Lisa Edelstein talks about Jewish identity and painting
In the United States, actress and artist Lisa Edelstein spoke about the influence of Jewish identity on her roles, family life and painting. She plays the matriarch Naomi in Netflix’s animated series Long Story Short, about three generations of a Jewish family, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Edelstein grew up in the Conservative Jewish tradition: her family observed kosher rules, celebrated Shabbat and attended synagogue. In her younger years, she moved away from the traditions, but returned to them after meeting her husband, artist Robert Russell. The couple hosted Shabbat evenings for his sons: first with hip-hop lessons and later with Dungeons & Dragons.
Stereotypes and acting career
The actress also recalled experiences of antisemitism and widespread stereotypes about Jewish women in her childhood and youth. While studying drama at New York University, she used the stage name Lisa E for a time because she was unsure how her surname, Edelstein, would be received.
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Later, while working on the AIDS musical Positive Me, Edelstein decided to perform under her own name. According to her, producers later told her that in some cases she was not cast because she was considered “too Jewish.” At the same time, some of her characters in television projects acquired a Jewish identity, including Abby in the series Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce.
Painting from family photographs
Painting became Edelstein’s second creative pursuit. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she began working with old family photographs that she received while helping her parents reduce the amount of their belongings. At first, the actress created works with markers, later moving on to watercolors and oil paints.
Edelstein has held four exhibitions, and two of her works have entered museum collections. She explained that in photographs she primarily seeks a hidden narrative about people and their relationships. Jewish subjects became a conscious part of her art even before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and afterward she decided to include such works in every exhibition.
