Terri Sue "Tovah" Feldshuh (born December 27, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and playwright. She has been a
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
star for more than four decades, earning four
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
nominations. She has also received two
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
nominations for ''
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
'' and ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'', and appeared in such films as ''
A Walk on the Moon
''A Walk on the Moon'' is a 1999 drama film starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. The film, which was set against the backdrop of the Woodstock festival of 1969 and the United States's Moon landing of that year, wa ...
'', ''
She's Funny That Way
"She's Funny That Way" or "He's Funny That Way" is a popular song, composed by Neil Moret, with lyrics by Richard Whiting. It was composed for the short film ''Gems of MGM'' in 1929 for Marion Harris, but the film was not released until 1931. Harr ...
'', and ''
Kissing Jessica Stein
''Kissing Jessica Stein'' is a 2001 American independent romantic comedy film, written and co-produced by the film's stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. The film also stars Tovah Feldshuh and is directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. I ...
''. In 2015–2016, she played the role of
Deanna Monroe
Deanna Monroe is a fictional character from AMC's television series, '' The Walking Dead'', and was portrayed by Tovah Feldshuh. The character is an adaptation and gender-swap of Douglas Monroe from the comic book series, on which the show is ba ...
on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
's television adaptation of ''
The Walking Dead''.
Early life
Feldshuh is of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
heritage, the daughter of Lillian (''née'' Kaplan) and Sidney Feldshuh, who was a lawyer. Her brother
David Feldshuh
David Mark Feldshuh (born 1944 in New York City) is an American physician, playwright, and author. His 1992 play ''Miss Evers' Boys'', based on the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The 1997 adapta ...
is the
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-nominated playwright of ''
Miss Evers' Boys
''Miss Evers' Boys'' is an American made-for-television drama starring Alfre Woodard and Laurence Fishburne that first aired on February 22, 1997, and is based on the true story of the four-decade-long Tuskegee Syphilis Study. It was directed by ...
''.
She was raised in
Scarsdale, New York
Scarsdale is a town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several village ...
, in
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
, and graduated from
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
. In her high-school years, she was a student at the National Music Camp (later named the
Interlochen Arts Camp
Interlochen Center for the Arts is a non-profit corporation which operates arts education institutions and performance venues in northwest Michigan. It is situated on a campus in Interlochen, Michigan, roughly southwest of Traverse City.
...
) as a star in their drama class. She studied acting at
HB Studio
The HB Studio (Herbert Berghof Studio) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization offering professional training in the performing arts through classes, workshops, free lectures, theater productions, theater rentals, a theater artist residency prog ...
in New York City.
She started her career under theater director Michael Langham at the
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater, founded in 1963, is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The concept of the theater was born in 1959 in a series of discussions between Sir Tyrone Gut ...
, where she was awarded the McKnight Fellowship in Acting.
Career
Theater
Feldshuh appeared on the stage under the name "Terri Fairchild" before deciding to incorporate her Hebrew name and her original surname as her professional name, Tovah Feldshuh. She said of her name changes: "I fell in love with a Christian boy, Michael Fairchild, who didn't want to kiss a Terri Sue. He said: 'Terri Sue doesn't fit you at all. What's that other name of yours? Tovah? Now that's a name!"
In 1994, she joked that she could have changed her name to "Goody Two-shoes", since ''tovah'' is
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
for "good", while ''Feldshuh'' translates from German as "field shoe".
She made her
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
debut in the short-lived 1973 musical ''
Cyrano Cyrano may refer to:
Astronomy
* 3582 Cyrano, a small main belt asteroid
* Cyrano (crater), a lunar impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon
Stage and film
* ''Cyrano'' (Damrosch), a 1913 opera by Walter Damrosch
* ''Cyrano'', a 195 ...
'' starring
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...
. She appeared in the titular role in ''
Yentl'' both off-Broadway at the
Chelsea Theater Center
The Chelsea Theater Center was a not-for-profit theater company founded in 1965 by Robert Kalfin, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. It opened its doors in a church in the Chelsea district of Manhattan, then moved to the Brooklyn Academy of ...
and later on Broadway. Both productions are detailed in the book, ''
Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater,'' which describes tensions between Feldshuh and director
Robert Kalfin
Robert Zangwill Kalfin (April 22, 1933 – September 20, 2022) was an American stage director and producer who has worked on and off Broadway and at regional theaters throughout the country. He was a former artistic director of the Cincinnati Pl ...
over the play's interpretation.
Her other Broadway credits include ''
Saravá'', ''
Lend Me a Tenor
''Lend Me a Tenor'' is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End (1986) and Broadway (1989). It received nine Tony Award nominations and won for Best Actor (Philip Bosco) and Best Director (Jerry Zaks). A Broadway re ...
'', and ''
Golda's Balcony
''Golda's Balcony'' is a play by William Gibson.
It follows the trajectory of the life of Golda Meir from Russian immigrant to American schoolteacher to a leader of international politics as the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Much of its focu ...
'' -
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...
's work about the late Israeli Prime Minister
Golda Meir
Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1 ...
. ''Golda's Balcony'' set a record as the longest-running one-woman play in Broadway history on January 2, 2005.
Feldshuh made her
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...
debut at the
Algonquin Hotel
The Algonquin Hotel is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett for the Puritan Realty Company. The hotel has hosted numer ...
Oak Room with her act, ''Tovah: Crossovah! From Broadway to Cabaret,'' which was followed by ''Tovah: Out of Her Mind!'' She took the latter show on the road to Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong, and Sydney. The
West End production sold out an eight-week run at the
Duke of York's Theatre
The Duke of York's Theatre is a West End theatre in St Martin's Lane, in the City of Westminster, London. It was built for Frank Wyatt and his wife, Violet Melnotte, who retained ownership of the theatre until her death in 1935. Designed by th ...
. The ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' selected her as Best Cabaret Artist of 2000. In 2000, she co-wrote and performed in a one-woman play about actress
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's ''Lif ...
titled ''Tallulah Hallelujah!''
She returned to Broadway in the
Dan Gordon play ''Irena's Vow'' in March 2009. She had appeared off-Broadway in this play in September 2008. In 2012, Feldshuh performed as Mama Rose in a revival of ''Gypsy.''
At the September 21, 2013, Broadway performance of ''
Pippin
Pippin or Pepin may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Pippin (comics), ''Pippin'' (comics), a children's comic produced from 1966 to 1986
* Pippin (musical), ''Pippin'' (musical), a Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz loosely based on the life ...
'',
Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...
's last performance as Berthe (Pippin's grandmother) was announced to be the following day, and Feldshuh would be subsequently taking over the role. In 2014, she starred in ''Gypsy'' at the Bristol Riverside Theatre as Mama Rose.
In February 2015, she performed a one-woman show that she called ''Aging Is Optional'' at
54 Below
54 Below is a cabaret and restaurant in the basement of Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Owned by Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, Marc Routh and Tom Viertel, 54 Below has hosted shows by such performers as Patt ...
.
In July 2022, it was announced that Feldshuh would replace
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogni ...
as Mrs. Brice in the Broadway revival of ''
Funny Girl'', beginning September 6, 2022.
Film and television
In 1973, Feldshuh appeared on television in a supporting role in ''
Scream, Pretty Peggy
''Scream, Pretty Peggy'' is a 1973 American made-for-television horror film directed by Gordon Hessler and starring Bette Davis, Ted Bessell, and Sian Barbara Allen. Its plot follows a young college student who is given a job by a sculptor housek ...
.'' In 1976, she also had a supporting role in ''
Ryan's Hope
''Ryan's Hope'' is an American soap opera created by Claire Labine and Paul Avila Mayer, airing for 13 years on ABC from July 7, 1975, to January 13, 1989. It revolves around the trials and tribulations within a large Irish-American family in th ...
,'' and in the following year, she played
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
in ''
The Amazing Howard Hughes
''The Amazing Howard Hughes'' is a 1977 American made-for-television biographical film about American aviation pioneer and filmmaker Howard Hughes, based on the book ''Howard: The Amazing Mr. Hughes'' by Hughes' business partner Noah Dietrich. T ...
.'' Also in 1977, she appeared on ''The Bob Newhart Show'' as Veronica Kidd, in an episode called "The Heartbreak Kidd" (season five, episode 18), which aired February 5. However, Feldshuh came to international prominence as Helena Slomova in the 1978 miniseries ''
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
,'' based on
Gerald Green
Gerald Green (born January 26, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics with the 18th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. Known ...
's novel. Between 1991 and 2007, Feldshuh had a recurring role as defense attorney
Danielle Melnick on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
.'' (In 2018, Feldshuh was to reprise her role as Melnick, who would by then be a Cook County judge, in
Dick Wolf
Richard Anthony Wolf (born December 20, 1946) is an American film and television producer, best known for his Law & Order (franchise), ''Law & Order'' franchise. Since 1990, the franchise has included six police/courtroom dramas and four internat ...
's ''Chicago Justice,'' a companion program to his ''Chicago Fire,'' ''Chicago P.D.,'' and ''Chicago Med'' that would be situated primarily in the Cook County, Illinois, court system.)
Feldshuh's feature-film appearances have included ''
Lady in the Water
''Lady in the Water'' is a 2006 American fantasy psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who produced with Sam Mercer. The film features the starring cast of Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard with Bob Balaban, ...
,'' ''
The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal
''The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal'' is a 1979 American made-for-television drama film directed by Mel Stuart and starring David Dukes, Tovah Feldshuh, Lauren Frost, Stacey Nelkin, Tom Bosley and Ted Wass. It premiered on NBC on January 30, 19 ...
,'' ''
A Walk on the Moon
''A Walk on the Moon'' is a 1999 drama film starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin. The film, which was set against the backdrop of the Woodstock festival of 1969 and the United States's Moon landing of that year, wa ...
,'' ''
Happy Accidents,'' ''
Brewster's Millions,'' ''
The Idolmaker,'' ''
The Blue Iguana
''The Blue Iguana'' is a 1988 American crime film directed by John Lafia and starring Dylan McDermott, Jessica Harper, Pamela Gidley and James Russo. The plot is about a bounty hunter who is blackmailed into stopping the transfer of twenty mill ...
,'' ''A Day in October,'' ''
The Believer,'' ''
Love Comes Lately
''Love Comes Lately'' (german: Bis später, Max!) is a 2007 film written for the screen and directed by Jan Schütte. The film is based on the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Plot
Elderly Jewish writer Max Kohn (Otto Tausig) is an Austria ...
,'' ''
Just My Luck,'' and ''
Kissing Jessica Stein
''Kissing Jessica Stein'' is a 2001 American independent romantic comedy film, written and co-produced by the film's stars, Jennifer Westfeldt and Heather Juergensen. The film also stars Tovah Feldshuh and is directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld. I ...
.'' She also appeared as Ruthie in the 2004 film ''The Tollbooth.''
Feldshuh appeared in ''
Goyband,'' co-starring
Adam Pascal
Adam Pascal (born October 25, 1970) is an American actor, singer, and musician, known for his performance as Roger Davis in the original 1996 cast of Jonathan Larson's musical '' Rent'' on Broadway, the 2005 movie version of the musical, and the ...
,
Amy Davidson
Amy Davidson is an American actress. She is known for playing Kerry Hennessy in the ABC sitcom '' 8 Simple Rules''.
Early life and education
Born in Phoenix, Davidson was raised by educators. Her father was a principal at ''El Mirage'' Elemen ...
,
Cris Judd
Cristan Lee Judd (born 1968-1970) is an American actor, dancer, and choreographer known for his brief marriage to Jennifer Lopez.
Dance career
At age 21, Judd became interested in dance. Within a year, he switched jobs and began dancing prof ...
,
Dean Edwards
Dean Edwards (born July 30, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, singer, writer and musician. His work as a voice actor includes Scottie Pippen and Spike Lee in ''Celebrity Deathmatch'', a robot in ''Robotomy'', and Donkey in ''Scar ...
,
Tibor Feldman
Tibor Feldman (born April 25, 1947) is an American actor, having played roles in movies, television shows, television commercials, and stage plays. He has appeared in television dramas including: '' Law & Order'', ''Conviction'', ''The Sopranos ...
, and
Natasha Lyonne
Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...
. She was also slated to star in the psychological thriller ''Acts of Mercy.'' In 2009, Feldshuh recorded the song "Bein Nahar Prat" for
Pioneers for a Cure, with the proceeds benefiting Ellen's Run.
In 2012, she appeared as
Mossad
Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...
agent Rivka in the ''
Covert Affairs
''Covert Affairs'' is an American action drama television series filmed in Toronto, Canada, starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham that premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. On January 6, 2015, USA Network canceled ''Covert Affairs'' after ...
'' episode "
Wishful Beginnings". In 2014, she appeared in the film ''
She's Funny That Way
"She's Funny That Way" or "He's Funny That Way" is a popular song, composed by Neil Moret, with lyrics by Richard Whiting. It was composed for the short film ''Gems of MGM'' in 1929 for Marion Harris, but the film was not released until 1931. Harr ...
.''
in March 2015, Feldshuh made her debut in a starring role on
AMC
AMC may refer to:
Film and television
* AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain
* AMC Networks, an American entertainment company
** AMC (TV channel)
** AMC+, streaming service
** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company
*** ...
's highly rated ''The Walking Dead.'' Feldshuh had never seen the show before being cast as former politician Deanna Monroe, whose character Feldshuh says she based on
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
.
She also appeared in the six-part miniseries ''
Flesh and Bone Flesh and Bone may refer to:
* ''Flesh and Bone'' (film), a 1993 film starring Meg Ryan, Dennis Quaid and James Caan
* ''Flesh and Bone'' (miniseries), a 2015 American television series on Starz
* "Flesh and Bone" (Battlestar Galactica), an epis ...
,'' which debuted in 2015 on
Starz
Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...
.
From 2015 to 2019, Feldshuh had a recurring role on the musical comedy ''
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...
'' as Naomi Bunch, the image-conscious and hypercritical mother of the show's main character, Rebecca Bunch, played by
Rachel Bloom
Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015– ...
.
Personal life
Feldshuh married New York attorney Andrew Harris Levy in 1977. Actress
Ruth Gordon
Ruth Gordon Jones (October 30, 1896 – August 28, 1985) was an American actress, screenwriter, and playwright. She began her career performing on Broadway at age 19. Known for her nasal voice and distinctive personality, Gordon gained internati ...
was her maid of honor. They have a son, Garson, an economist and graduate of
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
universities; and a daughter, Amanda, who graduated from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. When Amanda married in 2014, Feldshuh gave her the advice, "You know how to have a successful marriage? Shut one eye, and don't leave. Some of it's fun and some of it isn't. It can be challenging, but you do not leave the field of play."
Her nephew Noah Feldshuh is a member of
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
X Ambassadors
X Ambassadors (also stylized XA) are an American pop rock band from Ithaca, New York. Its members currently include lead vocalist Sam Harris, keyboardist Casey Harris, and drummer Adam Levin. Russ Flynn is a touring member that plays guitar and ...
.
She lives on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
.
For her charity work, she is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, Hadassah's Myrtle Wreath, and the Israel Peace Medal. The
National Foundation for Jewish Culture
The Foundation for Jewish Culture (formerly the National Foundation for Jewish Culture) was an advocacy group for Jewish cultural life and creativity in the United States.
Founded in 1960, it supported writers, filmmakers, artists, composers, ch ...
honored her with the 2002 Jewish Image Award and the Performing Arts award in 2006.
When doing research for her role as
Irene Gut Opdyke
Irene Gut Opdyke (born Irena Gut, 5 May 1922 – 17 May 2003) was a Polish nurse who gained international recognition for aiding Polish Jews persecuted by Nazi Germany during World War II. She was honored as a Righteous Among the Nations by ...
in the play ''
Irena's Vow
''Irena's Vow'' is a Broadway play recounting the story of Irena Gut, a Polish nurse who, at the risk of her life, saved twelve Jews during World War II in German-occupied Poland.
Production history
The play opened at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theat ...
'', Feldshuh traveled to
Borshchiv
Borshchiv (, , , yi, בארשטשיוו, Borshtshev) is a city in Chortkiv Raion (since 2020) of Ternopil Oblast ( province) of western Ukraine. It previously was the administrative center of the former Borshchiv Raion (district) and is locate ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, and discovered that her own ancestor, Moishe Feldshuh, had lived there in the early 20th century.
In March 2015, Feldshuh hiked
Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...
with her son. She explained to ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' she was inspired after the 2014 death of her mother at age 103, and her own athletic role in ''Pippin'', in which she had to swing on a trapeze. "I really do feel we're only in this body once," she said. "I just want enough money to buy experience. I can forgo a dress, but the idea of taking a trip and trekking Mt. Kilimanjaro, or going on the
Trans-Siberian railroad
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...
, or tracking lemurs in
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
— these things are very exciting to me. To see the world until I leave my own body. It's now or not at all."
Filmography
Films
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Honors
* 1975: Honored as a Special Mention during
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
s
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Tovah Feldshuh– ''Downstage Center'' interview at
American Theatre Wing
The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...
.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feldshuh, Tovah
1952 births
Living people
Actresses from New York City
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
American film actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Drama Desk Award winners
Jewish American actresses
People from the Upper West Side
People from Scarsdale, New York
Sarah Lawrence College alumni
American women dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Writers from Manhattan
Scarsdale High School alumni
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American Jews