“I was always responding to things that were Jewish.”
In the constellation of Hollywood stars, Sarah Jessica Parker shines with a unique blend of talent, style, and personal conviction. Best known for her iconic role as Carrie Bradshaw in the groundbreaking series Sex and the City, Parker has not only left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment but also on the cultural understanding of love, fashion, and female empowerment.
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Off-screen, Parker’s life is equally fascinating, especially when it comes to her spiritual beliefs. Amid a career that spans decades and a personal life closely watched by fans and media alike, the topic of Sarah Jessica Parker’s religion remains an intriguing aspect of her identity.
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What is Sarah Jessica Parker’s religion?
Sarah Jessica Parker’s religious background is as multifaceted as her career in Hollywood. On March 25, 1965, Sarah was born to mother Barbara and father Stephen in Nelsonville, Ohio.
Barbara was of German and English descent, while Stephen hailed from an Eastern European Jewish background.
Though she didn’t grow up practicing a specific religion, Sarah appears to identify more strongly with Jewish culture.
In an interview for a 2005 book called Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish, Sarah said that she “always just considered myself a Jew. Maybe I feel Jewish because my mother is very skeptical of organized religion in general and being a Jew felt more cultural to me. I was always responding to things that were Jewish.”
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As the book notes, Sarah said that her Jewishness was rooted largely in nostalgia.
“My father was raised on Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn — he was on the Brighton Beach line,” she said. “It’s a very Jewish community. And every year on our summer visits, the people we spent time with were Jews. Whenever we came to New York on Sundays we always went to Chinatown. To us that was a very Jewish thing.”
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But Sarah explained that she didn’t feel she knew enough about Judaism to talk publicly about her religion.
“I wouldn’t call myself a famous Jew, but my experience over the years has been that if someone wants me to talk at length about being Jewish in a Jewish paper or publication, I feel I couldn’t be further from an authority and I don’t want to say things that are uneducated,” she explained. “There are people who are more of note who know more about being a Jew than I do. So I’ve never done it.”
Whether or not Sarah thinks of herself as religious, she has always maintained her gratitude. As she told O, The Oprah Magazine in 2004: “I’m not a religious or spiritual person, but I’m extraordinarily grateful for my good fortune. At least twice a day, I’m reminded of how lucky I am. Sometimes I walk by a newsstand and my picture will be on a magazine cover — and somebody else is actually curious enough to buy it. I can’t believe this is my life.”
