Actor and director Justin Baldoni has made headlines this week with his new film, It Ends with Us. The film, starring Baldoni and Blake Lively, may not have a very Jewish plot, but it just might owe some of its success to Baldoni’s Jewish roots – and his 2011 trip to Israel.

Confused? Let’s go back to the beginning. Justin Baldoni was born in Los Angeles, California, to Sam and Sharon Baldoni. The actor-turned-director enjoyed a very interfaith upringing – Sam was raised Irish Catholic, and Sharon is Ashkenazi Jewish, making Baldoni, of course, a certified halachic Jew.

Baldoni was raised honouring both his Catholic and his Jewish heritage. “We celebrated Chanukkah and Christmas as an ode to our grandparents,” the actor has said. “It was a wonderful thing to grow up in an interfaith family”.

Baldoni’s parents both converted to the Bahá’í faith before he was born, meaning the actor wasn’t raised explicitly Catholic or Jewish, but Bahá’í. “My mom was Jewish and became a Baháʼí before she met my dad, and when they fell in love he became a Baháʼí,” he explained.

Baldoni, who is a devout Baháʼí, no longer celebrates the Jewish holidays but said he is still proud of his Ashkenazi heritage. He has also talked about his family’s history in the Holocaust. “My grandfather was in World War II and a lot of my family was killed in the Holocaust,” he has said. “One of my aunts was a survivor”.

Baldoni’s 2011 trip to Israel, ironically, has little to do with his Jewish roots and much more to do with his Bahá’í faith.

Founded in the 19th century, the Bahá’í faith is a religion that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. It was initially developed in the Middle East, and its Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the Bahá’ís, is located in Haifa, Israel.

It was on pilgrimage to Haifa, in 2011, that Baldoni decided to dedicate himself to documenting stories of often underrepresented voices. He said that while there, he prayed “to be used in any way that would be beneficial to our broken world”.

Baldoni’s latest film, It Ends With Us, definitely aligns with this new motivation. The film tells the story of an abusive relationship – something Baldoni has spoken extensively about. He made the film “to represent all the women that experience [domestic violence] every day,” Baldoni told Today.com.

Since his 2011 trip, Baldoni has visited Israel again, most recently in 2022. Posting a tearful photo to Instagram, the actor wrote: “Tears often speak the language the heart doesn’t have words for. So grateful to be back in Haifa visiting the #bahai holy land on a three-day pilgrimage”.

It Ends with Us has wrapped now, and Baldoni has said he has no interest in directing the sequel, following a rumoured rift with co-star Blake Lively. So what’s next for the actor? If you listen to his Jewish mum, the plan is for Baldoni to play Moses in a live-action remake.