Israeli Actress Shira Haas Named To Forbes’ 2021 Under 30 List

Israeli actress Shira Haas was named to Forbes’ 2021 list for North America of 30 Under 30 innovators and entrepreneurs in 20 categories, published this week.

Haas, 25, appeared in the Hollywood and Entertainment category, alongside actors, directors, and network executives from across the world working in the entertainment industry.

Haas posted “thank you so much for this great honor” and tagged Forbes on her Instagram profile.

The young actress has had quite the year in 2020, garnering an Emmy nomination and critical acclaim for her leading role in Netflix series “Unorthodox,” and winning the Best Actress in an International Narrative Feature Film award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her role in “Asia.”

“Asia” recently won Best Picture at Israel’s Ophir Awards, making the film the country’s entry in the international film category at the upcoming 93rd Academy Awards in April 2021.

Viewers may also recognize Haas for her role as Ruchami Weiss in the Israeli series “Shtisel,” which first aired in 2013 and is coming back for a third season later this month. The role was Haas’ first TV debut.

Haas made her Hollywood debut in “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” directed by Natalie Portman in 2015, followed by “The Zookeeper’s Wife” starring Jessica Chastain in 2017.

In “Unorthodox,” for which she won wide praise, Haas plays Esty Shapiro, a 19-year-old Jewish woman living unhappily in an arranged marriage among an ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Following a series of difficulties, she flees to Berlin where her estranged mother lives, and begins to abandon the lifestyle she was born into.

Haas was the first Israeli actress to receive an Emmy nomination in the outstanding lead actress category for this role. The show itself was nominated for a total of eight Emmys, including best directing which it won.

The German-American Netflix series debuted on Netflix in March 2020. It was the first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish and was inspired by the 2012 memoir “Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots” by Deborah Feldman.

SEE ALSO: Forbes’ Young Leaders ‘Under 30’ Are Defining The Future Of Israel In 2020