Jewish People in Show Business

1. Bud Abbott

Long acknowledged as one of the best "straight men" in the business, Bud Abbott was born William Alexander Abbott in Reading, Pennsylvania to Rae (Fisher) and Harry Abbott, who had both worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. When Bud was three his family moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey, which he...

2. Mason Adams

Actor | Son in Law

Mason Adams was well known for playing Pepper Young on the popular radio soap opera series Pepper Young's Family throughout the 1940 and 1950s. He was also heard on most of the successful radio programs during radio's "Golden Age." In the 1970s, Adams was frequently heard on Himan Brown's CBS ...

3. Jay Adler

Actor | The Killing

Jay Adler was born on September 26, 1896 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Killing (1956), Cry Danger (1951) and The Big Combo (1955). He died on September 23, 1978 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

4. Luther Adler

Actor | The Loves of Carmen

The actor and Broadway director Luther Adler was born into a Yiddish theatrical dynasty. One of the six children born to Jacob P. and Sara Adler, he made his debut in the world in New York City, originally billed as Lutha J. Adler. His full siblings Charles, Jay, Julia, and Stella (the famous ...

5. Charlie Adler

Actor | Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Charles is an Emmy Award winning Dialogue Director, Annie Award Acting Nominee, Dramalogue Winning Actor, Helen Hayes Award Acting Nominee and Casting Director. Successfully going from genre to genre, he has lent his Dialogue Direction talents to the remake of "The Nutty Professor" starring legend ...

6. Jack Albertson

Actor | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

A former song-and-dance man and veteran of vaudeville, burlesque and Broadway, Jack Albertson is best known to audiences as "The Man" in the TV series Chico and the Man (1974), for which he won an Emmy. In 1968 Albertson, the brother of actress Mabel Albertson, won the Oscar for Best Supporting ...

7. Jason Alexander

Actor | Seinfeld

Jay Scott Greenspan, known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive...

8. Woody Allen

Writer | Annie Hall

Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.

Allen ...

9. Morey Amsterdam

Actor | The Dick Van Dyke Show

Born in Chicago, Morey Amsterdam started in Vaudeville at the age of 14, as a straight man for his piano-playing brother. His father, a concert violinist who worked with the Chicago Opera and the San Francisco Symphony, wanted Morey to pursue a career in classical music however Morey had other ...

10. Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson

Director | The Infant at Snakeville

American actor-director-writer-producer Gilbert M. Anderson, father of the movie cowboy and the first Western star, was born Maxwell Henry Aronson in Little Rock, Arkansas. His parents, Esther (Ash) and Henry Aronson, were from New York. His father was from a German Jewish family, and his mother ...

11. Judd Apatow

Producer | Girls

Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is ...

12. Allan Arbus

Actor | M*A*S*H

Allan Arbus was born on February 15, 1918 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for M*A*S*H (1972), Coffy (1973) and Damien: Omen II (1978). He was married to Mariclare Costello and Diane Arbus. He died on April 19, 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

13. Adam Arkin

Director | Get Shorty

Adam Arkin was born on August 19, 1956 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Get Shorty (2017), A Serious Man (2009) and Sons of Anarchy (2008).

14. Alan Arkin

Actor | Argo

Alan Arkin was an Academy Award-winning American actor who was also an acclaimed director, producer, author, singer and composer.

He was born Alan Wolf Arkin on March 26, 1934, in Brooklyn, New York. His family were Jewish emigrants from Russia and Germany. In 1946, the Arkins moved from Brooklyn to...

15. Sig Arno

Actor | The Palm Beach Story

Sig Arno was born on December 27, 1895 in Hamburg, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for The Palm Beach Story (1942), Die Nacht ohne Pause (1931) and La gloire du régiment (1937). He was married to Kitty Mattern, Barbara Kiranoff and Caroline Dahms. He died on August 17, 1975 in ...

16. Tom Arnold

Actor | True Lies

Tom Arnold was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Linda (Graham) and Jack Arnold. After his parents divorced, he was raised by his father. In 1983, he got his first taste of stand-up comedy when he performed at open microphone nights at the University of Iowa. Tom's comedy career had its ups and downs over ...

17. Richmond Arquette

Actor | Zodiac

Richmond Arquette was born on August 21, 1963 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Zodiac (2007), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Broken Blood (2013).

18. David Arquette

Actor | Scream 3

The youngest of five, David Arquette was born in Winchester, Virginia and is part of the illustrious Arquette family, whose work has spread over several generations. His parents, Lewis Arquette, an actor, and Brenda Denaut (née Nowak), an acting teacher and therapist, had 4 other children: Rosanna ...

19. Edward Asner

Actor | Up

Edward Asner was born of Russian Jewish parentage in Kansas City, to Morris David Asner (founder and owner of the Kansas City-based Asner Iron & Metal Company) and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Seliger). After attending college, Ed worked various jobs, including in a steel mill, as a door-to-door ...

20. Artie Auerbach

Actor | The Jack Benny Program

Artie Auerbach was born on May 17, 1903 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Jack Benny Program (1950), Here Comes Elmer (1943) and Some Time Soon (1937). He was married to Cleo Morgan and Doris. He died on October 3, 1957 in Van Nuys, California, USA.

21. Jean-Pierre Aumont

Actor | Lili

Another in the long line of dramatically handsome foreign imports who made an immediate impact on WWII Hollywood was debonair French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont. The epitome of grace and sophistication, the stylish leading man went on to have a long and respected career on stage, film and TV, both ...

22. Hank Azaria

Actor | The Simpsons

Hank Azaria is an American comedian and actor from Queens, New York. He is known for voicing several characters in The Simpsons including Apu, Chief Wiggum, Moe, Bumblebee Man, Lou and Superintendent Chalmers. The latter became well-known due to the "Steamed Hams" scene. He also acted in Godzilla, ...

23. Carl Ballantine

Actor | Shirley Temple's Storybook

Part of the motley crew commandeered by Ernest Borgnine on the popular 1960s TV series McHale's Navy (1962), tall, gangly, beady-eyed, bulb-nosed comic actor Carl Ballantine was better known in other ports as the ultimate "magician". Billed as "The Amazing Ballantine," "The Great Ballantine" and "...

24. Martin Balsam

Actor | All the President's Men

Martin Henry Balsam was born on November 4, 1919 in the Bronx, New York City, to Lillian (Weinstein) and Albert Balsam, a manufacturer of women's sportswear. He was the first-born child. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant, and his mother was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. ...

25. John Banner

Actor | Hogan's Heroes

John Banner, who achieved television immortality for his portrayal of the Luftwaffe POW camp guard Sergeant Schultz in the TV series Hogan's Heroes (1965), was born on Tuesday, January 28th, 1910 in Vienna., which in 1938 was then the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The 28-year-old Banner, ...

26. Gene Barry

Actor | The War of the Worlds

With effortless class and elegant charm Gene Barry took '50s and '60s TV by storm, after a rather lackluster start on the musical stage and in films. Born Eugene Klass in New York City on June 14, 1919, to Martin (an amateur violinist), and Eva (an amateur singer), he showed a gift at an early age ...

27. Sandy Becker

Actor | Captain America

Sandy Becker was born on February 19, 1922 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Captain America (1966), Robert Montgomery Presents (1950) and King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960). He was married to Cherie. He died on April 9, 1996 in Remsenburg, New York, USA.

28. Terry Becker

Actor | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Terry Becker was born on August 5, 1921 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), The Thirsty Dead (1974) and Mission: Impossible (1966). He was married to Erlinda Ver Cruz Smith and Jeanetta May Lewis. He died on December 30, ...

29. Michael Bell

Actor | The Transformers: The Movie

Michael Bell is an American voice actor who is known for voicing Gleeman Vox from Ratchet: Deadlocked, Raziel from The Legacy of Kain video game series, Chas Finster and Dru Pickles from Rugrats and several Smurfs from The Smurfs cartoon. He also voiced in The Transformers: The Movie, Challenge of ...

30. Richard Belzer

Actor | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

A social misfit, Belzer was kicked out of every school he ever attended, due to his uncontrollable wit. His mother (Frances) died of breast cancer when Richard was 18. Four years later, his father (Charles) committed suicide. A dedication is written to Charles Belzer in Richard Belzer's "UFOs, JFK,...

31. H. Jon Benjamin

Actor | Archer

Harry Jon Benjamin is an American actor, voice actor and comedian from Worcester, Massachusetts who is known for playing Bob Belcher from Bob's Burgers, Sterling Archer from Archer, the Mothmonsterman from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a trainer from Not Another Teen Movie, a Can of Vegetables from Wet ...

32. Jack Benny

Actor | The Jack Benny Program

The son of a saloon keeper, Jack Benny (born Benny Kubelsky) began to study the violin at the age six, and his "ineptness" at it, would later become his trademark (in reality, he was a very accomplished player). When given the opportunity to play in live theatre professionally, Benny quit school ...

33. Paul Ben-Victor

Actor | The Wire

Paul Ben-Victor is an internationally recognized actor whose career spans four decades on stage, film, and television which includes his iconic performance as the Greek mobster Spiros Vondas on the acclaimed HBO series THE WIRE which has been called the greatest series of all-time.

One of the film ...

34. Abraham Benrubi

Actor | Christmas Bloody Christmas

Abraham Benrubi was born on October 4, 1969 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He is an actor, known for Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022), Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990) and ER (1994).

35. Robby Benson

Actor | Beauty and the Beast

Robby Benson is an American writer, director, composer, lyricist, actor, professor of film, filmmaker and novelist. He began his career in the theater, (Oliver, The King and I); on Broadway (co-starring in Zelda, The Rothschilds and Joseph Papp's The Pirates of Penzance, where he met and fell in ...

36. Milton Berle

Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Milton Berle was an American comedian and actor.

Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theatre (1948-55), he was the first major American television star and ...

37. Warren Berlinger

Actor | The Cannonball Run

Warren Berlinger was born on August 31, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Cannonball Run (1981), The Long Goodbye (1973) and The World According to Garp (1982). He was married to Betty Lou Keim. He died on December 2, 2020 in Santa Clarita, California, ...

38. Shelley Berman

Actor | You Don't Mess with the Zohan

Shelley Berman began studying acting shortly after he was honorably discharged from the US navy. He enrolled as a drama student at Chicago's Goodman Theater, where he met Sarah Herman, another aspiring thespian. They fell in love and were married in 1947. After graduating from the Goodman Theater, ...

39. Herschel Bernardi

Actor | Peter Gunn

The character actor Herschel Bernardi was born into a theatrical family on October 30, 1923, in New York, New York. The Yiddish-language theater in the United States was centered in New York City's Lower East Side, on Second Avenue, and the Bernardi family were stage people who plied their craft in...

40. Joe Besser

Actor | The Desert Hawk

Joe Besser was born on August 12, 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. Short, chubby, balding, childish character actor who began his career on the vaudeville circuit before breaking into films in the early 1930s. He was a frequent foil of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their films and played Stinky on ...

41. Turhan Bey

Actor | The Mummy's Tomb

Popular leading man in 1940's Hollywood who, with his suave demeanor, exotically handsome looks and well-modulated voice, was first called upon to portray mysterious or villainous characters. Soon he would be teamed with other "exotics" (e.g. Maria Montez and Sabu) in a series of escapist ...

42. Theodore Bikel

Actor | My Fair Lady

Theodore Bikel is one of the most versatile and respected actors and performers of his generation. A master of languages, dialects and accents, he has played every sort of film villain and semi-bad guy imaginable, and always adds depth, dimension and even sympathy to characters that would end up as...

43. Joey Bishop

Actor | The Joey Bishop Show

Perpetually glum standup comedian Joey Bishop was born Joseph Abraham Gottlieb on February 3, 1918, in the Bronx, New York. He was the youngest of five children of Chana "Anna" (Siegel) and Jacob Gottlieb, a bicycle repairman. His father was an Austrian Jewish immigrant and his mother was a ...

44. Jack Black

Actor | School of Rock

Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black was born on August 28, 1969 in Santa Monica, California and raised in Hermosa Beach, California to Judith Love Cohen & Thomas William Black, both satellite engineers. He is of Russian Jewish & British-German ancestry. Black attended the University of California at Los ...

45. Mel Blanc

Actor | Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Mel Blanc, known as "The Man of Thousand Voices" is regarded as the most prolific actor to ever work in Hollywood with over a thousand screen credits. He developed and performed nearly 400 distinct character voices with precision and a uniquely expressive vocal range. The legendary specialist from ...

46. Noel Blanc

Actor | Tiny Toon Adventures

Noel Blanc was born on October 19, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Tiny Toon Adventures (1990), Family Guy (1999) and Ounce of Prevention (1982). He has been married to Katherine Hushaw since May 31, 1998. He was previously married to Martha Smith and ...

47. Steve Blum

Actor | Star Wars Rebels

With hundreds of V/O credits to his name, Veteran Voice Monkey Steve Blum is best known as the voice of "Spike Spiegel" from Cowboy Bebop, "Wolverine" from several incarnations of X-Men (animated movies, games, the Wolverine and the X-Men TV Series, The Super Hero Squad Show, X-Men Anime and more),...

48. Larry Blyden

Actor | On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

Genial, dark-haired, often bespectacled Ivan Lawrence Blieden (pronounced Blee-den), better known as actor Larry Blyden, was born in Houston, Texas, the son of a lawyer. He developed an early interest in acting, appearing in various theater productions as a teen but never entertained the notion of ...

49. Jonah Bobo

Actor | Zathura: A Space Adventure

Jonah Bobo was born on January 24, 1997 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005), Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) and Disconnect (2012).

50. Sorrell Booke

Actor | The Dukes of Hazzard

Sorrell Booke was born in Buffalo, New York in 1930, the son of a local physician. He found his calling early in life, like most actors, when his family encouraged him to entertain relatives by doing impressions and telling jokes. He went on to study at Yale and Columbia University, and mastered ...

51. Richard Boone

Actor | Have Gun - Will Travel

Richard Allen Boone was born in Los Angeles, California, to Cecile Lillian (Beckerman) and Kirk Etna Boone, a wealthy corporate lawyer. His maternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, while his father was descended from a brother of frontiersmen Daniel Boone and Squire Boone.

Richard was a...

52. Tom Bosley

Actor | Happy Days

Tom Bosley was born on October 1, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Happy Days (1974), The Back-up Plan (2010) and Yours, Mine and Ours (1968). He was married to Patricia Carr and Jean Eliot. He died on October 19, 2010 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.

53. Zach Braff

Actor | Garden State

Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, to Anne Hutchinson (Maynard), a clinical psychologist, and Harold Irwin Braff, a trial attorney. His father is from Russia and Austria, while Zach's mother is from a family with deep roots in New England. Zach attended Columbia High School...

54. Michael Bowen

Actor | Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Michael Bowen Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Nicolas Cage's romantic rival, Tommy, in the cult classic Valley Girl (1983), Danny Pickett on the ABC series Lost, and Jack Welker on the AMC series Breaking Bad. Bowen is the only son of Beat painter Michael Bowen Sr. and ...

55. Matthew Broderick

Actor | The Producers

A slight comic actor chiefly known for his boyish charm, Matthew Broderick was born on March 21, 1962 in New York City, to Patricia Broderick (née Biow), a playwright and painter, and James Broderick, an actor. His father had Irish and English ancestry, and his mother was from a Jewish family (from...

56. Adrien Brody

Actor | The Pianist

Adrien Nicholas Brody was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York, the only child of retired history professor Elliot Brody and Hungarian-born photographer Sylvia Plachy. He accompanied his mother on assignments for the Village Voice, and credits her with making him feel comfortable in front of the ...

57. Adam Brody

Actor | The O.C.

Adam Jared Brody was born and raised in San Diego, California, the son of Valerie Jill (Siefman), a graphic artist, and Mark Alan Brody, a lawyer. His parents, both originally from Michigan, are both from Jewish families (from Russia and Poland). Adam spent a lot of his teen years hanging out with ...

58. J. Edward Bromberg

Actor | The Mark of Zorro

J. Edward Bromberg was a founding member of the legendary Group Theatre. His appearance being rather short and stocky, Bromberg from the start was known as a character actor who was very respected by his peers. He was primarily a stage actor but in the mid-thirties made his way into film where he ...

59. Albert Brooks

Actor | Drive

Albert Brooks was born on July 22, 1947 in Beverly Hills, California, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Drive (2011), Broadcast News (1987) and Defending Your Life (1991). He has been married to Kimberly Shlain since March 15, 1997. They have two children.

60. Mel Brooks

Actor | Spaceballs

Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...

61. William Bryant

Actor | King Dinosaur

William Bryant was born on January 31, 1924 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for King Dinosaur (1955), Hondo (1967) and Gable and Lombard (1976). He was married to Patricia. He died on June 26, 2001 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

62. George Burns

Actor | Oh, God!

George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and published author. He formed a comedy duo with his wife Gracie Allen (1895-1964), and typically played the straight man to her zany roles. Following her death, Burns started appearing as a solo performer. He once won an Academy Award for Best...

63. Pesach Burstein

Actor | Havu Banot L'Eilat

Pesach Burstein was born on April 15, 1896 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was an actor, known for Girls' Paradise Eilat (1964) and De Mike Burstyn show (1978). He was married to Lillian Lux. He died on April 6, 1986 in New York City, New York, USA.

64. Red Buttons

Actor | Pete's Dragon

Although Red Buttons is best known as a stand-up comic, he is also a successful songwriter, an Academy Award-winning actor (and has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards) and an accomplished singer. Born Aaron Chwatt in New York City's Lower East Side, Buttons (who got his name from a uniform ...

65. James Caan

Actor | Thief

A masculine and enigmatic actor whose life and movie career have had more ups and downs than the average rollercoaster and whose selection of roles has arguably derailed him from achieving true superstar status, James Caan is New York-born and bred.

He was born in the Bronx, to Sophie (Falkenstein) ...

66. Sid Caesar

Actor | Grease

Comedian, saxophonist, composer, actor and musician, he performed within the orchestras of Charlie Spivak, Shep Fields and Claude Thornhill as saxophonist. Later, as super-hip jazz musician "Cool Cees" in television skits, he played tenor saxophone, and sang with the satirical trio "The Hair Cuts" ...

67. Howard Caine

Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg

At the age of 13, Howard Caine (family name Cohen) moved with his family from his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, to New York City, where he began studying acting. Learning to erase his Southern accent, he went on to became a master of 32 foreign and American dialects. After service in the Navy ...

68. Eddie Cantor

Soundtrack | Kid Millions

Singer, songwriter ("Merrily We Roll Along"), comedian, author and actor, educated in public schools. He made his first public appearance in Vaudeville in 1907 at New York's Clinton Music Hall, then became a member of the Gus Edwards Gang, later touring vaudeville with Lila Lee as the team Cantor &...

69. Morris Carnovsky

Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac

Morris Carnovsky was one of the more prominent victims of the Hollywood blacklist, being named as a Communist party member by both Elia Kazan -- the most infamous of the informers who sang before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the era blacklistee Lillian Hellman called the "Scoundrel...

70. Jack Carter

Actor | History of the World: Part I

Jack Carter was born on June 24, 1922 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for History of the World: Part I (1981), Alligator (1980) and Amazing Stories (1985). He was married to Roxanne Wander, Paula Stewart and Joan Mann. He died on June ...

71. Jeff Chandler

Actor | Broken Arrow

Jeff was born in Brooklyn and attended Erasmus High School. After high school, he took a drama course and worked in stock companies for two years. His next role was that of an officer in World War II. After he was discharged from the service, he became busy acting in radio dramas and comedies until...

72. Maury Chaykin

Actor | My Cousin Vinny

The award-winning Canadian-American character actor Maury Chaykin was born on July 27, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Professor Irving J. Chaykin and his wife Clarice. Irving Chaykin, an American citizen, taught accountancy at the City College of New York. The former Clarice Bloomfield, his...

73. Dane Clark

Actor | Destination Tokyo

Dane Clark was born Bernard Elliot Zanville in Brooklyn, New York City, to Rose (Korostoff) and Samuel Zanville, who were Russian Jewish immigrants. He graduated from Cornell University and St. John's Law School (Brooklyn). When he had trouble finding work in the mid-1930s he tried boxing, baseball,...

74. Robert Clary

Actor | The Bold and the Beautiful

Born in France, Robert Clary early suffered the pangs of war, being interned in a Nazi concentration camp as a child. After WWII he became a singing star in France, and in 1949 came to the United States to promote his career. He appeared on The Ed Wynn Show (1949); still learning English he ...

75. Andrew Dice Clay

Actor | The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

Andrew Dice Clay was born on September 29, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990), Blue Jasmine (2013) and A Star Is Born (2018). He has been married to Valerie Silverstein since February 14, 2010. He was ...

76. Lee J. Cobb

Actor | 12 Angry Men

Lee J. Cobb, one of the premier character actors in American film for three decades in the post-World War II period, was born Leo Jacoby in New York City's Lower East Side on December 8, 1911. The son of a Jewish newspaper editor, young Leo was a child prodigy in music, mastering the violin and the...

77. Irwin Corey

Actor | The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Professor Irwin Corey, "The World's Foremost Authority," was born on July 29, 1914, in Brooklyn, New York. He and his five siblings were wards of the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and during the Great Depression, he worked for the Civilian Conservation Corp. Possessing brawn as well as brains, ...

78. Rod Colbin

Actor | John Hus

Rod Colbin was born on December 23, 1923 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for John Hus (1977), Torchlight (1984) and Remington Steele (1982). He was married to Annemarie. He died on February 4, 2007 in Denver, Colorado, USA.

79. Ricardo Cortez

Actor | The Maltese Falcon

Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob Krantz in New York City, New York, the son of Sarah (Lefkowitz) and Moses/Morris Krantz, Austrian Jewish immigrants who moved to New York just before he was born. His brother was cinematographer Stanley Cortez, who also changed his surname. Cortez worked a number of ...

80. Peter Coyote

Actor | Bitter Moon

Peter Coyote was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA as Robert Peter Cohon to Ruth (Fidler) and Morris Cohon, an investment banker. He is an actor, known for Bitter Moon (1992), Sphere (1998) and Patch Adams (1998). Coyote was previously married to Stefanie Pleet and Marilyn McCann.

81. David Cross

Actor | Arrested Development

David Cross is an American actor, writer and comedian who is known for playing Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development, Minion from Megamind, Crane from Kung Fu Panda, Ian Hawke from Alvin and the Chipmunks, Yivo from Futurama and Happy Time Harry from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He also acted in Grand ...

82. Billy Crystal

Actor | Forget Paris

Billy Crystal was born on March 14, 1948 in Manhattan, New York, and was raised on Long Island. He is the youngest of three sons born to Helen (Gabler) and Jack Crystal. His father was a well-known concert promoter who co-founded Commodore Records and his mother was a homemaker. His family were ...

83. Tony Curtis

Actor | Some Like It Hot

Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz, the eldest of three children of Helen (Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Curtis himself admits that while he had almost no formal education, he was a student of the "school of hard knocks" and learned from a young age that the only ...

84. Howard Da Silva

Actor | The Lost Weekend

Howard da Silva was one of 324 actors, writers and directors who fell victim to the Hollywood blacklisting of the early 1950s, and had his career halted in the blink of an eye. Originally was a steelworker before making his stage debut at age 20 in New York. He made a name for himself on Broadway ...

85. Rodney Dangerfield

Actor | Back to School

Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and Phillip Cohen, who performed in vaudeville under the name Phil Roy. His father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and ...

86. Larry David

Producer | Curb Your Enthusiasm

Lawrence Gene David is an American comedian, writer, actor, director, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom Seinfeld, on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for the HBO series Curb Your ...

87. Ray Danton

Actor | The Longest Day

Handsome and smooth natured leading man who often played oily individuals, Ray Danton was born in New York and dramatically trained at Carnegie Tech. First debuted on-screen as a moody Native American in Chief Crazy Horse (1955) and regularly guest-starred in many 1950s TV shows including Playhouse...

88. Sammy Davis Jr.

Actor | The Cannonball Run

Sammy Davis Jr. was often billed as the "greatest living entertainer in the world".

He was born in Harlem, Manhattan, the son of dancer Elvera Davis (née Sanchez) and vaudeville star Sammy Davis Sr.. His father was African-American and his mother was of Cuban and African-American ancestry. Davis Jr....

89. Jason Davis

Actor | Rush Hour

Jason Davis was born on October 14, 1984 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Rush Hour (1998), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) and Recess (1997). He died on February 16, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

90. Jack DeLeon

Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

Jack DeLeon was born on December 19, 1924 in New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Temptress (1995) and Allyson Is Watching (1997). He died on October 16, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

91. Don Devlin

Producer | The Witches of Eastwick

Born February 26, 1930, The Bronx, N.Y. He was a graduate of De Witt Clinton High School, Bedford Park, Bronx, N.Y. He served in United States Army service 1947-1948. He was a member of Greenwich Village Dramatic Workshop, 1950; actor 1955 to 1960; was writer-producer 1960 to 1990. Father of ...

92. Don Diamond

Actor | Zorro

Brooklyn-born Don Diamond's most famous role is probably that of the scheming and ambitious, but inept and somewhat cowardly, underling Crazy Cat to Frank DeKova's Chief Wild Eagle in the cult western comedy series F Troop (1965). By the time he got that role he had been an actor for quite some ...

93. Dustin Diamond

Actor | Saved by the Bell

Attended Zion Lutheran School in Anaheim, California. While in fifth grade, he portrayed 8th-grader Samuel "Screech" Powers in the television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1987), which evolved into Saved by the Bell (1989) and its various television movies and spin-offs. Also appeared in the ...

94. Kirk Douglas

Actor | The Final Countdown

Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...

95. Richard Dreyfuss

Actor | The Goodbye Girl

Richard Dreyfuss is an American leading man, who has played his fair share of irritating pests and brash, ambitious hustlers.

He was born Richard Stephen Dreyfus in Brooklyn, New York, to Geraldine (Robbins), an activist, and Norman Dreyfus, a restaurateur and attorney. His paternal grandparents ...

96. Zac Efron

Actor | High School Musical 3: Senior Year

Zachary David Alexander Efron was born October 18, 1987 in San Luis Obispo, California, to Starla Baskett, a secretary, and David Efron, an electrical engineer. He has a younger brother, Dylan. The surname "Efron", which is Hebrew and a Biblical place name, comes from Zac's Polish Jewish paternal ...

97. Jesse Eisenberg

Actor | The Social Network

Curly haired and with a fast-talking voice, Jesse Eisenberg is a movie actor, known for his Academy Award nominated role as Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network. He has also starred in the films The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, The Education of Charlie Banks, 30 Minutes or ...

98. Danny Elfman

Music_department | The Nightmare Before Christmas

As Danny Elfman was growing up in the Los Angeles area, he was largely unaware of his talent for composing. It wasn't until the early 1970s that Danny and his older brother Richard Elfman started a musical troupe while in Paris; the group "Mystic Knights of Oingo-Boingo" was created for Richard's ...

99. Biff Elliot

Actor | The Enemy Below

Biff Elliot was born on July 26, 1923 in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for The Enemy Below (1957), I, the Jury (1953) and Planet of the Apes (1974). He was married to Constance Karen Bandy and Elizabeth Alice Dole. He died on August 15, 2012 in Studio City, Los Angeles, ...

100. Michael Emerson

Actor | Saw

Michael Emerson was born on September 7, 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. He is an actor, known for Saw (2004), Lost (2004) and Person of Interest (2011). He has been married to Carrie Preston since September 5, 1998.