15 Celebrities You Didn't Know Were Jewish

15. Daniel Radcliffe

We all know Adam Sandler, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Portman and Harvey Weinstein are Jewish, and it's common knowledge that Hollywood has as many Jews as fish in the sea... but every so often someone comes around that surprises us.

So we here at VirtualJerusalem have compiled a list of the Top 15 People you might not have known were Jewish.

Check out the list, and test your Jewdar - how many of these did you know about?

See? Harry Potter really was the chosen one...!

[Can you tell we're Harry Potter nerds? Sorry, we'll behave.]

It turns out that Daniel Radcliffe, the British star who plays everybody's favorite wizard is also one of the "Chosen People."
[See what we did there? OK. Really. We're stopping now.]

Radcliffe was born in West London, to a Jewish mother and a Protestant father. While Radcliffe himself does not consider himself religious, (stating openly that he is not a fan of any religion,) he connects to his Jewish roots in a different way.
Radcliffe often writes poetry under the pen name of Jacob Gershon, Gershon being the original version of his mother's maiden name.

14. Eric Dane

"Doctor McSteamy" of Grey's Anatomy fame was raised in Northern California in a Jewish home. Dane's wife Reebcca Gayheart, is a Baptist who seems to be a big fan of Judaism and its myriad of traditions, once praising the deliciousness of Passover macaroons and brisket in an interview.

13. Ginnifer Goodwin

The "Big Love" star and fairytale princess from "Once Upon a Time" was raised in a traditional Jewish home in Memphis, Tennesse. Returning to her childhood synagogue after an absence of ten years in May 2013, Ginnifer spoke to the congregation from the podium about what happened when she put Judaism on a shelf, and how she found her way back to her faith.

Ginnifer stated, "I was Jewish by birth... I was SuperJew, and then I up and left Judaism for a very long time. I flew from Memphis ... I flew from Temple... and I flew from my faith. I walked out of Judaism. I had broken my covenant. The only thing Jewish about me was that I felt guilty."

After getting into acting and the Hollywood community, she started to drift away from her Judaism: "I lost this, and I've been trying to find it again," she told the congregants in Memphis. "For 10 years, there was nothing. No ritual. No tradition. No community. I was this new alone thing, a nomad in the world. I was homeless."

Sick of being lost and ready to return to her Jewish roots Ginnifer earnestly asked her childhood Rabbi, "Do I still get to be Jewish?

"It takes a lot of patches to make a patchwork quilt," Rabbi Greenstein wrote back.

Ginnifer has since been working hard to reclaim her Judaism one patch at a time, starting with reintegrating herself into the Jewish Community, planning for a home with mezuzot in every doorway, and "shul shopping."

Kol hakavod lady, we're glad you're back!

12. Marilyn Monroe

The ultimate American sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane, converted to Judaism in 1956 when she married Arthur Miller, the famous Jewish playwright.
After her conversion, the rabbi that facilitated her conversion, Rabbi Robert E. Goldburg stated in a letter that Marilyn was very keen to become Jewish:
"She indicated that she was attracted to Judaism by being impressed with Jewish people that she knew, especially Mr. Miller. She said that she was aware of the great characters that the Jewish people had produced and that she had read selections from Albert Einstein's 'Out of My Later Years'.... She indicated that she was impressed by the rationalism of Judaism - its ethical and prophetic ideals and its concept of close family life."

Good call Marilyn, we're happy to have you!

11. Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul, the sometimes strange and often lovable dancer, choreographer, actress and singer reminds us all of that one weird aunt that we sit next to at the Passover Seder.
Abdul's father, Harry Abdul is a Syrian Jew who interestingly, was raised in Brazil. Abdul's mama is also part of the tribe.

10. Amar'e Stoudemire

This NBA Allstar recently discovered that he has Jewish roots on his mother's side.
After learning more about his ancestors and their culture, Stoudemire made his first trip to Israel in 2010. Now in 2013, Stoudemire is a kosher-keeper and is applying for Israeli citizenship. Although he says he is not a religious person, he is practicing Judaism "spiritually and culturally."
"I didn't grow up in a Jewish home. I never had a bar mitzvah, never celebrated the holy days growing up," Stoudemire said. "I figure, what the scriptures speak about, that's what I celebrate."

9. Judd Apatow

The famous funny man was raised in New York by a Jewish but "nonreligious family." The comedian, writer and producer has identified himself as having the "classic Jewish neurotic people-pleasing personality."

8. Barry Manilow

The legendary singer was born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn, New York. His mother, Edna Manilow, came from a Jewish family, while his father, Harold Pincus, had a Jewish father and Irish American mother. Barry adopted his mother's maiden name- Manilow- at the time of his bar mitzvah.

7. Lisa Kudrow

Everyone's favorite kooky character from Friends was raised in a middle-class Jewish family with an Eastern European background. Kudrow discovered that her paternal great, great grandmother had been murdered during the Holocaust through the TV show "Who Do You Think you Are?," a show that helps celebrities delve into their genealogies.
Kudrow recently opened up to Anderson Cooper about what she discovered. Watch it below.

6. Jason Isaacs

Gasp. Another Harry Potter star whose Jewishness almost escaped us!
Lucius Malfoy-we mean - Jason Isaacs, grew up in a tight Jewish community in Liverpool that his great-grandparents founded, and he even attended a Jewish day school before his parents decided to move Israel.

In a 2011 interview with the Guardian, Isaacs opened up about the "real" reasons his parents did aliyah to the Holy Land.

One night in a deep conversation with his very ill father, the two had "conversations about his childhood" which clarified some things for Isaacs about his father's pull to Israel. He said, "It wasn't only that he'd been engaging with the blackshirts of the Nazi movement when he was 11 or 12. It wasn't only that aged 13 he discovered there'd been a holocaust a few hundred miles away. He said it was also because there was still a Nazi movement here after the war.

"I said to him: 'Dad, the timescale's mixed up. You mean after the war, there were Nazis in Liverpool?' And he said: 'Absolutely.'"

Isaacs's father was speaking of the riots in Liverpool and other cities in the UK during 1947 after two British soldiers were hung in Mandate Palestine by some Irgun militants.

Isaacs told the Guardian: "After the hangings, my dad was cowering with his family in his flat in Liverpool while people were breaking windows and shouting: 'Burn the Jews! Burn the Jews!' I thought he was confused, but he wasn't: these things were happening to him after the war when he was 16."

5.Elizabeth Banks

The Hunger Games actress converted a couple of years ago through a reform conversion, after studying with various rabbis. She has stated in an interview that "No religion ever meant as much to me as Judaism did to my husband."
The couple now raises their children only in the Jewish religion, and Banks herself is a huge fan of the Seder.

4. Rashida Jones

Jones is the daughter of music mogul Quincy Jones, and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother, Peggy Lipton.
Growing up, she attended a Hebrew School and was raised as a reformed Jew, though sadly she did not have a bat mitzvah.

3. Pink

That's right. This talented singer's mama is Jewish, and her dad is Catholic.
While not religious, Pink has expressed a desire to visit Israel, and managed to upset the Jewish community after "defending" Mel Gibson's drunken antisemitic tirade, saying "I'm a fan of [Gibson's] work. I think anybody with opinions like that needs well-wishing. And I'm Jewish. Alcohol makes you do crazy things."

Crazy things like defending Mel Gibson perhaps?

2. Daniel Day Lewis

Oscar Winner Daniel Day Lewis is the (wonderful) product of a Jewish mother and an Irish papa. His mother's grandparents originally hailed from Latvia and Poland, and they soon found themselves living in the UK where the family thrived. Day-Lewis is a self proclaimed agnostic, and says he had no religious education, however he was still bullied at school for being Jewish.

And the #1 celebrity you did not know was Jewish is.....

1. Harrison Ford

Yes guys, Indiana Jones himself is a tribesman.
His mother Dorothy started off in life as Dora Nidelman, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus.
Nidelman met Christopher Ford, an Irish Catholic former actor, and the sparks flew!
While Ford would be considered kosher by all Rabbinic standards, the man himself says that he and his brother were raised in the "Democrat" religion.
While not observant, Ford has stated in an interview that "As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor, I've always felt Jewish."

And that's Jewish enough for us!