Jonah Hill

Hill in 2012, photo by PR Photos

Birth Name: Jonah Hill Feldstein

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States

Date of Birth: December 20, 1983

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

Jonah Hill is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian. His roles include the films I Heart Huckabees, Grandma’s Boy, Click, Accepted (2006), 10 Items or Less, Rocket Science, Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, Superbad, Strange Wilderness, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Just Add Water, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Funny People, The Invention of Lying, Cyrus (2010), How to Train Your Dragon, and its sequels; Get Him to the Greek, Megamind, Moneyball, The Sitter, 21 Jump Street, and its sequel, 22 Jump Street; The Watch (2012), This Is the End, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Lego Movie, True Story, Hail, Caesar!; Sausage Party, War Dogs, The Lego Batman Movie, Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot; The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Beach Bum, Don’t Look Up, Stutz, which he directed; You People, which he co-wrote; and Outcome, which he directed and co-wrote; and the shows Campus Ladies, Wainy Days, Allen Gregory, which he co-created and wrote for; and Maniac. He also directed and wrote the film mid90s; and directed the music videos for “Gonna Get Over You,” “Ain’t It Funny,” “Sunlower,” and “Wake Up.”

Jonah is the son of Sharon, a costume designer and fashion stylist, and Richard Feldstein, an accountant. His parents are both Jewish. He is of Russian Jewish, Austrian Jewish, and Ukrainian Jewish descent. Jonah had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony in a Reform temple. He is the brother of music manager Jordan Feldstein and actress Beanie Feldstein (Elizabeth Greer Feldstein).

Jonah is married to Olivia Millar, with whom he has two children.

Jonah is the first male born in the 1980s to have received more than one Academy Award nomination for acting (Eddie Redmayne is the first to fit the criteria to have received two nominations for Best Actor).

Jonah’s paternal grandfather was Daniel “Danny” Feldstein (the son of Herman Harvey Feldstein and Eva Raskin). Daniel was born in New York. Herman was born in Russia/Belarus, to Jewish parents, Isaac Feldstein and Dinah/Dina Resnick/Resick. Eva was born in New York, to Ukrainian Jewish parents, Jacob Raskin and Annie/Anna Balsam/Nassof.

Jonah’s paternal grandmother was Claire M. Rafkin (the daughter of Victor Rafkin and Tillie Bernstein). Claire was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. Claire’s brother, Jonah’s great-uncle, was actor, director, and producer Alan Rafkin (born Alfred Irwin Rafkin). Victor was the son of Louis Rafkin and Freda Cureyon. Tillie was the daughter of Abraham Bernstein and Anna Sinaf/Senata.

Jonah’s maternal grandfather was Richard L. “Dick” Chalkin (the son of Irving Chalkin and Hannah Spitz). Irving was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, Isidore/Isador/Isidor Chalkin and Rose/Rosie Berkowitz/Bencong/Berckovitz. Hannah was born in New York, to Austrian Jewish parents from Galicia, Hyman Spitz and Jannie Wind.

Jonah’s maternal grandmother was Audrey M. Galin (the daughter of Herman Galin and Gertrude “Gertie” Ross). Audrey was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents. Herman was the son of Jacob Galinsky and Eva Moskowitz.

Sources: Interview with Jonah Hill – http://www.nytimes.com

Genealogy of Jonah Hill – http://www.geni.com

Marriage announcement of Jonah’s paternal grandparents, Daniel “Danny” Feldstein and Claire M. Rafkin – https://www.newspapers.com

Jonah’s paternal grandmother, Claire M. Rafkin, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Genealogy of Jonah Hill (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://levinsongenealogy.org