Tovah Feldshuh is an actor’s actor. Just ask some of her peers.
“She is like a firecracker,” says Kristen Bell, who stars with her in “Nobody Wants This,” the hit comedy from Netflix. “She comes in and wants to talk about the scene, but not too much, but just wants to make sure she knows it and still have room to play. It was kind of all the things I love about a scene partner.”
Feldshuh is “theater royalty” to Oscar Isaac, who became friends with her on the set of “Scenes from a Marriage,” the 2021 HBO miniseries. “She played my mom… (and became) my foster ima,” he says fondly, using the modern Hebrew term for mother. “And it was just the most beautiful thing.”
Dustin Hoffman, her husband in the 2025 crime drama “Tuner,” says: “She’s an actor in every sense of the word. She’s very prepared and she has great energy. She devotes herself to her work. … There are actors and then there are actors. And I think that she’s an actor who’s an artist.”
These testimonials, along with thoughts from Patti Lupone, Joy Behar and others, are delivered with admiration and affection in “Tovah,” a documentary that’s among the highlights of the 2026 Lenore Marwil Detroit Jewish Film Festival. The festival runs April 27-May 6 at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts at the Jewish Community Center, known as the J, in West Bloomfield.
Feldshuh and director David Sereno will participate in a conversation and question-and-answer session. after the screening of ‘Tovah” at 4 p.m. May 3.
The annual festival is devoted to honoring Jewish filmmaking through screenings and events that explore Jewish stories. This year’s opening night features an evening with composer and lyricist March Shaiman, whose credits include 2007’s “Hairspray,” 2018’s “Mary Poppins Returns” and the 2012-13 TV series “Smash.” Shaiman will talk about his new memoir, “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner,” and perform along with other special guests.
The schedule of films includes “Wallenberg,” a 2025 short documentary about the Swedish diplomat and University of Michigan graduate who helped save about 100,000 Jews from the Holocaust during World War II.
Another selection, 2025’s “Ethan Bloom,” is a feature-length comedy about a teen boy trying to avoid his bar mitzvah by becoming a Catholic. As the festival describes it, “it’s about honoring the beautiful, chaotic pieces of who we are.”
Feldshuh is virtually a one-name wonder, like Cher and Madonna, according to Daniel Roher, director of the Oscar-winning “Navalny,” who says in the film, “There are certain artists in the world who just go by one name, who are just of that legendary status, where it’s just like Tovah.”
For 50 years, Feldshuh has been winning acclaim on Broadway for her performances in productions like “Pippin,” “Cyrano,” the stage version of “Yentl,” “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Golda’s Balcony.” In 2022, she took over for Jane Lynch as Fanny Brice’s mother in the Broadway revival of “Funny Girl.”
Feldshuh also has appeared in movies like “Kissing Jessica Stein” and “Brewster’s Millions” and shown her versatility on TV, earning Emmy nominations for playing a freedom fighter in the acclaimed 1978 miniseries “Holocaust” and for a recurring role as a defense attorney on “Law & Order.” More recently, she has stood out as Deanna Monroe, a leader of a safe zone introduced on Season 5 of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and the mother of Rebecca Bloom’s character on the 2015-19 musical comedy series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”
Feldshuh’s dedication to her craft on the stage and screen is legendary. Now a new generation of fans is being introduced to her through “Nobody Wants This,” which stars Adam Brody as Noah, a rabbi who falls in love with Joanne, an agnostic sex and romance podcaster played by metro Detroit native Bell.
Feldshuh plays Bina, the mother of Noah and Sasha (Timothy Simon of “The West Wing”) and a formidable opponent to Noah’s relationship to Joanne. In one scene, not long after meeting Joanne, Bina hugs her goodbye and whispers into her ear, “You’re never going to end up with my son.”
Feldshuh says the role is fabulous, just like the cast and crew. “I love the people I work with as human beings as well as terrific artists. … I’m having the time of my life.”
She describes Bina as an obstacle that people have to overcome, which makes the character an essential part of the narrative’s comedy and drama.
“Bina represents the old values. She’s also a toughie. She wants what she was brought up with and certainly that would not include intermarriage,” Feldshuh says.
Things may be changing, however, as the Season 2 ending hinted that Joanne soon may be making a major life decision. Says Feldshuh, “(Bina) has found her path now that … I believe … her daughter-in-law to-be is going to convert. Things will sort themselves out.”
The documentary explores how Feldshuh’s Jewish faith is an integral part of her life and how she has honored it by playing several remarkable Jewish women.
“I’m offered a lot of roles these days that happen to be Jewish, but every human being is different,” she says. “And if you’re offered Ruth Bader Ginsburg (in the play “Sisters in Law”), Ruth Westheimer (“Becoming Dr. Ruth”) and Golda Meir (in “Golda’s Balcony,” which she brought to metro Detroit in 2013), that’s fine with me.”
Feldshuh says she considers herself lucky to have met “Tovah” director and producer David Serero. ”He came to me with his magnificent French accent and said, ‘I want to do a documentary of you, of your life, of the 50 years on Broadway.’ And I said, ‘Are you talking to me?’ And we went and we did it,” she recalls.
For Feldshuh, “Tovah” will help share her legacy with generations still to come. “I’m certainly very happy, for my children and my children’s children, of which I have five … that … these kids will have this film when they have their children,” she says. “So God bless David Serero.”
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
2026 Lenore Marwil Detroit Jewish Film Festival
April 27-May 6
“Tovah” screens at 4 p.m. May 3.
Berman Center for the Performing Arts at the Jewish Community Center
6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield Township.
thejdetroit.org
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ‘Nobody Wants This’ star due at Jewish film fest in West Bloomfield
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
