(USATODAY) — Take a peek at the cast of Apple TV+’s latest comedy “The Shrink Next Door.” Or Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” or “Transparent.”
What do all these shows have in common? A bunch of non-Jews play Jewish characters. It’s a phenomenon some in Hollywood have labeled “Jewface.”
The term refers to a non-Jew playing a Jew with stereotypical Jewishness front-and-center. Think sporting frizzy hair or invoking a heavy New York accent and Yiddish inflection. It was not a historical practice in the same way racist Blackface was in minstrel shows.
