In her incredibly good book “Mean Baby,” actress, activist, and Jewish mother Selma Blair says, “The position of Judaism in my family was a hard issue.”
She does ultimately say, “I am and always will be Jewish,” though.
The acclaimed actress and TV personality, known for her work in the cult classic “Cruel Intentions,” the “Hellboy” series, and shows like “Anger Management” and “American Crime Story,” takes readers on an emotional, surreal, and exquisitely crafted journey through her life.
She navigates her journey with the labels she was given as a child and even as an infant, beginning with her tumultuous I
nfancy. It details her struggles with multiple sclerosis’s early symptoms and eventual diagnosis.
about her battle with alcoholism and the joys and challenges of being a parent with her son, Arthur Saint Blake. However, it’s just as profound as it is weird. There are crystals, mystics, and an entire chapter devoted to Selma’s habit of awkwardly biting people.
Unexpectedly, the novel is Jewish. Lawyer Elliot Beitner, Blair’s father, was Jewish. When Selma was 23 years old, he and her mother got divorced, and she made the decision to give up his last name. With a Jewish father and an Anglican mother, Blair’s mother had a complicated connection with Judaism. Blair remembers how her mother would both tell her “that I needed to be Jewish” and “that I could never be [a Jew]”.
In “Mean Baby,” which you should definitely read — however, I highly suggest you listen to the audiobook version because Blair gives one hell of a dramatic performance to it, here are nine Jewish truths about the amazing actress. Seriously, make sure you have a box of tissues close at hand while you listen.
Let’s Learn More About Her and Her Life, Then!
- She goes by Selma Blair Beitner in full.
- Her birthday is June 23, 1972.
- Actress Selma Blair is American.
- Before being noticed, she appeared in a number of little parts in movies and on television.
- She did that to prepare for her prominent part in the movie Brown’s Requiem (1998)
- Her role as Zoe Bean on the WB sitcom Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane served as her breakthrough role (1999– 2000)
- As well as in the classic movie Cruel Intentions as Cecile Caldwell (1999)
- Legally Blonde (2001) and The Sweetest Thing were comedies in which Selma Blair continued to have popularity (2002)
- Her depiction of Liz Sherman in the high-budget fantasy flicks Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army brought her international recognition (2008)
- She was born in Southfield, a city in the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area.
- The eldest of Judge Molly Ann and Elliot I. Beitner’s four daughters
- Selma Blair was raised as a Jew.
- Her Hebrew name is Bat- Sheva
- Her father was a Democratic Party activist and an attorney.
- till his passing away in 2012 at the age of 82 as a labor arbitrator
- Blair’s parents separated when she was 23.
- Later, she legally changed her last name.
- Three of her sisters are older.
- Katherine, Elizabeth, and Marie Beitner are their names.
- Hillel Day School was where Selma Blair attended.
- a day school for Jews in Farmington Hills
- And shortly after, Cranbrook Kingswood in Bloomfield Hills
- She attended Kalamazoo College for her first year (1990–1991) of college.
- She studied photography there.
- She performed in The Little Theater of the Green Goose as well.
- She had dreams of being a ballerina and a horse trainer at the time.
- Selma Blair relocated to New York City at the age of 20.
- She stayed at The Salvation Army there.
- She was a New York University student (NYU)
- Along with acting classes at the Column Theatre, the Stonestreet Screen Acting Workshop, and the Stella Adler Conservatory
- She later went back to Michigan to complete her coursework.
- She transferred from NYU and earned a magna cum laude degree in 1994 from the University of Michigan.
- having completed a photography bachelor’s degree
- psychology bachelor’s degree
- also a double major in English and fine arts
- Then Selma Blair went back to New York City to pursue an artistic career.
- Selma Blair participated in a production of T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral in 1990 while she was a student at Cranbrook Kingswood.
- She started her acting classes in New York in 1993.
- An agent found her while she was taking acting classes.
- After that, Selma Blair signed a contract with her.
- She received her first advertising contract for a television spot ad for a theatre in Virginia after 75 auditions.
- for this, she was granted membership in the Screen Actors Guild
- Blair’s 18-year-old childhood sweetheart was killed in an accident in 1990.
- After six months of courting, Selma Blair wed author and producer Ahmet Zappa on January 24, 2004.
- At Carrie Fisher’s home in Beverly Hills, California, they exchanged vows.
- They resided in Los Angeles in a house built in the 1920s that they purchased in 2004 for $1.35 million.
- On June 21, 2006, she petitioned the Los Angeles Superior Court for a divorce from Zappa.
- In December 2006, the divorce was finalized.
Read More: 15 Unbelievably True Things About Kim Kardashian!
- Mikey Day, Selma Blair’s co-star in Kath and Kim, was her boyfriend from 2008 to 2010.
- Blair started dating fashion designer Jason Bleick in 2010.
- Blair’s representative said that she was expecting her first child in January 2011.
- That July, their son was born.
- Blair and Bleick announced their two-year separation in September 2012.
- Selma Blair disclosed in October 2018 that she had been given a multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August.
- She had believed for years that she had a pinched nerve or had one of her more mild diseases.
- The diagnosis provided a final explanation for her problems, including her tendency to trip and drop things, her forgetfulness, and the way her left side behaved as though it were “asking for directions from a malfunctioning GPS.”
- Selma Blair felt moved to reveal the information as a means to express gratitude to Allisa Swanson, her costume designer.
- who, out of kindness, had taken on the role of her unofficial “dressing” for Blair’s appearance in the Netflix series Another Life
- She has almost 45 film and short film credits to her name.
- Her most recent film will be released in April 2019