Jeremy Allen White is having a moment. Ever since “The Bear” debuted in 2022 people just cannot get enough the actor.
“Yes, chef” has turned into ubiqitous slogan of his hotness, photos of him in character as Carmy have become memes and Twitter rejoiced when Jeremy won a Golden Globe and Emmy for the show. The mania extends beyond the show as well. People cannot stop talking about White’s sexy couch ad for Calvin Klein. Seemingly everyone wants to know about his divorce and subsequent relationship with Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía. And of course, the Jewish community can’t stop asking: “Is Jeremy Allen White Jewish?”
As Wikipedia doesn’t hold the answer, let’s investigate!
First step, let’s quickly define what we’re looking for. In order to determine that Jeremy Allen White is Jewish, we’re looking to check at least one of two boxes. Does Jeremy Allen White identify as culturally or religiously Jewish? And/or, does Jeremy Allen White have Jewish ancestry? If the answer to either of those questions is a resounding yes, the man is a Jew!
Let’s start with the first question: Does Jeremy Allen White identify as culturally or religiously Jewish? Unfortunately, there’s nothing I’ve been able to find online which definitively points to this. It seems that Jeremy Allen White hasn’t explicitly discussed his religion publicly, nor has he shared anything on his social media which would suggest he engages in Jewish religious or cultural practices. Instead, looking at his mother’s Facebook page, there is a photo of Jeremy and his sister as children celebrating Christmas. Additionally, in December 2023, Jeremy shared that his own kids “are very into Santa” and that he “loves Christmas.” Which, of course, isn’t definitive. His oldest daughter is named Ezer, a Hebrew word meaning “help,” after all. Still, it’s not promising.
So, let’s move to the second question. Does Jeremy Allen White have Jewish ancestry? Well, according to IMDb, Jeremy is of Ukrainian, English, German, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish and distant Dutch descent. Of all those ethnicities, Ukrainian and German are the most promising for potential Jewish lineage, so let’s dig a little deeper. Also per IMDb, Jeremy’s Ukrainian heritage comes from his paternal grandmother, Ellen. Unfortunately for us, this part of his family tree isn’t Ashkenazi. A peruse of Jeremy Allen White’s page on EthniCelebs.com (for the record, I am cringing at that name) reveals the claim that his paternal grandmother’s family was Russian Orthodox. This is backed up by her obituary in the Philadelphia Inquirer which states that she was as the daughter of Russian Orthodox immigrants and became a Quaker later in life.
OK, no dice. Moving on to the German ancestry…
It seems that at least part of Jeremy’s German heritage comes from his mother’s side because, intriguingly, her last name is Ziegler. Coming from the Old German word for a brick or tile, the last name “Ziegler” has the potential to be either a German Jewish last name (like the fictional “West Wing” character Toby Ziegler) or a last name that is just German (like “Dance Moms” stars’ Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler). However, there is ultimately no evidence to suggest that his family is anything other than just German.
But I can kind of understand why some might think he’s Jewish. If we’re going off of appearance alone — a method I don’t endorse, by the way — the argument could be made that Jeremy’s curly hair, larger-than-average nose and short stature makes him look stereotypically Ashkenazi. In fact, many on the internet have pointed out that Jeremy Allen White looks like he could be related to actor Gene Wilder, who was Jewish. But while the resemblance between them is undeniable, the pair are not actually related.
More confusion can also come from the fact that he’s professionally associated with plenty of Jewish actors. White played siblings with Emmy Rossum on “Shameless.” On “The Bear,” his Carmy and Ebon Moss-Bachrach‘s Ritchie are a dynamic cousin duo. And in “The Iron Claw,” he starred alongside Zac Efron.
All that said, ultimately…
Verdict: No, chef. As far as I can tell, Jeremy Allen White is not Jewish.
