B.J. Novak (full name Benjamin Joseph Manaly Novak) is known for a handful of things. He rocketed to stardom in the mid-2000s as Ryan Howard on “The Office,” where he also served as a writer and producer. Since then, he’s written a couple of books and had starring roles on TV and in film, including in Quentin Tarantino’s Holocaust vengeance movie “Inglourious Basterds.”
On the personal side of things, his friendship/relationship/situationship/generally confusing thing with comedian Mindy Kaling has been the subject of media scrutiny. And now, he’s gaining attention after PEOPLE reported that the 45-year-old Novak is dating 28-year-old TikTok star Delaney Rowe.
And while all that is well and good, let’s cut to the chase. Is B.J. Novak Jewish?
It’s time to investigate!
If you’ve been following along with our previous investigations of this nature, you know that we’re looking to check at least one of two boxes. Does B.J. Novak identify as culturally or religiously Jewish? And/or, does B.J. Novak have Jewish ancestry? If the answer to either of those questions is a resounding yes, he’s a member of the tribe!
First, let’s look at Novak’s ancestry. Novak was born to parents Linda (née) Manaly and William Novak in Newton, Massachusetts on July 31, 1979. According to IMDb, both of his parents have Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with family heralding from Romania, Russia and Austria. Well, that’s about as clear cut as it gets! Yes, B.J. Novak has Jewish ancestry.
But what about how B.J. Novak identifies? For some context, Novak had a fairly Jewish upbringing. He attended Jewish day school at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston as a kid (before going to Newton South High School with “Office” co-star John Krasinski) and attended Jewish summer camp at Camp Ramah of New England in his early teenager years. An L.A. Times article from 1992 states that Novak’s parents were deeply entrenched in the Jewish community in Newton, even helping to start a Jewish matchmaking service in the area.
His dad also co-edited “The Big Book of Jewish Humor” in 1981, which influenced Novak’s relationship to comedy. In a 2022 interview, Novak said that Jewish humor became a part of his “language” in his early years. “The Jewish humor was just around us all the time,” he said. In the same interview, Novak explained how his Jewish upbringing has shaped his work today. “I think looking at things with an outsider’s eye is very Jewish,” he said. “I think, ‘How can I somehow outsmart this bad hand I’ve been dealt?’ is the root of a lot of Jewish humor, and I think my favorite type of Jewish humor.”
Other than that, and a trip to Israel in 2018 that was reported on by the Jerusalem Post, there’s not a lot of information out there about how Novak relates to his Jewish identity and if he considers himself to be religious or not.
Regardless…
Verdict: Yes, B.J. Novak is Jewish.
