There are a lot of reasons to love the movie “Between the Temples.” To start, there is its inherent Jewishness in telling the story of a cantor helping a woman have a later-in-life bat mitzvah, its “perfect pairing of oddballs” in Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane and the fact that director Nathan Silver was inspired by his mom. And, of course, there is up-and-coming Jewish actress Madeline Weinstein, who plays the rabbi’s daughter.
Here are 18 things to know about Madeline Weinstein.
1. Madeline was born on May 22, 1993 in New York City to a Jewish family.
2. She’s a Gemini!
3. Please enjoy this photo of her as a child with an Orlando Bloom cake:
4. She graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.
5. She is not related to Harvey Weinstein.
6. She made her Broadway debut in 2014 playing Debbie in “The Real Thing” alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ewan McGregor and Cynthia Nixon.
7. Meanwhile, she made her film debut in the 2017 movie “Beach Rats.”
8. Madeline has spoken openly about her struggles with anxiety and OCD.
“I’ve struggled with bad anxiety on and off since right after my freshman year of college. And in the past few years, I realized that I specifically had OCD — and that OCD looks very different for most people than what popular culture would have one believe. Learning more about OCD was incredibly helpful in understanding my brain and the state of, honestly, kind of mental anguish I would find myself stuck in for days or weeks,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
She added, “To everyone, especially if you are battling a mental health struggle that feels unwinnable. I’m so sorry you have to deal with that, and I believe in you and times of joy and peace ahead!”
9. In a New York Times review of the Netflix movie “Alex Strangelove,” in which Madeline stars, reviewer Glenn Kenny wrote, “Ms. Weinstein is a substantial talent who bears close watching.”
We couldn’t agree more.
10. She has two cats! Please enjoy this kitty ASMR from her cat Hal.
11. One Twitter user has a very intriguing theory about her…
a theory: king princess and madeline weinstein are the same person pic.twitter.com/jppuki72u1
— ali (@bmoreali) June 16, 2018
12. Madeline has an impressive theater resume!
Since “The Real Thing,” she was a part of the original Broadway cast of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” played Clara in the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2020 production of “Medea” and will play Rachel in Itamar Moses’ play “The Ally” with Josh Radnor.
13. She can sing and play guitar.
14. In 2021, Madeline participated in the Jewish Plays Project acting in the play “Leo at Yeshiva.”
15. For Madeline, the best part of playing Becca on “Mare of Easttown” was meeting all her “wonderful, brilliant, funny” castmates.
16. On Instagram, Madeline expressed her thanks for being in “Between the Temples.”
“I feel very grateful to have been a part of this movie, Between the Temples, led by an incredible team, including the kindest non-Instagram-having Jason Schwartzman and brilliant Carol Kane,” she wrote in a post.
Going on, “Especially lucky to have gotten to work with my friend and old roommate Nathan Silver, who was nice enough to want me in his movie even though my kittens scratched his mid-century modern chairs. What is better than making art w ppl you love??”
17. The Yiddish word “doikayt,” which means “hereness,” reminds Madeline of “Between the Temples.”
“It’s a really beautiful concept of fully living and making community wherever you are that kind of comes out of diaspora. But I was just thinking about that concept in relation to this movie,” Madeline told Vulture.
18. Listen to Madeline and the cast breakdown their thoughts on the movie, Torah and Judaism here:
