Profile Text
Brody in 2010, DFree / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Adrien Nicholas Brody
Place of Birth: Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: April 14, 1973
Ethnicity: * father – Ashkenazi Jewish * maternal grandfather – Hungarian, as well as remote German, possibly other * maternal grandmother – Ashkenazi Jewish
Adrien Brody is an American actor and producer. He has twice won the Academy Award for Best Actor , for The Pianist (2002) and The Brutalist (2024). He remains the youngest winner in the category. His roles also include the films New York Stories , The Boy Who Cried Bitch , King of the Hill (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), Bullet , Solo (1996), The Undertaker’s Wedding , Six Ways to Sunday , The Thin Red Line , Summer of Sam , Oxygen (1999), Liberty Heights , Bread and Roses , Harrison’s Flowers , The Affair of the Necklace , Dummy (2002), The Singing Detective , The Village (2004), The Jacket , King Kong (2005), Hollywoodland , The Darjeeling Limited , The Brothers Bloom , Cadillac Records , Giallo , Splice , Fantastic Mr. Fox , High School , Predators , The Experiment , Wrecked (2010), Detachment , Midnight in Paris , Back to 1942 , inAPPropriate Comedy , Third Person , The Grand Budapest Hotel , American Heist , Dragon Blade , Septembers of Shiraz , Manhattan Night , Bullet Head , Air Strike (2018), Clean (2021), The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun ; See How They Run , Blonde (2022), Manodrome , Ghosted , Fool’s Paradise , and Asteroid City ; and the series Houdini , Peaky Blinders , Chapelwaite , Succession , Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty , and Poker Face .
He is the son of Sylvia Plachý, a prominent photographer, and Elliot Brody, a history professor and painter. His father was born in Nevada, to an American father of Russian Jewish descent, and to a Polish Jewish mother; he was raised in New York. Adrien’s mother was born in Budapest, Hungary. Adrien’s maternal grandfather was Catholic. Adrien’s maternal grandmother was Jewish; her own parents were killed in the Holocaust. Adrien’s mother was raised Catholic, and did not know about her own mother’s Jewish background until her teenage years. Sylvia’s mother was hidden by Sylvia’s father during the Holocaust.
Adrien has said that he was raised around both Judaism and Catholicism.
His mother’s surname, Plachý, means “shy” in Czech.
Adrien’s paternal grandfather was Abraham “Abe” Brody (the son of Hyman Brody and Annie/Anna Rachael Kassel). Abraham was born in New York City, New York, to Russian Jewish parents. Anna was the daughter of Joseph Kassell/Kossel and Ida Karlstein.
Adrien’s paternal grandmother was Earnestine/Ernestine Thaler (the daughter of Elias Thaler and Blanche Eutenberg). Earnestine was born in Poland, to a Jewish family.
Adrien’s maternal grandfather was Vilmos Lajos “Willy” Emil Plachý (the son of Matild Róza Paulina Ábrányi). Vilmos was born in Budapest, Hungary. He was born outside of marriage, and took on the surname of his stepfather, Zsigmond Károly Ádám Plachy, who himself was the son of Zsigmond Plachy de Nemesvarbók and Rózsa/Róza Veres/de Farád. He has been described as being of aristocratic background. Adrien’s great-grandmother Matild was the daughter of Ábrányi Lajos/Louis, a noted painter, who was born in Békéscsaba, Békés, Magyarország; and of Róza Vay.
Adrien’s maternal grandmother was Ilma/Ilona Magda Jahr (the daughter of Miklós “Nicholas” Jahr and Irén Schvarcz/Shvartz/Schwarcz). Ilona was born in Rakhiv, Rakhivs’kyi district, Zakarpattia Oblast, then part of the Hungarian side of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Ukraine; to a Jewish family. Adrien’s great-grandfather Miklós was born in Yasinya, Rakhivs’kyi district, the son of Samuel/Smil/Shmuel Jahr and Freide “Fani” Rosenthal. Miklós was killed in the Holocaust, in the Ebensee concentration camp, in 1944. Adrien’s great-grandmother Irén was born in Fehérgyarmat, Fehérgyarmati, Județul Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Hungary, the daughter of Ignacz/Ignac Schvarcz/Schwarcz, who was from Mátészalka, Hungary; and of Sali/Sarolta Krémer/Krámer, who was from Varanno, Zemplén, Prešov Region. Adrien’s great-grandmother Irén was killed in the Holocaust, in Auschwitz, in 1944.
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk http://www.nysun.com http://www.forward.com
Adrien’s father on the 1950 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Adrien’s paternal grandparents, Abraham “Abe” Brody and Earnestine/Ernestine Thaler – https://www.familysearch.org
Adrien’s paternal grandfather, Abraham “Abe” Brody, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Death record of Adrien’s paternal great-grandmother, Annie/Anna Rachael (Kassel) Brody – https://www.familysearch.org
Adrien’s paternal grandmother, Earnestine/Ernestine Thaler, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy of Adrien Brody (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Adrien’s maternal great-grandmother, Matild Ábrányi – http://www.macse.org