Printer Friendly

Email to A Friend

Thursday October 11, 2007

Celebrities

by nate bloom

Gridiron Hebrews

Here is my roundup of this season’s NFL Jewish players, prepared with the help of Jewish Sports Review newsletter. Included are players with at least one Jewish parent who were raised Jewish or “nothing” and, when contacted by the Review, had no objection to being included as a Jewish athlete.

The returning players lineup: Lennie Friedman, offensive lineman, Cleveland Browns. Friedman is now in his ninth NFL season; David Binn, a U.C. Berkeley alum, long snapper, San Diego Chargers. Last season Binn was a Pro Bowl player; Igor Olshansky, defensive end, San Diego. A top player, Igor is a religious Jew who grew up in San Francisco; Sage Rosenfels, quarterback, Houston Texans. Sage had a great season in 2006 and may yet start in 2007; Mike Seidman, tight end, Indianapolis Colts; Mike Rosenthal, offensive tackle, Miami Dolphins; Antonio Garay, defensive tackle, Chicago Bears; Josh Miller, punter, Tennessee Titans. Although still a good punter, Miller was cut by the New England Patriots in August. He was signed by the Titans on Sept. 22. Miller has often appeared at Jewish community events. (As I write this, Rosenthal and Seidman are on the injured-reserve list.)

The one rookie is Adam Podlesh, punter, Jacksonville Jaguars. Adam was named the team’s starting punter and has played in every game this season.

Portman sightings

As you might have heard, a big crowd turned out to see a radiant-looking Natalie Portman when she recently spoke at U.C. Berkeley as part of her campus tour promoting the Foundation for International Community Assistance, a nonprofit microfinance organization. (See www.villagebanking.org for more information.)

Portman stars with Jason Schwartzman in Wes Anderson’s short film “Hotel Chevalier.” It is a prologue to Anderson’s feature film “The Darjeeling Limited,” which opens in theaters Friday, Oct. 12. The film is a first for Portman in one sense: she bares her tush, breaking her “pledge” never to appear nude on film.

Portman has a cameo role in “Darjeeling,” which co-stars Owen Wilson, Schwartzman and Adrien Brody as three brothers on a train trip across part of India. Schwartzman, the son of actress Talia Coppola Shire, is Jewish on his father’s side. His first major role was in Wes Anderson’s 1998 hit film “Rushmore,” and his uncle is Napa Valley-based director Francis Ford Coppola.

New season, new drama, new Jews

“Cane,” an NBC series, premiered on Sept. 25 and airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. It is a melodrama about the struggles within the Duque family, a large Cuban American clan whose immense wealth is built on sugar plantations. Beautiful blonde Israeli actress Alona Tal, 23, who had a regular role on “Veronica Mars,” plays Rebecca, the girlfriend of one of the Duques. Tal learned English very young and speaks with no accent. She did her national service in an Israeli army theater unit that entertained the troops.

“Life,” which began on ABC on Sept. 26, stars Damian Lewis as a police detective who returns to the force after spending years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Adam Arkin (“Chicago Hope”) plays Lewis’ former cellmate and best friend. Robin Weigert, 37, plays a tough police lieutenant who oversees Lewis’ unit. The very attractive Weigert is best known for her Emmy-nominated role as the very unattractive Calamity Jane on “Deadwood.” Last year I spoke to Weigert, who is a Brandeis University graduate. Although she isn’t religious, she talked intelligently about a variety of Jewish-related topics. (Wednesdays, 10 p.m.)

Columnist Nate Bloom , an Oaklander, can be reached at middleoftheroad1@aol.com.

Did you find this article interesting? Subscribe to our FREE newsletter and you'll be notified each week when "J." goes online. We'll tell you about the most important stories of the week and give you a link to each one.

This page contains a BETA version of Amazon contextual links. They are marked by the dashed underline.  Your purchases support our site. At times they point to items which are not related to the actual link. Please alert us by email if you discover objectionable links.