18 Things to Know About Juliana Harkavy

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juliana harkavy

Juliana Harkavy started acting when she was 10 years old. 10! Imagine! The Dominican Jewish actress broke through as the Black Canary on the CW superhero show Arrow, joining a long line of Jewish actresses to portray superheroes. She’s now set to star in a spin-off of the show about the Canarys, Green Arrow & the Canaries.

Here are 18 things you should know about Juliana Harkavy:

1. Juliana was born in NYC on New Year’s Day to a Catholic mom, Berta Carela, and a Jewish dad, Michael Harkavy.

2. She has one younger brother, August, who is 13 years younger than her. This is a very sweet slideshow:

3. Berta, her mom, is an artist, writer, and educator from Santo Domingo, and Michael, her dad, is a Brooklyn native. Here’s Juliana and her dad at Juliana’s wedding:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkK1pQzD9bf/

4. Her parents seem to have since separated; her mom re-married in July 2018.

5. As a self-identified Dominican Jew, she tweeted she is “born to eat and worry.”

 

6. She started acting at age 10. Here are her very early headshots:

7. Her first acting job ever was in A Little Princess, but the scene was later cut:

8. She attended Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, a French high school, and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she majored in theater.

9. In 2014, she married Peter Kupchick, the son of Connecticut state representative Brenda Kupchick.

10. She’s starred in the films If You Only Knew, Whatever Lola Wants, Last Shift, and To Write Love on Her Arms.

11. In 2013, she had a two-episode arc on The Walking Dead, as a survivor named Alisha.

12. Her big break was on Arrow, as Dinah Drake/Black Canary. She started as a recurring role, but then became a main role.

“When I auditioned for The Black Canary, I only knew I was reading for a new recruit on team Arrow. It wasn’t until I’d booked the role that they told me who I’d be playing,” she explained.

13. Of the final season, she wrote, “I didn’t know this show would have such an outstanding lifespan, or how many people, young and old, I would be able to meet and help through playing this character. Or how they would help me. Most of all, I didn’t know the greatest gift was waiting on the other side of the border. My cast. Who would welcome me with open arms and become my greatest source of strength. My soulmates. My family. And Stephen, our gracious and unwavering leader, to whom I am eternally grateful…. I hope you enjoy this final season. And I hope when you look back, you’ll find this story has moved you, inspired you, and changed you for the better. Because of #Arrow, I have been changed, for good. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 🖤🏹 ”

14. Juliana is getting her own spin-off show, alongside other Arrow stars Katherine McNamara and Kate Cassidy.

15. ” I have struggled with anxiety and depression since I was a teenager. Since I began playing Dinah, both have decreased significantly. I really do think I’m drawing strength from her in my real life,” Juliana told Marie Claire.

16. She is a big advocate for pit bulls; she has two pit bulls of her own. (And three total rescue dogs!)

In response to a campaign against pit bulls, she tweeted, “Your campaign is unfair, untrue, unkind, & could cost wonderful, innocent dogs their homes & lives. Badly behaved dogs are a result of poor ownership, not breed. I have 2 pit bulls & they are the most gentle angels on earth. Ignore the ignorance y’all, adopt a pit!”

17. She’s very good at TikTok for someone who is not a teen.

18. Last but definitely not least: She shares about her Jewish identity on social media, including her relative, Alexander Harkavy, who wrote the first English-Yiddish dictionary:

Very neat!

Photo of Juliana Harkavy in header by by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic.

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