These Celebrities Got Their Start at Jewish Day School – Kveller

In their 2023 study of American Jews, the Pew Research Center found that nearly a quarter of all Jews in the United States attended yeshiva or Jewish day school. All-in-all, that’s a fairly significant number of people in the American Jewish community whose education was geared towards excellence in secular subjects while providing them a deeper connection to Judaism! It’s no surprise then that there are a decent number of Jewish celebrities (American or otherwise) who are on that list.

Read on for the list of Jewish celebrities who attended Jewish day school and what we know about their experiences there.

1. Natalie Portman

Let’s start out the list with someone who attended multiple Jewish day schools: Natalie Portman. Born in Jerusalem as Neta-Lee Hershlag, Natalie’s family moved around quite a bit when she was younger. When she was 3 years old, her family moved to the Washington, D.C. area. There, Natalie briefly attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Maryland. Then, when her family moved to Long Island, she studied at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County. She later graduated high school from Syosset High School.

When Natalie was nominated for an Oscar for “Black Swan” (which she would go on to win), Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School announced, “The faculty/staff commends Ms. Portman on her award and is proud of her reaching the highest achievement in film for an actor/actress.”

2. Ethan Slater

SpongeBob went to Jewish day school?! Well not quite. But the actor who originated him on Broadway did. Ethan Slater, who also recently starred in “Wicked” as Boq Huntsman, attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Though Ethan went on to graduate high school from Georgetown Day School, he continued his Jewish studies through Shoresh Hebrew High.

In 2018, Ethan returned to CESJDS to speak about working on Broadway to the middle school and high school student body.

3. Ralph Lauren

Before he was fashion icon Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lifshitz was a student at yeshivas in the Bronx. Ralph attended Salanter Academy Jewish Day School and Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy. He would go on to graduate from DeWiit Clinton High School in 1957. While at MTA, Ralph allegedly sold ties to his fellow students, perhaps marking his entry into the fashion industry.

4. Nick Kroll

General impressionist genius Nick Kroll attended the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester (now the Lefell School), and a tale from his school days made it to late night! In 2013, Nick told a story on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” about getting pantsed when he was a seventh grader at Solomon Schechter — except, not only did his pants come down, but so did his underwear. Later, this joke would make it into his Netflix special “Little Big Boy.” Nick claims this jumpstarted his comedy career, as did meeting “Big Mouth” collaborator Andrew Goldberg at Jewish day school.

5. Paul Reiser

Of course Paul Reiser, aka Paul Buchman on “Mad About You,” went to Jewish day school! Paul’s parents sent him to East Side Hebrew Institute in the ’60s, “where the sound of hippies playing drums would waft in through the windows of his classes.” ESHI later merged with Park East Synagogue and became Park East Day School.

6. Mitch Albom

Coming from an observant Jewish family, Mitch Albom attended Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy) outside of Philadelphia. While he was there, the author of “Tuesdays with Morrie” and “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” spent the majority of his time studying Hebrew and Aramaic texts. “Have a Little Faith,” a 2009 non-fiction book Mitch wrote when his childhood rabbi asked him to write his eulogy, features some of Mitch’s experience attending day school.

He graduated from Haddon Township High School in 1976.

7. Jake Tapper

Another student at Akiba Hebrew Academy, journalist Jake Tapper was president of his class and a legendary prankster. One year, he drew a cartoon for the school’s yearbook that, when turned sideways, looked like male genitalia. In 2012, Jake gave the school’s commencement address and has said that attending Akiba “continues to shape me personally and professionally.”

8. Leonard Cohen

As poet Laureate of the Jewish experience (a title I came up with just now), it’s perhaps not at all surprising that Leonard Cohen went to Jewish day school. He attended Herzliah High School in Montreal. In 1948 he transferred to Westmount High School. He graduated from Westmount in 1951.

9. Natasha Lyonne

Not only did Natasha Lyonne go to Jewish day school, she got expelled from it. Natasha went to Ramaz High School on the Upper East Side on a scholarship, reading Talmud in the original Aramaic. However, she was eventually kicked out for selling marijuana. The “Orange Is the New Black” and “Russian Doll” star did not mince words about her experience in a 2015 interview with Tablet. “[Ramaz] was an atrocious high school environment. Organized religion was in direct correlation with wealth and status. Rabbi Lookstein was my arch nemesis.”

10. Nathan Fielder

Before becoming the awkward, hare-brained comedian we know and love, Nathan Fielder attended Vancouver Talmud Torah. The largest community day school in Canada west of Ontario, Vancouver Talmud Torah serves pre-school age students through 7th grade. While Nathan was at VTT, a Holocaust survivor working with the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre came to speak to the students about their experience. This almost certainly informed the “Nathan For You” and “The Rehearsal” host’s decision to create winter apparel company Summit Ice, which donates 100% of its proceeds to VHEC.

11. Seth Rogen

But Nathan Fielder isn’t the only famous alumni of Vancouver Talmud Torah! Comedian Seth Rogen, of “Pineapple Express” and “The Studio” fame, also attended the Jewish day school. Notably, he critiqued his Jewish education on the Marc Maron podcast “WTF” back in 2020.

12. Selma Blair

Selma Blair, the actress behind Vivian in “Legally Blonde,” attended Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills, Michigan. “Hillel Day School shaped me,” Selma wrote on Instagram after returning to the school for a gala in 2026. “Eight formative years immersed in Torah, Talmud, and history, guided by teachers who didn’t just speak about resilience — they lived it, quietly and powerfully, every day. They passed that strength forward, instilling in me a lifelong love of questioning, of searching, of wanting to understand more deeply.”

13. Jaime Ray Newman

Another alumni of Hillel Day School? “The Hunting Wives” star Jaime Ray Newman. Jaime got her start in acting at the school, playing Ado Annie in a production of “Oklahoma!”

14. Jack Antonoff and Rachel Antonoff

Grammy-winning producer and musician Jack Antonoff and his sister, equally famous fashion designer Rachel Antonoff, attended the Solomon Schechter Day School in Bergen County, New Jersey. “I was just really happy there and I’m not even that extremely religious or observant,” Jack told the Jewish Standard back in 2013 when he was in the band Fun. It was there that Jack formed his first band, a punk rock band called Outline.