Noah Cameron Schnapp, born on October 3, 2004, is an American actor best known for his role as Will Byers in the Netflix series "Stranger Things." Schnapp was born in New York City to Jewish parents Mitchell and Karine Schnapp (née Perez).
His father is of Russian Jewish descent, and his mother is of Moroccan Jewish descent. Schnapp has openly talked about his Jewish identity in previous interviews.
Early Life and Career
Schnapp was inspired to pursue acting at age 5 after seeing the Broadway production of Annie. He performed acting roles in school and community plays. When he was 8, his acting teacher suggested he attempt a professional career. Schnapp's parents registered him for an acting program at Star Kidz in Westchester, where he was guided by coach Alyson Isbrandtsen.
Schnapp's professional acting career began when he voiced the lead character, Charlie Brown, in the animated film The Peanuts Movie in 2015. That same year, he made his film debut in the historical drama Bridge of Spies, directed by Steven Spielberg. In 2016, Schnapp was featured in the Panic! at the Disco music video for "LA Devotee". In 2019, Schnapp launched a YouTube channel under his own name, primarily creating vlogs and lifestyle videos. As of 2022, Schnapp attends the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation.
Jewish Heritage and Connection to Israel
Schnapp is Jewish and had his Bar Mitzvah in Israel. In a 2020 interview, Schnapp said that he had his bar mitzvah in Israel.
Read also: Delving into Identity with Trevor Noah
The 18-year-old New York native also shared on his Instagram Story a photo of him at the Western Wall wearing a kippah on his head and phylacteries, which is called tefillin in Hebrew, wrapped on his arms. He wrote in the caption, “learning so much about my culture." Schnapp took a tour of Jerusalem that was organized by Aish Global, and accompanying him was Israeli-American entrepreneur and blogger Moti Ankari and producer Rachel Katsner.
Roles Reflecting Jewish and Israeli Themes
Schnapp has also taken on roles that reflect Jewish and Israeli themes. He played a young chef of Israeli and Palestinian heritage in the 2019 movie Abe and a shepherd boy who helped smuggle Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France in the 2020 movie Waiting For Anya.
Stranger Things | Noah Schnapp Canceled! 🤔 #palestine #israel
Views on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Schnapp initially posted a message of support for Jews and Israelis in early October, but the post has since been removed. He stated: “As a Jewish American, I am afraid. Afraid for my brothers and sisters in Israel, who have been senselessly attacked by Hamas. I, like others, want peace for both Palestinians and Israelis. Let’s stop the rhetoric and choosing sides. Instead, we must recognize that we are all on the side of the fight against terrorism."
Of the takeaways he’s had from these important talks, he says, one of the main ones is that “we all hope for the same things - that those innocent people still being held hostage in Gaza be returned to their families, and equally hope for an end to the loss of innocent life in Palestine. “I think anyone with any ounce of humanity would hope for an end to the hostility on both sides,” he adds. “I stand against any killing of any innocent people… And I just hope to one day see those two groups be able to live harmoniously together in that region. It was a sensitive, even-keeled, perhaps a bit saccharine but ultimately humanist statement.
Read also: Tangier's Luxurious Villa Josephine
In very Jewish fashion, Schnapp presents himself as someone who is open to questions and difficult discussions and has a willingness to learn. Still, it didn’t stop the flood of more angry, accusatory comments, more demands for the cancelation of “Stranger Things” and Schnapp’s shunning, and even some fake death threats and other menacing posts directed at the actor.
The Movie "Abe" and its Relevance
While witnessing this go down, I was reminded of the time Schnapp played a character who had to bare the brunt of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on screen. “Abe” is about a half-Jewish, half-Palestinian teen who lives in New York. He shuns both the Hebrew and Arabic versions of his full name - Avraham and Ibrahim - for the simple diminutive.
Abe is torn, his parents are at odds, his grandparents also each have a specific vision for his future, and the family dinner table is always fraught with arguments and mumblings about Israel and Palestine. - her father is Ashkenazi and her mother was an Egyptian Jew - while his father is of Muslim Palestinian descent, though he shuns his parents’ religion and wants Abe to do the same. His Palestinian grandparents hate the term antisemitic because they are Semites, too.
Through it all, Abe finds solace in food and in his friendship with a local Brazilian chef, played by iconic actor Seu Jorge, who takes him under his wings at his restaurant and teaches him the ropes. In one scene, Abe rants to his mom about the impossible weight on his shoulders: “I don’t win in any situation - if I do anything on the Muslim side, then the Jewish side is going to be mad. If I do anything from the Jewish side, then the Muslim side will be mad. If I do anything from either side then Dad is going to be mad."
“Abe” isn’t a perfect movie, but it tackles a lot of the common tropes and beliefs in the Palestinian, Israeli and Jewish existence, humanizing an Israel-Jewish-Palestinian family and paying loving tribute to the food from both cultures. The movie was a 13-year labor of love for its director. Grostein Andrade grew up in an interfaith home with a Jewish mother, who urged him to have a bar mitzvah to honor those in his family who survived the Holocaust, and a Catholic/agnostic father.
Read also: Argan Oil for Hair
Watching the movie now, I can’t help but think that the pressure Abe’s family puts on him is unreasonable. No one person can solve this kind of conflict. It seems a lot of people have been taking their feelings of rage and helplessness about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza out on Hollywood stars. It makes sense in some ways: These people have big platforms, and their voices echo far.
I also get that when celebrities don’t say or believe in the things we want them to - and these are people who sometimes have an outsized place in our hearts and minds - the betrayal feels personal, and in this time of heightened emotions, even unforgivable. I’ve heard a lot Israelis say they can’t listen to certain music or watch certain TV shows anymore because the stars in them “hate us.” And then of course, Jewish actors who voice support for Israel are deemed as complicit in the killings of innocent Palestinians.
For years, I’ve written about Jewish celebrities and their relationship to Judaism, how they speak about antisemitism and when they share opinions about Israel and politics. I’ve also seen a lot of faux-pas from celebrities speaking out about current events, especially since October 7. It’ll be interesting to see how these social media avalanches of rage actually affect the careers and the successes of the projects these actors are in.
I too wish, like Schnapp and Grostein Andrade, that we could see each other as human and reach out to each other across whatever might divide us. Right now, a lot of us are busy yelling at each other - our rage feels like the most important thing in the room, and perhaps that’s fair.
Popular articles:
tags: #Morocco
