Should Jews play Jewish roles?

This issue is particularly acute if the roles are going to people who don’t always seem that friendly towards the mainstream Jewish community. Much was made of Sacha Baron Cohen’s dreadful American accent in another Netflix film, The Trial of the Chicago 7, although he was that rare thing; a Jewish man playing a Jewish man. That, perhaps, overshadowed the raised eyebrows at the casting of Mark Rylance as Jewish man, William Kunstler, who had defended other Jews.

Last year, a few weeks before the last election here in the UK, Rylance upset much of the British Jewish community by signing a letter which stated: “We are outraged that Jeremy Corbyn, a life-long committed anti-racist, is being smeared as an antisemite by people who should know better.”

The issue of whether ethnic Jews need to play ethnic Jews is a complicated one. On one hand there is a Jewish ‘look’ and some of us could say we have very good ‘Jewdar’ — although sometimes that malfunctions and the person could be Italian or Greek. And there are always exceptions to the rule of who “looks” ethnically Jewish; Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Sophie Okonedo and Rachel Riley spring to mind.

But it is not surprising some people are asking why Jews aren’t getting any of the Jewish roles. Comic actress Sarah Silverman recently examined the issue on her podcast, saying it was particularly bad for Jewish women and she picked up on how a film about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the TV series Mrs America had all been about prominent and important Jewish women, none of them played by Jews.

“I don’t mean to get into identity politics or any of that stuff; acting is acting and that’s what’s beautiful about acting,” she says. “But patterns are emerging and this is what I see. If there is a character that is courageous or a character the deserves love, you won’t see a Jewish woman play her. And that’s even if she is a Jewish woman.

“Jewish women get to play the bitchy or the sassy friend of the beautiful woman. Or they play the horrible girlfriend before the guy realises what love can be. But if the character deserves love or is brave or good or righteous, she will be played by Felicity Jones [who played Ruth Bader Ginsberg] or Rachel Brosnahan [Mrs Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel].”

Acting is a hard profession; you are judged not only on your talent but also on your looks. And if you are a Jew who is not quite white and not quite not-white, that can put you in an extremely tough position — particularly if you can’t get parts which reflect your own background.

One actress, who asks not to be named, tells me: “When I went for a Regency-era costume drama I was told that no one looked like me in those days. But when I go for Jewish roles, I’m told I don’t look Jewish enough.”

Another Jewish actor adds: “I often slip through the gaps; not BAME enough but definitely not ‘English’. The only time I’m ever put forward for English/ white parts are in American productions – they are far less concerned about ‘type’.”

Silverman questions whether some of this is down to ‘self-hate’ on the part of film makers who may be Jewish but are not casting Jewish people. “There are a myriad of Jewish writers and producers,” she says. “We are also famous for being self-hating and self-loathing. I can tell you from experience I do not think the male dominated Jew-run Hollywood wants to see themselves represented in art.”

The situation is similarly damning in the UK where there are far fewer Jewish roles. None of the actors who play Friday Night Dinner’s core family are Jewish (although Tracy Ann Oberman plays Auntie Val and Tom Rosenthal has a Jewish father), and the same goes for the Jewish family at the centre of detective drama Vienna Blood. Two of the people playing the Liebermanns, who are subject to antisemitism in turn of the century Vienna, are Irish; none of them are Jewish.

The main character in Ridley Road, an upcoming drama about a group of Jewish anti-fascists in 1960s Britain, isn’t Jewish although a few of the supporting cast is. And who can forget when the non-Jews playing Jews in BBC drama McMafia toasted each other saying, “I wish you long life!” instead of “l’chaim”?

Way back in 1989, things were different when Birds of a Feather writer Maurice Gran created the wonderfully Jewish Dorien, with co-writer Laurence Marks. She was played by Jewish actress Lesley Joseph. He says there needs to be nuance in casting.

“Lesley Joseph was perfect casting for Dorien but we’re far from dogmatic,” he says. “When we made So You Think You’ve Got Troubles, our comedy about the small Jewish community of Belfast, very few of our Jewish characters were played by Jews, as the number of Jewish actors with decent Ulster accents is vanishingly small.

“If possible, we would cast from the community we’re writing about but the most important thing is to find good actors who can bring our characters to life. It ought to be that simple.”