The Most Complete Jewish Guide to the 2021 Golden Globes

The Golden Globe awards, for excellence in TV and film, will be awarded on Sunday, Feb. 28 (Live. Starts 8PM).  Due to the pandemic, the Globes will be a virtual event.  NORMAN LEAR, 98, the creator of many great TV shows, including “All in the Family”, will receive the “Carol Burnett Award” for “outstanding contributions to television.”

There is no Jewish nominee in the film (drama) actor/actress categories (there are 5 nominees in all Globe categories). Gary Oldman is nominated for a best actor (drama) Globe for playing Jewish screenwriter HERMAN MANKIEWICZ in “Mank”. 

Nominated for best actor, comedy or musical film, are SACHA BARON COHEN (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) and ANDY SAMBERG, 42 (“Palm Springs”) Cohen played star character Borat.  Samberg played an affable guy who finds himself living the same day over and over.

The best actress (musical/comedy film) nominees include KATE HUDSON, 41, who had a star role in “Music”. She plays a reformed drug dealer who takes care of her autistic half-sister.

Sacha Baron Cohen, 49, is also nominated for best supporting actor (film) for playing ‘60s radical ABBIE HOFFMAN in “The Trial of the Chicago 7”.  AARON SORKIN, 59, who wrote and directed “The Trial of the Chicago 7” is the sole Jewish nominee in the best (film) director and best (film) screenplay categories.

Composer JAMES NEWTON HOWARD, 69, is nominated for best original score (“News of the World”) and DIANE WARREN, 64, is up for a Globe for co-writing the original song “Seen” for the film “The Life Ahead”. 

One nominee for the best animated film Globe, “Over the Moon”, has a poignant asterisk. It was written by AUDREY LEDERER WELLS, who died of cancer in 2018, age 58. The film is dedicated to her.

A Holocaust survivor is the central character of “The Life Ahead”, a best foreign language film nominee. Sophia Loren plays a retired prostitute who is also a Jewish Holocaust survivor. She forms an unlikely friendship with a Muslim boy. The film is based on a novel by ROMAIN GARY.

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” is nominated for best drama film. It competes with “Mank” which, as I said, is about a “real” Jew.

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” is a best comedy or musical film nominee. It was co-written by Sacha Baron Cohen and it was directed by JASON WOLINER, 40. Also nominated in this category are “Hamilton”, directed by THOMAS KAIL, 43; “The Prom”, a musical whose songs were co-written by MATTHEW SKLAR; and “Palm Springs”, directed by MAX BARBAKOW, 35.

JANE LEVY, 31, is nominated for best lead actress, comedy or musical (TV). She stars in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”. I know her father is Jewish, and her mother is not. But she never talks about her Jewish ancestry or any religious practice. A ‘quite’ Jewish actress, Israeli SHIRA HAAS, 25, is nominated for best performance in a mini-series or TV movie. She starred in “Unorthodox”, a series about a Hasidic woman who leaves her sect for the secular world.

DAN LEVY, 37 (“Schitt’s Creek”) is nominated for best supporting actor in a series and JULIA GARNER, 27 (“Ozark”) vies for the same award in the actress category. Garner’s mother is Jewish, and Garner has described herself as Jewish several times. She won the 2019 and 2020 Emmy for this role.  

The nominees for best mini-series include “The Queen Gambit”. It was written and directed by SCOTT FRANK, 60. This series about a female chess grandmaster was a monster ratings and critical hit for Netflix. Also in this category are “The Undoing,” a murder mystery, and “Unorthodox”. “The Undoing” is based on a novel by JEAN HANFF KORELITZ, 59, and it was directed by SUSANNE BIER, 60, a Danish Jew. “Unorthodox” was inspired by a memoir by DEBORAH FELDMAN, 34, once a member of a Hasidic sect. It was co-written by ANNA WINGER, 50.

The best TV drama series nominees include “The Crown”, which was created by, and is written by PETER MORGAN, 57. Also in this category is “The Mandalorian”, a Disney fantasy series that was created by, and is directed by JON FAVREAU, 54.

The best musical or comedy series nominees include “Emily in Paris” and “Schitt’s Creek. “Emily” is a light show about a Midwestern young woman who moves to Paris. It was created by DARREN STAR, 59, who also created “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Sex and the City”. “Creek” languished in relative obscurity during its first four seasons (2015-2019). But critics and viewers eventually found it and it swept the 2020 Emmys. Dan Levy, and his father, EUGENE LEVY, 74, co-star in “Creek” and they co-created the show.