Jewish actor Jonah Hill has been in the public eye for approximately 15 years. Think about that for a second. 15 YEARS!!! His celebrity is 2 years past its bar mitzvah!!
Over the course of that time, Jonah has developed as an actor, gone through many eras of personal style and shared the spotlight with family. Basically, it would be a behemoth task to boil his life down into one article.
But we’re going to try anyway!!
Here are 18 things to know about Jonah Hill:
1. Jonah was born in Los Angeles to Jewish parents, Richard and Sharon Feldstein.
2. Jonah Hill is his stage name — his full name is Jonah Hill Feldstein.
Which leads us to our next thing…
3. His younger sister is the supremely talented Beanie Feldstein!
Here they are as adorable children:
Jonah also had an older brother, Jordan, who unexpectedly passed away in 2017.
4. He had a bar mitzvah which he described as “magical.” And in case you were wondering, the theme of his party was “Jonah Goes Platinum.”
5. When asked by an interviewer if he wanted to be an actor growing up, Jonah responded:
“No. I wanted to be one of the Simpsons. I wanted to live in Springfield.”
Both an incredible answer and an incredibly Jonah answer.
6. After high school he attended The New School and the University of Colorado at Boulder, but did not graduate.
7. Jonah was discovered by actor Dustin Hoffman, the father of a childhood friend.
“I used to make crank phone calls for him,” Hill said in an interview with the Jewish Journal.
Because of these elaborate prank calls, Hoffman though Hill would make a good actor and helped him get a small role in the 2004 film “I Heart Huckabees.”
8. Following his film debut, Hill also landed a brief cameo in the movie “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
You can watch the clip here:
9. Jonah’s breakthrough role, however, came in 2007 as Seth in “Superbad.”
Please enjoy this classic scene:
10. In 2008, Jonah hosted “SNL” for the first time, where he played the role of precocious Jewish six-year-old Adam Grossman.
Please do yourself a favor and watch the Adam Grossman sketches from throughout the years:
11. Jonah’s first more serious, dramatic role was as Peter Brand in “Moneyball.”
“The most challenging scene I ever shot in my life was when Billy asks me to trade [first baseman Carlos] Pena and basically fire him,” Hill told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a 45-second scene, which is not long, but it’s rare you get to see a character grow up in 45 seconds.”
12. Jonah is a self-identified “nice Jewish boy.”
13. One of Jonah’s dreams was to work with director Martin Scorsese — and he achieved that dream in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
14. Jonah Hill is a big proponent of therapy!
15. He has gone on a very public journey of self-acceptance and self-love with his body:
Thanks for sharing this with us, Jonah.
16. Jonah made his directorial debut with the movie “Mid90s.”
“It’s personal in the sense that I felt lonely and alone and needed to find connection outside of my house,” Jonah told NPR. “But that’s not my brother, that’s not my mom… So it’s more just like characters I wanted to create, things that I noticed about people growing up and feelings about growing up.”
17. He made a very brief cameo in the music video for Vampire Weekend’s “Harmony Hall.”
He appears around the 4:42 mark:
Um excuse us, can WE have breakfast foods with Ezra Koenig and Jonah Hill?!
18. Jonah’s last role of 2021 was as Jason Orlean in “Don’t Look Up.”
Jonah’s look as this character is EVERYTHING and honestly so is he.
