The year is 2003, and a very interesting new show has just started airing on Fox. It tells the story of an affluent blended family who often go up against their narrow-minded SoCal community, and it will soon become a hugely popular cultural phenomenon.
We are, of course, talking about “The O.C.” and the show’s lovable interfaith Jewish family, the Cohens. “The O.C.” brought more than just Chrismukkah to the spotlight, however. It also provided a breakout role for Jewish actor Adam Brody, who played geeky, yet cute teen Seth Cohen.
“The O.C.” has been off the air for more than 20 years now, but thankfully, Adam Brody hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, the upcoming show “Fleishman Is in Trouble” features Adam as — get this — a character named Seth!
To celebrate our Jewish king of teen dramas, here are 18 things to know about Adam Brody.
1. Adam was born on December 15, 1979 in San Diego to a Jewish family.
2. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent with ancestors coming from Russia and Poland.
3. Adam had a secular Jewish upbringing.
“I’m not religious but both my parents are Jewish. I was bar mitzvahed, and we celebrate Hanukah,” Adam once told a reporter.
4. Adam attended Scripps Ranch High School.
5. Adam dropped out of college at age 19 to move to Hollywood and pursue acting!
Of the move, he said, “It was really cool when I moved to Hollywood. There are so many Jews, and I immediately liked the camaraderie with people who had the same heritage. It felt good.”
6. Before “The O.C.,” Adam played Dave Rygalski on “Gilmore Girls.”
7. In this speech from “The O.C.,” Adam introduced the world to Chrismukkah, and for that, we could not be more thankful:
8. He also improvised some of his own jokes for the show!
“He tested the limits of TV meta-humor, injecting his own sarcasm, indie rock sensibility and comic book obsession into the character,” The Los Angeles Times wrote, adding, “Even as he was being swept along by the melodramatic plotlines, he improvised jokes that reflected viewers’ observations about the outlandish Newport-set soap opera and the actors who inhabited it.”
9. Around this time, Adam also began appearing in movies like “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “Thank You for Smoking,” “In the Land of Women” and “Jennifer’s Body.”
10. In “Jennifer’s Body,” Adam played rocker Nikolai Wolf whose song “Through the Trees” becomes a big hit after a satanic ritual.
Here’s the song:
11. Here, have Adam Brody reading thirsty tweets, as a treat:
12. In 2014, Adam married “Gossip Girl” star Leighton Meester! Together they have a daughter and a son.
Just look at this early 2000s teen drama power couple:
Adorable!
13. The pair have also laughed about the idea of Blair Waldorf and Seth Cohen, their respective characters from the early 2000s, getting together.
14. Additionally, Adam has said that he wants to celebrate both Jewish and Christian traditions with his children. (Leighton Meester isn’t Jewish.)
“Hanukkah and Christmas, those things are fun,” he said. “I wouldn’t want [them] to miss anything that’s fun.”
15. He loves surfing! Adam grew up surfing and got back into after a decade-long break. Now he surfs his “brains out” with his wife.
When asked about surfing by Stephen Colbert, Adam admitted that he isn’t afraid of sharks!
16. On the set of “Mrs. America,” where he played Marc Feigen-Fasteau (alongside Jewish actress Ari Graynor), he had a very special request:
My hair was so in character on this that it made everyone on set call it Marc’s hair. pic.twitter.com/dVwxxBnqv4
— Adam Brody (@Handlebrody) April 30, 2020
Incredible stuff. Let’s hear it for Adam Brody’s hair, everyone!
17. Adam was named 2022’s Sexiest Man Alive by Gawker!
“According to People magazine, ‘If you were to tell a middle school-aged Chris Evans that he would one day be named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, “he’d be pumped!”‘ Well, if you were to tell a middle school-aged Adam Brody that he would one day be named Gawker’s Sexiest Man Alive, we don’t know what he would say. He mostly keeps to himself, and that is in part why he is our sexiest man,” Gawker wrote.
However, Gawker then promptly took the award back after Maxwell Alejandro Frost was elected as a new congressman in Florida. But no worries, Adam, you are definitely Hey Alma’s Sexiest Man Alive for 2022.
18. Adam isn’t the only Jewish actor in “Fleishman Is In Trouble.” He’s starring alongside Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan and Josh Radnor!
Check out the trailer:
