{"id":588899,"date":"2026-08-10T12:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588899\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T12:46:13","slug":"for-me-being-jewish-has-always-been-a-positive-thing-jesse-eisenberg-on-fame-fam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588899\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018For me, being Jewish has always been a positive thing\u2019: Jesse Eisenberg on fame, fam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last December, Jewish Hollywood actor and director Jesse Eisenberg<\/a> (\u201cThe Social Network,\u201d \u201cNow You See Me\u201d) fulfilled an ambition he had nurtured for years: donating a kidney. One of his kidneys was removed and transplanted into a person who needed it.\u201cLook, I hate being in the public eye. I find it so embarrassing, but I married a woman who really spends her life helping people, so I feel I have a certain responsibility. I thought, \u2018Maybe I should talk about donating a kidney because maybe it could influence other people,\u2019\u201d Eisenberg said during an interview at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival<\/a>, held in the colorful Czech spa town. \u201cWhy did I donate? It was just a feeling of responsibility. I feel like I\u2019ve been given so much in my life, including two kidneys, and I felt a need to give.\u201d\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/p>\n

Jesse Eisenberg <\/p>\n

(Photo: Jordan Strauss\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

Who received your kidney?
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know. It was anonymous. The tragedy is that there are 90,000 people on the waiting list, and when you donate to one, there are still 89,999 people dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

How do you feel now?
\n\u201cAfter two weeks, I no longer felt anything. It did not even cross my mind anymore. People who donate kidneys tend to live longer than their non-donor peers because donors undergo such an extensive battery of tests that only very healthy people qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a perfectly healthy life, and it was very easy. I feel great \u2014 100%, even 101% \u2014 because I have a little more pep in my step. And I\u2019m a little lighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his visit to the festival, Eisenberg received the Festival President\u2019s Award. In his acceptance speech, he said he was excited to receive Polish citizenship the following week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to spend more time in Poland because of my family heritage,\u201d he said. \u201cMy family lived in Eastern Europe for more years than it has lived in America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/p>\n

Jesse Eisenberg <\/p>\n

(Photo: AP)<\/p>\n

In an interview after the ceremony, held on July 4, America\u2019s 250th Independence Day, I asked whether obtaining Polish citizenship was in fact a political act given the situation in the United States. Eisenberg rejected the suggestion.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Not at all. Zero. Zero-point-zero percent,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up American. America saved my family\u2019s life. My wife is a teacher in five public schools in New York City, and her students live much more difficult lives than I do. We feel our responsibility is not to flee a political situation we may disagree with, but to help people who are in greater distress during a difficult political period.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, getting Polish citizenship was entirely about a spiritual connection to this place and an attempt to reconnect with somewhere my family lived for hundreds of years. It was completely personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would very much like to work in Eastern Europe. One of the things I noticed while filming \u2018A Real Pain\u2019 in Poland was the emphasis on the art itself. In the United States, there is greater emphasis on economics. Even when you make a small, personal film in America, you still have to include commercial elements that will make it attractive to audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, people are more likely to take risks and make things that are more unusual and more artful. As a writer and director, that is an enormous relief for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/p>\n

Jesse Eisenberg <\/p>\n

(Photo: AP)<\/p>\n

The kidney donation story illustrates how unusual Eisenberg is in the Hollywood landscape. When we meet in \u201cBeethoven,\u201d the secret meeting wing of the elegant luxury hotel Pupp, he comes across as charming, funny, neurotic, warm, candid, highly attentive and entirely free of pretension or nonsense. He also avoids social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is something very absurd about the concept of celebrity,\u201d he said. \u201cThe public wants something that is unknowable. The public does not judge you according to how hard you worked. It does not judge you according to how many years you trained or how many hours you stood in the shower rehearsing your monologues. The public is reacting to something ineffable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike many actors, directors and creators who avoid mentioning their Jewish identity, particularly since October 7<\/a>, or even saying the word \u201cJewish,\u201d Eisenberg, the son of Jewish educators who grew up in New Jersey and Queens, speaks frequently about his roots and Jewish identity. He describes his humor as \u201cJewish humor\u201d and says it was influenced by Jewish writers such as Sholem Aleichem.<\/p>\n

Antisemitism has intensified in recent years. Have you experienced it personally?
\n\u201cListen, I have a very, very unusual life, and I\u2019m in a real minority in that, for me, being Jewish has always been a positive thing,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I grew up with Jewish humor and sometimes played Jewish characters. I received some good roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I\u2019ve only had positive experiences of being Jewish. But I understand that my experience is probably not everyone\u2019s experience, and I cannot speak for those other experiences. I\u2019ve never experienced anything that made me feel I had to be afraid of my identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenberg also addresses his roots in his writing. His play \u201cThe Revisionist,\u201d about an American Jewish writer visiting a relative who survived the Holocaust, was based on one of his own relatives \u2014 Maria, his grandfather\u2019s first cousin, who survived the Holocaust and died of COVID-19 in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaria Gruber lived in Krasnystaw, a small town in the Lublin region of southeastern Poland,\u201d he said. \u201cShe survived the Holocaust by hiding in basements in Lviv, but her family was murdered in front of her, and her brother was shot in the cemetery in Krasnystaw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stayed with her several times. She was an amazing woman. Since then, I have been somewhat obsessed with her because I cannot believe I have a personal connection to someone who experienced real historical trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike many American Jews \u2014 I do not know how you feel, but I assume it is similar for you \u2014 I am simply obsessed with that part of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years ago, Eisenberg released \u201cA Real Pain,\u201d a film he directed that achieved considerable success. It follows two Jewish American cousins, played by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, who won the Oscar for supporting actor, as they travel to Poland at the request of their late grandmother. During the trip, they visit the old Jewish cemetery in Lublin and the Majdanek concentration camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you grow up as I did in suburban New Jersey, you do not worry about where your food will come from,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cYou think about self-fulfillment and joining the art world. Then you realize, \u2018Our ancestors, our grandparents had to run from Nazis,\u2019 and it is simply insane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve become preoccupied with my own privilege compared with what our families went through. That is exactly what \u2018A Real Pain\u2019 is about \u2014 two cousins trying to come to terms with their past. One of them has kind of fallen apart.<\/p>\n

“So you ask yourself: How can you possibly fall apart when your grandparents survived by the skin of their teeth?”<\/p>\n

You won many awards and were nominated for an Oscar for the \u201cA Real Pain\u201d screenplay. What was the Oscars experience like?
\n\u201cMy father is a very wise person, and he told me, \u2018If you have an experience like that once or twice, it is already an enormous success. You\u2019re in the top 0.00001% of people in the arts if you get to go to the Academy Awards and sit anywhere in that building.\u2019 That is how I view all these things. I had no expectation of being there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da<\/a>\"\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da<\/p>\n

From ‘A Real Pain’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: PR)<\/p>\n

When our conversation turns to Israel, Eisenberg prefers to evade the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about politics,\u201d he insisted. \u201cI know about making jokes about musical theater because that\u2019s my life. Why am I even in a position where people ask me about American politics?<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent politics in America is simply so far removed from my life. I live in New York and make a living from art, which is like winning the lottery 1,000 times in a row.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenberg has friends and distant relatives in Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2014, I arrived in Israel just as Operation Protective Edge began in Gaza for the premiere of my play \u2018The Revisionist\u2019 at the Beit Lessin Theater,\u201d he said in a previous interview. \u201cI did not feel in danger. Yes, it was a very strange time to visit, but nonetheless informative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenberg, 42, began performing on stage at age 7. He later appeared in the television series \u201cGet Real.\u201d In 2002, he made his film debut in \u201cThe Emperor\u2019s Club.\u201d That was followed by Wes Craven\u2019s horror film \u201cCursed,\u201d \u201cThe Hunting Party\u201d with Richard Gere and \u201cZombieland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then came his breakout film, David Fincher\u2019s \u201cThe Social Network\u201d in 2010, in which he played Jewish American entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. The performance elevated Eisenberg\u2019s status and earned him Golden Globe and Oscar nominations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I played Zuckerberg, he was not well known, so the film seemed like a fairly strange undertaking,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cNo one really knew who he was and he did not appear much in public, so he mainly seemed like an interesting character. Things have changed since then. Then he became famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenberg revealed that he declined to appear in a new film about Zuckerberg, the anticipated follow-up to \u201cThe Social Network,\u201d directed by Aaron Sorkin.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I\u2019m associated with the company because of a movie, I have zero connection to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI never signed up or got an account because it always kind of scared me that a company could have all of your information.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da<\/a>\"\u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da<\/p>\n

From ‘The Social Network’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy of yes)<\/p>\n

Eisenberg\u2019s filmography also includes major productions such as the comic-book films \u201cBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice\u201d and \u201cJustice League,\u201d in which he portrayed Lex Luthor, the colorful, megalomaniacal and malicious supervillain, with a creepy and eccentric edge. Gal Gadot appeared alongside him as Wonder Woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cGal is great,\u201d he said during one of our previous meetings. “I can\u2019t believe we come from the same genetic code.”<\/p>\n

In recent years, Eisenberg has also become closely associated with the \u201cNow You See Me\u201d trilogy. The first film, in which he played an illusionist, was released in 2013 and unexpectedly earned $350 million. The second, released in 2016, brought in a similar sum, and the third, released in 2025, earned about $250 million.<\/p>\n

How do you explain the success of the \u201cNow You See Me\u201d films?
\n\u201cI have no idea,\u201d he said. \u201cI have no sense at all of what will be commercially successful and what will not.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we filmed the first \u2018Now You See Me,\u2019 I kept thinking, \u2018I cannot believe I am in this movie.\u2019 It felt like I had been called up to play with an NBA team. The camera moved in every direction. We were all wearing suits. I kept thinking, \u2018Where am I?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt as though I had come from another planet where everyone was depressed, and suddenly I found myself in this cool movie playing an arrogant, self-confident character. I enjoyed it so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the only character in which I get to stand up straight and wear a nicer outfit. I hope they make \u2018Now You See Me 4.\u2019 I cannot wait. I\u2019ve never felt happier on a movie set than when I was playing that part.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From ‘Now You See Me 3’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy of United King Films)<\/p>\n

At this fall\u2019s festivals, Eisenberg will appear with \u201cThe Debut,\u201d a new film he directed that is set in the theater world. He also wrote its music and songs. Julianne Moore stars in the lead role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote the part for her, but it is based on my own experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cThe film is set in New Jersey in 1990, exactly when I began working in theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved acting in the theater, but I was also terrified. It was the only place where I felt comfortable in my own skin and, at the same time, the place where I felt the greatest fear because I loved it so much. I was terrified because an audience had come to see me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eisenberg also occasionally appears in television series. In the Disney+ miniseries \u201cFleishman Is in Trouble,\u201d he played a doctor whose wife disappears, leaving him with their children.<\/p>\n

This year will also bring the series \u201cBream Gives Me Hiccups,\u201d based on Eisenberg\u2019s short stories about a boy who publishes restaurant reviews.<\/p>\n

Eisenberg said the plays and screenplays he writes often feature malicious characters whom he portrays in a human light. He also enjoys examining American ignorance and the way Americans know little about people from other countries.<\/p>\n

Alongside writing, directing and acting, Eisenberg enjoys being a father to his 9-year-old son, Banner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent the first 33 years of my life worrying about myself,\u201d he once told Newsweek. \u201cAnd a lot of these concerns were just narcissistic, self-involved, fantastical problems that I created to just ruin my life. Then I spent the next years of my life worrying about real things, worrying about another person. And I know it sounds like a self-serving excuse, but it’s made me a lot happier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/a>\"\u05d2'\u05e1\u05d9<\/p>\n

Jesse Eisenberg <\/p>\n

(Photo: AFP)<\/p>\n

Despite his many professional pursuits, Eisenberg finds time to volunteer. In the past, he volunteered at a shelter for battered women run by his mother-in-law. Today, he helps immigrants in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are struggling because of immigration,\u201d he said. \u201cThey live in homeless shelters, their lives are genuinely at risk, and they sometimes have to leave because a shelter is expected to be raided the next day. We try to help them find lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have wealthy friends who walk around thinking they are suffering because some people don\u2019t like them. They move through the world as if they are the victims, and I want to tell them: \u2018There are real victims. There are victims now, not in some fantasy future. We need to devote our time to them, just as when we were the victims, we wanted people to think about us.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why I do not think of myself as a victim in any way. I don\u2019t think of myself as disadvantaged or put upon, and I do not dwell on how people will look at me or whether they will be angry with me because of my background.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not even cross my mind because there are people facing far more immediate distress. How could you look at them and think they are better off than I am?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a sharp change of subject, it turns out Eisenberg is also an avid basketball fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one NBA coach, Gregg Popovich. He coached the San Antonio Spurs. Do you know him? I find him the most fascinating person on the planet,\u201d Eisenberg said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s this tough coach, but he cries sometimes and talks about the plight of America. Yet he\u2019s also a terrifying coach who is so mean to journalists. People like that fascinate me because they are known as very hard people but also have enormous hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

You must have been happy when the New York Knicks recently finally won the NBA championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love basketball in general, but I do not have one favorite team. I simply like underdogs, and the Knicks were the underdogs this year. God, it was thrilling \u2014 thrilling to be the underdog and win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d2\u05e8\u05d2<\/a>\"\u05d2\u05e8\u05d2<\/p>\n

Gregg Popovich <\/p>\n

(Photo: Eric Gay\/AP, File)<\/p>\n

And it is impossible not to discuss Woody Allen. When Eisenberg was 16, he read humorous pieces written by Allen and drew inspiration from them. Several years later, Eisenberg received a letter from Allen, asking him to star in \u201cTo Rome With Love\u201d in 2012. Eisenberg gladly accepted. Four years later, Allen sent another letter offering him the lead role in \u201cCaf\u00e9 Society.\u201d Again, he agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up on his films and never dreamed I would appear in them,\u201d Eisenberg said. \u201cI even thought that if I were in them, I would only ruin them. And then I appeared in two.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the decade since \u201cCaf\u00e9 Society,\u201d an increasing number of actors who worked with Allen have expressed regret, particularly in light of repeated allegations that he sexually assaulted his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow. Other stars have said they would no longer appear in his films.<\/p>\n

So when I asked Eisenberg about cancel culture, of which Allen has been one of the most prominent targets, he protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod, you always do this,\u201d he said. \u201cYou started with a question about Israel and ended with Woody Allen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather talk about donating a kidney than my opinions about movies or canceled famous people, because maybe more people would donate kidneys if they heard about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people ask me about \u2018cancel culture,\u2019 I prefer to talk about our responsibility as people in the public eye. We have some responsibility to try to put something positive into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last December, Jewish Hollywood actor and director Jesse Eisenberg (\u201cThe Social Network,\u201d \u201cNow You See Me\u201d) fulfilled an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-588899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}