001), a jewelry engraver and waiter. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish; his grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Austria and spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.

At the age of 17, he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen. He began writing jokes and publishing them and, at just 17, was already earning more than both of his parents combined.

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Is Jessica Chastain Jewish?

No, Jessica Chastain is not a Jew. Chastain is known for her roles in Zero Dark Thirty, The Debt, Take Shelter and The Help.

Chastain was born and raised around Sonoma, California. She is one of five children. Her mother is a vegan chef, and her father is a firefighter. She grew up as Jessica Howard and later took her mother's maiden name as her stage name.

In the past few years Chastain's career has taken off. Chastain has won many awards for her roles in Take Shelter, Coriolanus, The Debt, Tree of Life, The Help and Zero Dark Thirty.

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Is Claire Danes Jewish?

No, Claire Danes is not a Jew. Danes plays Carrie Mathison in Homeland and has had roles in Little Women, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and My So-Called Life.

Danes was born in New York City. Her mother, Carla, is a day-care provider, painter, and textile designer. She later served as her daughter's manager. Her father, Christopher Danes, is a computer consultant and former architectural photographer. Danes has described her background as being WASP-like.

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Is Marisa Tomei Jewish?

No, Marisa Tomei is not a Jew. Tomei is an actress known for her roles in What Women Want, Anger Management, In the Bedroom, The Wrestler and Parental Guidance.

Tomei was born in Brooklyn, New York. She is the daughter of Patricia Adelaide Tomei, an English teacher, and Gary A. Tomei, a trial lawyer. She has a younger brother, actor Adam Tomei. Both of Tomei's parents are of Italian descent.

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Is Angelina Jolie Jewish?

No, Angelia Jolie is not a Jew. Jolie is an actress known for her roles in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Wanted and Changeling.

Jolie was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. On her father's side, Jolie is of German and Slovak descent and on her mother's side, she is of primarily French Canadian, Dutch, and German ancestry. Like her mother, Jolie has stated that she is part Iroquois.

Jolie is divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton and now lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship well covered by the media. Jolie and Pitt have three biological children and have adopted three children.

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Is Brad Pitt Jewish?

No, Brad Pitt is not a Jew. Pitt is an actor known for his roles in Legends of the Fall, Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club, Ocean's Eleven, Troy, and Moneyball.

Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and is the son of Jane Etta, a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner. The family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug and Julie Neal. Pitt was born into a conservative household and was raised as Southern Baptist, although he has since described himself as oscillating between atheism and agnosticism.

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Is Michael Winner Jewish?

Yes, Michael Winner was a Jew. Winner was an English film director and producer.

Winner was born in Hampstead, London, England, the son of Helen and George Joseph Winner. His family was Jewish. His mother was Polish and his father of Russian extraction, and a Freemason.

Winner's career began in 1956 and he directed films, both English and American, through 2010. In 1967 he began producing the films as well as directing.

Winner died on January 21, 2013 at the age of 77.

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Is Mila Kunis Jewish?

Mila Kunis is a Jew. The actress was born Milena Markovna Kunis, but is professionally known as Mila Kunis and she is Jewish.

Born August 14, 1983 in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, the American actress moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles with her family at 7-years-old. Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher who runs a pharmacy, and her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer who works as a cab driver. Kunis has a brother, Michael who is six years older

Kunis is Jewish and has cited anti-Semitism in the former Soviet Union as one of several reasons for her family's move to the United States. She has stated that her parents "raised [her] Jewish as much as they could," although religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union.

After being enrolled in acting classes as an after-school activity, she was soon discovered by an agent. She appeared in several television series and commercials, before acquiring her first significant role prior to her 15th birthday, playing Jackie Burkhart on the television series That '70s Show. A year later, she was cast as the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy. Her breakout  film role came in 2008, playing Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Subsequent film roles included Mona Sax in Max Payne, Solara in The Book of Eli, Jamie in Friends with Benefits, and Lori in Ted. Her performance as Lily in Black Swan gained her worldwide accolades, including receiving the Premio Marcello Mastroianni for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. At the age of 18, she began a relationship with actor Macaulay Culkin that lasted eight years.

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Is Jennifer Lawrence Jewish?

Jennifer Lawrence, born August 15, 1990, is not Jewish. She is Christian. The American actress has had roles in such movies as Silver Linings Playbook , The Hunger Games, and X-Men.

Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and has two older brothers, Ben and Blaine. Her parents are Karen (née Koch).

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Is Mark Cuban Jewish?

Mark Cuban is Jewish. The American businessman, investor, and philanthropist was born on July 31, 1958. Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Shirley and Norton Cuban. He grew up in the affluent suburb of Mount Lebanon, in a Jewish working-class family. The surname "Cuban" was shortened from "Chabenisky" when his Russian grandparents landed on Ellis Island. His father was an automobile upholsterer.

Mark Cuban is most well known for being the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. He also owns Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network AXS TV. He is also a "shark" investor on the television series Shark Tank. In 2011, Cuban wrote an e-book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, in which he chronicles his life experiences in business and sports.

Cuban attended Mount Lebanon High School. During his senior year of high school Cuban enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in Barbados. Their first daughter, Alexis Sofia, was born on September 25, 2005; their second daughter, Alyssa, was born in 2007. The Cubans also have a son born in early 2010. The family lives in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, in a 24,000-square-foot mansion.

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Is Betty White Jewish?

Betty White is not a Jew. The  octogenarian Betty White is an American actress, comedian, singer, author, and television personality. Her career has spanned over nine decades.

White was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on January 17, 1922. She is the daughter of Tess Curtis, a homemaker, and Horace Lawrence White, a traveling salesman and electrical engineer. Her mother was of Greek, English, and Welsh descent, and her father was of Danish and English ancestry. White's family moved to Los Angeles, California during the Great Depression.

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Is Aaron Levie Jewish?

Aaron Levie is a Jew. The co-founder and CEO of Box is Jewish. Aaron Levie was born in 1985 in Seattle, Washington to Ben and Karyn Levie. He grew up in Seattle and attended Mercer Island High School, part of the Mercer Island School District in Washington. His family are members of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle.

After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California before taking a leave of absence in 2005 to found Box, the enterprise cloud company worth over a billion dollars. Aaron Levie has written numerous articles on disruptive innovation in the technology industry.

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Is Pauline Phillips Jewish?

Pauline Phillips, who wrote the Dear Abby column, was Jewish. "Dear Abby" was the name of the advice column Phillips founded in 1956 under the pen name Abigail Van Buren. It has been continued by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name. Pauline Phillips died on January 17, 2013.

Pauline Esther Friedman, nicknamed "Popo", was born in Sioux City, Iowa to Russian Jewish immigrants, Rebecca (née Rushall) and Abraham B. Friedman, owner of a chain of movie theaters. She was the youngest of four sisters and grew up in Sioux City. One sister was an identical twin, Esther Pauline Friedman, who later became the columnist Ann Landers.

In 1939, she and her identical twin sister Esther (Ann Landers) were married in a double-wedding ceremony on their birthday.[5] She married Morton Phillips of Minneapolis, and had two children, a son, Edward Jay Phillips, and a daughter, Jeanne Phillips.

According to Pauline Phillips, she came up with the pen name Abigail Van Buren by combining the name of Biblical figure Abigail in the Book of I Samuel, with the last name of former U.S. President Martin Van Buren.

The column was syndicated by McNaught Syndicate from 1956 until 1966, when it moved to Universal Press Syndicate. Dear Abby's current syndication company claims the column is known for its "uncommon common sense and youthful perspective". A similar column, Ask Ann Landers, was written from 1955 to 2002 by Phillips' twin sister Eppie Lederer.

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Is Lance Armstrong Jewish?

Lance Armstrong is not Jewish. The man famous for winning more Tour de France cycling competitions than any other cyclist and then being disgraced amid doping charges, is Christian.

Armstrong was born to Linda Gayle (née Mooneyham), a secretary, and Eddie Charles Gunderson, a route manager for The Dallas Morning News. His great-grandfather was the son of Norwegian immigrants. He was named after Lance Rentzel, a Dallas Cowboys wide receiver. His parents divorced when Lance was two and his father has two children from another relationship. His mother later married Terry Keith Armstrong, a wholesale salesman, who adopted Lance in 1974. Armstrong refused to meet his birth father.

Armstrong began dating singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow in late 2003 and revealed their relationship in January 2004. The couple announced their engagement in September 2005 and their split in February 2006. In December 2008, Armstrong announced that his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, was pregnant with his child. The couple started dating in July 2008 after meeting through Armstrong's charity work. Although it was believed that Armstrong could no longer father children, after having undergone chemotherapy for testicular cancer, this child was conceived naturally. The baby boy, Maxwell Edward Armstrong, was born in 2009 in Aspen, Colorado. Armstrong announced the birth via Twitter.

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Is Michael J. Fox Jewish?

Michael J. Fox is not Jewish. The actor, born Michael Andrew Fox on June 9, 1961, is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. He is famous for Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985–1990); Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties (1982–1989); and, Mike Flaherty from Spin City (1996–2000).

Michael Andrew Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the son of Phyllis (née Piper), an actress and payroll clerk and William Fox, a police officer and member of the Canadian Forces.

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1991, and disclosed his condition to the public in 1999. Fox semi-retired from acting in 2000 as the symptoms of his disease became more severe. He has since become an activist for research toward finding a cure. This led him to create the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

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Is Conrad Bain Jewish?

Conrad Bain was not Jewish. Famous for playing the role of Phillip Drummond in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and as Dr. Arthur Harmon on Maude, Bain was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

His parents were Jean Agnes Young and Stafford Harrison Bain, a wholesaler. Bain attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and then served in the Canadian Army during World War II.

Bain has three sons and a daughter with Monica Sloan, to whom he was married until her death in 2009. His identical twin brother is Bonar Bain who once played the brother of his Maude character, Dr. Arthur Harmon.

Conrad Bain died on January 16, 2013 in California.

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Is Lena Dunham Jewish?

Yes, Lena Dunham is a Jew. Dunham is known for her hit HBO series, Girls, which she created and stars in.

Dunham was born in New York City. Her father is Carroll Dunham, a painter of "overtly sexualized pop art", and her mother is Laurie Simmons, a photographer and designer. Dunham's father is Protestant, and according to Dunham, a Mayflower descendant. Dunham's mother is Jewish. She has a younger sister, Grace, who is a model and student at Brown University and who starred in Dunham's first film Tiny Furniture.

Dunham graduated from Oberlin College in 2008, where she studied creative writing.

In 2013 Dunham won the Golden Globe award for Best Series, Musical or Comedy, for Girls as well as Best Actress, Comedy or Musical.

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Is James Franco Jewish?

Yes, James Franco is a Jew. Franco is known for his roles in the Spider-Man trilogy, Pineapple Express, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Franco was born in Palo Alto, California. His mother, Betsy Lou, is a poet, author, and editor, and his father, Douglas (1948–2011), ran a non-profit agency and a shipping container security company. Franco's father was of Portuguese and Swedish descent. Franco's mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia. Despite his Jewish heritage, Franco's upbringing was largely secular.

Franco has a big interest in education. He has attended UCLA, and he moved to New York to simultaneously attend graduate school at Columbia University's MFA writing program, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for filmmaking, and Brooklyn College for fiction writing, while occasionally commuting to North Carolina's Warren Wilson College for poetry. He received his MFA from Columbia in 2010. Franco is a PhD student in English at Yale University and will also attend the Rhode Island School of Design.

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Is Jake Gyllenhaal Jewish?

Yes, Jake Gyllenhall is a Jew. Gyllenhaal is known for his roles in October Sky, Donnie Darko, The Good Girl, Brokeback Mountain and Love and Other Drugs.

Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles. His parents are film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and film producer and screenwriter Naomi Foner. Maggie Gyllenhaal is his older sister and is also an actress. Gyllenhaal's father is of Swedish and English descent. His mother is from a Jewish family from New York City, and Gyllenhaal has said that he considers himself "more Jewish than anything else."

Gyllenhaal is politically active. He shot a commercial for Rock the Vote during the 2004 presidential election and he also campaigned for Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry. He has also spoken out against climate change and participated in a campaign for the American Civil Liberties Union.

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Is Olivia Wilde Jewish?

Olivia Wilde is not a Jew, although she does have distant Sephardi Jewish ancestry. Wilde is known for her roles in The Girl Next Door, Tron: Legacy, and Cowboys & Aliens.

Wilde was born in New York City. Her mother, Leslie Cockburn, is an American-born 60 Minutes producer and journalist. Her father, Andrew Myles Cockburn, a journalist, was born in London and raised in Ireland. Wilde's ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, Manx, and German and she is also of more distant Sephardi Jewish descent from a paternal ancestor, Ralph Bernal, a British Whig politician and actor.

Wilde has dual citizenship in the United States and Ireland. She derived her stage name "Wilde" from Irish author Oscar Wilde, which she changed in high school, to honor the writers in her family, many of whom used pen names.

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Is Aaron Swartz Jewish?

Aaron Swartz was Jewish. Aaron Swartz was the technologist and computer programmer who helped develop code that created the RSS feed  as a teenager. Aaron was born November 8, 1986 to Robert and Susan Swartz. He had two younger brothers Noah and Ben. His partner was Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, the Executive Director and Founder of Sum Of Us.

According to the NY Times, Aaron Swartz's uncle said that he had apparently hanged himself, and that a friend of Mr. Swartz’s had discovered the body. Aaron’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 15 at Central Avenue Synagogue, 874 Central Avenue, Highland Park, Illinois.

The NY TImes reported that, "At 14, Mr. Swartz helped create RSS, the nearly ubiquitous tool that allows users to subscribe to online information. He later became an Internet folk hero, pushing to make many Web files free and open to the public. But in July 2011, he was indicted on federal charges of gaining illegal access to JSTOR, a subscription-only service for distributing scientific and literary journals, and downloading 4.8 million articles and documents, nearly the entire library. Charges in the case, including wire fraud and computer fraud, were pending at the time of Mr. Swartz’s death, carrying potential penalties of up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines."

It had been reported that Swartz suffered from depression and had contemplated suicide in the past. "In a talk in 2007, Mr. Swartz described having had suicidal thoughts during a low period in his career. He also wrote about his struggle with depression, distinguishing it from sadness."

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Is Alyson Hannigan Jewish?

Alyson Hannigan is a Jew. Hannigan is known for her roles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I Met Your Mother and the American Pie films.

Hannigan was born in Washington, D.C. and is the only child of Emilie Haas and Al Hannigan. Her father is of Irish descent and her mother is Jewish. Her parents divorced when she was two and she was raised mostly by her mother in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hannigan began acting at the age of four in commercials. She later moved to Hollywood and began auditioning for agents. She landed her role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997 and her career took off from there.

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Is Huell Howser Jewish?

Huell Howser was not Jewish. He was a Methodist. Born Huell Burnley Howser on October 18, 1945 in Gallatin, Tennessee, American television personality was best known for California's Gold, his travel show based in Los Angeles at KCET for California PBS stations. Howser received his first name from a portmanteau of his parents' names, Harold and Jewell.

 

Matt Groening, Simpsons creator was a fan of Howser and featured him in two episodes of The Simpsons. In 2011, Howser voiced The Backson in the post-credits scene of Walt Disney Animation Studios's 2011 feature film, "Winnie the Pooh."

Howser mentioned his being a Methodist during his episode covering the Nevada County Fair on California's Golden Fairs.

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Is Patti Page Jewish?

Patti Page is not a Jew. Page was an American singer, best known for her traditional pop-music. She sold over 100 million records.

Page was born Clara Ann Fowler in Oklahoma. She was born into a large and poor family. Her father, B.A. Fowler, worked on the MKT railroad and her mother, Margaret, and older sisters picked cotton. She was raised in Foraker, Hardy, Muskogee and Avant, Oklahoma, before attending Daniel Webster High School in Tulsa, from which she graduated in 1945.

Page's success began in 1948 and in 1950 she released Tennessee Waltz, her most popular and best-selling single. Page appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 18 times and in one appearance, performed Eli, Eli, an emotional Jewish ballad. Sullivan was so moved by her performance that he stumbled over his words while praising Page, saying he was so moved by this "act," rather than saying by this "song."

Page died on January 1, 2013.

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Is Brian Schatz Jewish?

Brian Schatz is a Jew. Schatz was named to the Senate to replace Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye after his death.

Schatz lists his religion as Jewish on his Facebook page, bringing the number of Jewish senators to 11. Schatz was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father is Irwin Schatz, a cardiologist and native of Saint Boniface, Manitoba. When Brian was two years old, his family moved to Hawaii. Schatz studied at Pomona College in Claremont, California and he spent a term studying in Kenya as part of the International Training Program, where he developed skills in public service.

Schatz began his political career in 1998 in the Hawaii House of Representatives and his congressional career began in 2006. In 2010 he became the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii. Hawaiian senator Daniel Inouye died on December 17, 2012 and Schatz was appointed to replace Inouye, filling the Democratic seat that was once filled by Inouye.

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Is Jon Stewart Jewish?

Jon Stewart is a Jew. Stewart is the host of The Daily Show, a talk show on Comedy Central, which he began hosting in 1999.

Stewart was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in New York City, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where he attended Lawrence High School. Jon's mother, Marian (née Laskin), is an educational consultant and teacher and his father, Donald, is a professor. According to Stewart, he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child and he describes himself in high school as "very into Eugene Debs and a bit of a leftist."

Stewart graduated in 1984 from The College of William & Mary in Virginia, where he played on the soccer team and initially majored in chemistry before switching to psychology. While at William & Mary, Stewart became a brother of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. Before becoming the host of The Daily Show, Stewart hosted The Jon Stewart Show on MTV and has released a couple books and voiced a few audiobooks.

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Is Ryan Gosling Jewish?

Ryan Gosling is not a Jew. Gosling is known for his roles in The Notebook, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Ides of March and Blue Valentine.

Gosling was born in London, Ontario. He is the son of Thomas Ray Gosling, a traveling salesman for a paper mill, and Donna, a secretary. Gosling's parents were Mormons and Gosling has said that the religion influenced every aspect of their lives. His parents divorced when he was a child and he and his older sister Mandi lived with their mother, an experience Gosling has credited with programming him "to think like a girl".

Gosling began performing at a young age and dropped out of high school at 17 to focus on acting. He has been nominated for and won many awards for his performances.

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Is Emma Stone Jewish?

Emma Stone is not a Jew. Stone is famous for her acting, in films such as The Help, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Easy A and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Stone was born in Scottsdale, Arizona. Stone's parents are Krista (née Yeager), a homemaker, and Jeff Stone, a contractor. Stone's paternal grandfather was of Swedish descent, and his family's surname was anglicized to "Stone" when immigrating to the U.S. through Ellis Island; some of her ancestors also lived in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.

Stone attended Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girl Catholic high school, as a freshman for one semester. She convinced her parents to let her move to California for an acting career and in January 2004, moved with her mother to a Los Angeles apartment, at the age of 15. She was then home schooled, so that she could audition during the day.

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Is Joseph Gordon-Levitt Jewish?

Yes, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a Jew. Gordon-Levitt is an American actor, known for his roles in 500 Days of Summer, Inception, 50/50 and The Dark Knight Rises.

Gordon-Levitt was born in Los Angeles, California. His family is Jewish and his parents were among the founders of the Progressive Jewish Alliance. His father, Dennis Levitt, was once the news director for the Pacifica Radio station, KPFK-FM and his mother, Jane Gordon, ran for the United States Congress in California during the 1970s for the Peace and Freedom Party; she met Dennis Levitt while she was working as the program guide editor for KPFK-FM.

Gordon-Levitt began acting at age 4 and has appeared on TV, in numerous films and on stage. Recently, he has begun directing and producing.

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Is Beate Gordon Jewish?

Beate Gordon was Jewish. Gordon was born Beate Sirota, the daughter of Russian Jewish parents who at 22 almost single-handedly wrote women’s rights into the Constitution of modern Japan, and then kept silent about it for decades. She was the only woman to become a feminist heroine in Japan in modern times.

Beate Sirota Gordon was born in Vienna on October 25, 1923, and educated in Tokyo. She was the only child of Augustine (Horenstein) and noted pianist Leo Sirota, a Ukrainian Jew who had fled war-torn Russia and settled in Austria. Her uncle was conductor Jascha Horenstein. Sirota's family emigrated to Japan in 1929, when her father was accepted to the faculty of the Imperial Academy of Music (Tokyo University of the Arts). She attended the German School in Tokyo for six years, until the age of twelve, when she transferred to the American School (also in Tokyo) as a result of her parents deeming the German School "too Nazi". Beate Sirota Gordon became a naturalized U.S. citizen in January 1945.

Gordon was a civilian attached to General Douglas MacArthur’s army of occupation after World War II and she was the last living member of the American team that wrote Japan’s postwar Constitution, which gave women the legal rights pertaining to marriage, divorce, property and inheritance.

Beate Sirota Gordon died on Sunday, December 30, 2012 at her home in Manhattan at the age of 89.

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