You won't succeed on Buffy if you haven't any Jews
The Internet is a wonderful thing. It's a researcher's/procrastinator's/stalker's dream. Just follow the links and they'll lead wonderfully far astray from where you started.
I caught an episode of Star Trek: Voyager this afternoon, one of the first with Seven of Nine. I hit the ST:V IMDB page to see if any of the cast has done anything since. The short answer: nope.
Jeri Ryan, who played Seven, Robert Picardo, who played the Doctor, and Ethan Phillips, who played Neelix, are the only ones still doing a lot of acting work (on Boston Public and Shark, the Stargate shows, and a bunch of guest/supporting spots, respectively).
Roxann Dawson (half-Klingon B'Elanna Torres) has moved into TV directing; she actually directed the episode that aired today. She also directed a really good episode of Heroes, plus some of Enterprise and Crossing Jordan. The same for Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris), who also worked on Enterprise, plus Dawson's Creek.
I last clicked on Jeri Ryan's page, where I learned her last name is Zimmerman. So, of course, I figured she's Jewish. She isn't.
I found Wikipedia's list of Jewish actors, which is insanely long. It's organized by decade of birth. It's a liberal interpretation of Jewish - it includes those whose fathers, but not mothers, are Jewish and even those who don't really practice anymore. Still, it's an impressive list with many surprising names on it. And lots of beautiful women, of course.
So, there's the usual suspects: Hank Azaria, Debra Messing, Adam Sandler, Jon Stewart (60s); Zach Braff, Jennifer Connelly, Corey Feldman, Winona Ryder, Rachel Weisz (70s); Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman (80s). The people who shouldn't be there: David Duchovny, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Phoenixes, Leah Remini.
And the surprises: Paula Abdul, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cindy Margolis, Michael Vartan, Claudia Black, James Callis, Brooke Burke, Isla Fisher (converted), Pink, Amanda Bynes, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Radcliffe (seriously).
But to the subject of this post - all but two of the female leads on Bufffy are Jewish, or at least can claim Jewish descent. Sarah Michelle Gellar (though she no longer practices), Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson, Michelle Trachtenberg, even, for good measure, Juliet Landau. Only Charisma Carpenter and Emma Caulfield are not Members of the Tribe, but Seth Green and Danny Strong can compensate for that. I wonder if any of them asked Joss if holy water would affect a Jew turned into a vampire.
(Oh, and the list of pretty people on the Wikipedia list is far, far too long to post here. The names I've already mentioned only scratch the surface - and only go back to 1960. There's also Yasmin Bleeth, Ethan Zohn, Sarah Silverman, Ione Skye, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Morrow, Ian Ziering, Noah Wylie, Mia Kirshner, Goldie Hawn, Ellen Barkin, Michael Douglas, Henry Winkler, Tina Louise, ....)
I caught an episode of Star Trek: Voyager this afternoon, one of the first with Seven of Nine. I hit the ST:V IMDB page to see if any of the cast has done anything since. The short answer: nope.
Jeri Ryan, who played Seven, Robert Picardo, who played the Doctor, and Ethan Phillips, who played Neelix, are the only ones still doing a lot of acting work (on Boston Public and Shark, the Stargate shows, and a bunch of guest/supporting spots, respectively).
Roxann Dawson (half-Klingon B'Elanna Torres) has moved into TV directing; she actually directed the episode that aired today. She also directed a really good episode of Heroes, plus some of Enterprise and Crossing Jordan. The same for Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris), who also worked on Enterprise, plus Dawson's Creek.
I last clicked on Jeri Ryan's page, where I learned her last name is Zimmerman. So, of course, I figured she's Jewish. She isn't.
I found Wikipedia's list of Jewish actors, which is insanely long. It's organized by decade of birth. It's a liberal interpretation of Jewish - it includes those whose fathers, but not mothers, are Jewish and even those who don't really practice anymore. Still, it's an impressive list with many surprising names on it. And lots of beautiful women, of course.
So, there's the usual suspects: Hank Azaria, Debra Messing, Adam Sandler, Jon Stewart (60s); Zach Braff, Jennifer Connelly, Corey Feldman, Winona Ryder, Rachel Weisz (70s); Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman (80s). The people who shouldn't be there: David Duchovny, Gwyneth Paltrow, the Phoenixes, Leah Remini.
And the surprises: Paula Abdul, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cindy Margolis, Michael Vartan, Claudia Black, James Callis, Brooke Burke, Isla Fisher (converted), Pink, Amanda Bynes, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Radcliffe (seriously).
But to the subject of this post - all but two of the female leads on Bufffy are Jewish, or at least can claim Jewish descent. Sarah Michelle Gellar (though she no longer practices), Alyson Hannigan, Amber Benson, Michelle Trachtenberg, even, for good measure, Juliet Landau. Only Charisma Carpenter and Emma Caulfield are not Members of the Tribe, but Seth Green and Danny Strong can compensate for that. I wonder if any of them asked Joss if holy water would affect a Jew turned into a vampire.
(Oh, and the list of pretty people on the Wikipedia list is far, far too long to post here. The names I've already mentioned only scratch the surface - and only go back to 1960. There's also Yasmin Bleeth, Ethan Zohn, Sarah Silverman, Ione Skye, Helena Bonham Carter, Rob Morrow, Ian Ziering, Noah Wylie, Mia Kirshner, Goldie Hawn, Ellen Barkin, Michael Douglas, Henry Winkler, Tina Louise, ....)