celebrity jews

Brad and Jen

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston top any list of Hollywood's golden couples. Unlike some such couples, they are thoughtful people who are anything but the stereotype of Hollywood airheads. Perhaps not coincidentally, both were in the news in the last few weeks for their involvement in Jewish-related projects. Their production company bought the film rights to Marianne Pearl's book about her murdered husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. (Marianne is Jewish on her father's side.)

Brad and Jen also announced that they would support the work of One Voice, which is trying to end the Arab-Israeli conflict by working out peace proposals among important Palestinians and Jews and bringing those proposals to the grassroots via TV and the Internet. Ultimately, One Voice wants to attract a groundswell of support from moderates on both sides.

Brad and Jen were introduced to One Voice by actress Rhea Perlman, most famous for "Cheers." Also supporting One Voice are Danny DeVito (Perlman's husband), Jason Alexander and Israeli American actress Mili Avital.

Some news reports have cast Brad and Jen's efforts and this organization in an almost jocular light. However, anyone who has visited the organization's Web site — http://www.silentnolonger.com — cannot help but be impressed by the thought that has gone into this group and the impressive resumes of its board members, Jewish and Palestinian. They are trying to build a consensus of "moderates" on both sides and have tried to avoid the pitfalls bedeviling many other efforts.

Daniel Lubetsky, the group's founder and president, said that reports that these stars will visit Israel immediately are not "totally accurate, but they're not far from the truth." The group has also recruited Muhammad Ali to visit Israel to do what he can for reconciliation. Muhammad Darwahse, the Mideast director of One Voice, said that at the very least the input of Hollywood stars should boost the morale of exhausted Israelis and Palestinians — letting them know that the world has not given up.

Fishy stuff

"Finding Nemo," the hit animated film, was released on DVD/video on Nov. 4. "Nemo" has earned an amazing $350 million in American theaters alone. Albert Brooks plays Marlin, a nervous-Nelly clownfish who rises above his fears to find his son Nemo, who was captured by a scuba diver.

Nemo is voiced by 9-year-old Alexander Gould, a charming kid who has been acting since he was 2. Earlier this year, he told the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent that he "guessed Nemo was Jewish," that he doesn't eat fish — a quite understandable comment, and that he was starting to get ready for his bar mitzvah.

Alexander, who was born in Santa Monica, has grown up in show business. He has appeared in many TV shows, including "7th Heaven," "Ally McBeal" and "Malcolm in the Middle." His two younger sisters are also actresses and his mother, Valerie, is a former child actress. He told the Web site Guideposts for Kids: "My mom got me into acting when I was a toddler because everyone told her I was so cute." His acting ability impressed "Nemo's" director, Mill Valley's Andrew Stanton.

Brad Garrett, of "Everybody Loves Raymond," has a large supporting role as the voice of Bloat.

Believe it or not

Three odd Jewish-related celeb items recently caught our eye. In case you missed them:

• Rodney Dangerfield, 82, recently consulted the Raelians — a group that promotes exchanges between extraterrestrials and humans, among other things — about having himself cloned. The film of his meetings with the Raelians will be in a future documentary on the comedian. Yes, the expected jokes about his clone getting "no respect" were all over the place.

• Prince, the rock star, became a Jehovah's Witness about a year ago. A Minneapolis Jewish family was startled this Yom Kippur when Prince rang their bell and tried to convert them. Their reaction — disbelief, thrill and no interest in his "product."

• Forbes Magazine 2003 list of the 20 highest-earning "dead celebrities" includes tribe members Irving Berlin, Marilyn Monroe and Richard Rodgers. Maybe you can't take it with you, but you can keep on earnin' it.

Nate Bloom is the Oakland-based editor of http://www.Jewhoo.com.