Leah Gottfried
Born
Leah Gottfried

April 1991[1]
Monsey, New York, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, writer, producer, director
Years active2006–present
Notable workSoon By You
Websiteleahgottfried.com

Leah Gottfried (born 1991) is an American Orthodox Jewish actress and filmmaker, best known for creating and starring in the web series Soon By You. In 2017, she was featured in The Jewish Week's "36 Under 36", an annual list of influential Jews under age 36.[2]

Early life

Gottfried was born in 1991 in Monsey, New York, to a Haredi Orthodox Jewish family. After her parents divorced when she was five, she and her mother, Esther Litchfield-Fink, moved to Flatbush and transitioned to Modern Orthodox Judaism.[3][4][5] Gottfried became interested in acting at age eight,[6] and at 11 she began directing friends in recreations of her favorite TV episodes using her mother's camcorder.[7] She attended local Orthodox schools, where she was discouraged by teachers from pursuing an acting career.[4][5][2] Despite this, her mother was supportive and helped her audition for commercials, although she often ended up dropping out because shooting schedules conflicted with Shabbat; this motivated her to pursue writing and directing in order to set her own schedule for projects.[4]

At age 14, Gottfried and her mother moved to Los Angeles and she began appearing in commercials for Yamaha ATV and Time Warner Cable, among others.[2][8] She lived in Los Angeles for six years and attended Valley Torah High School.[9] During the summer of 2005, she attended Kol Neshama, a summer arts conservatory for teen girls led by Orthodox filmmaker Robin Garbose; Garbose became a mentor to Gottfried, who later worked on her films The Heart That Sings (2011) and Operation: Candlelight (2014).[5][10][11] She made her first major film appearance in the 2007 boxing comedy The Hammer, where she played a secretary.

After spending a post-high school year in Israel, Gottfried attended Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women, where she created a shaped major in film and became the school's first student to graduate with a Film Studies degree in 2014.[12][5][6][7] She also took a cinematography course at New York University as part of this major.[7]

Career

Gottfried founded her own production company, Dignity Entertainment, in 2011 while at Stern.[5][6] After directing several music videos, most notably for Orthodox pop artist Shaindel Antelis, she directed, wrote, and produced the short film Angie's Song in 2014. She has also appeared onstage as Nora Morton in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Gert in Lost in Yonkers, and Anna in The Government Inspector.[13] She had a brief role in the 2021 Jewish dance comedy film Tango Shalom.

Soon By You

In 2016, Gottfried created the YouTube comedy web series Soon By You. Conceiving of the show as a combination of Friends and Srugim centered around Orthodox singles navigating the shidduch system in New York, Gottfried developed the show with producers Danny Hoffman and Jessica Schechter; all three also star in the series. The pilot episode, "The Setup", won Best Short at the 2016 Washington Jewish Film Festival,[14][15][2][9] and the first season received over a million views on YouTube.[5]

Personal life

Gottfried is married to Isaiah Rothstein, a rabbi and musician who is the lead singer for the band Zayah and rabbi-in-residence at Hazon.[3][16][5][4] The two met at a Hevria open-mic night event in late 2017 where both were performing (her reading a poem, him performing music);[1] she later attended a talk he gave at the 2018 Limmud NY conference in Monsey and co-directed a music video for his band Zayah, and he eventually proposed to her via song later that year.[16] The two were married on June 16, 2019 at Oz Farm in Saugerties, New York.[3]

She has cited Rama Burshtein, Greta Gerwig, and Ava DuVernay as directing influences, particularly noting DuVernay for how she “brings stories about people who are marginalized to the forefront”.[4]

Filmography

Film and TV

Year Title Role Actor Director Writer Producer Self Notes
2006 Distant Roads Host / daughter check Episodes: "Wyoming", "Indiana"
Camp Bnos Yisrael Reisy Rubin check Direct-to-video; Episode 1: "Together as One"
2007 The Lockdown Club Cheerleader check Short film
The Hammer Secretary check
2011 The Heart That Sings Libby Guggenheim check check Second assistant director
2014 Angie's Song check check check Short film
Operation: Candlelight Officer Smith check check line producer
2016–present Soon By You Sarah Jacobs check check check check Main cast and series creator
2018 My Million Dollar Mom Girl at Bar Mitvah check Short film
The Cheeseburger Shira check Short film
2021 Tango Shalom Wedding Guest check

Music videos

Year Song Artist Notes
2011 "Change" Shaindel Antelis
2012 "The Light"
2013 "The Palace"
2014 "Spilling Wine" Barefoot City
"Hooleh!" 8th Day Line producer and first assistant director
"Suspended" Livia LVX
"Invisible" Shaindel Antelis
"Chanukah Light" Ari Goldwag Assistant director
2015 "Criminal Love" Carl Man Producer
"By Your Side" Shaindel Antelis Also editor
2017 "Honey You'll Survive" Rivky Saxon
"Shiru L'Hashem" Franciska
2018 "Modeh Ani" Zayah With Isaiah Rothstein

References

  1. 1 2 Bromwich, Jonah Engel (2019-08-02). "A Song in His Heart. It Was for Her". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Tova Ross (May 25, 2017). "Leah Gottfried: Chronicler of Jewish Singlehood". The Jewish Week. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Bromwich, Jonah Engel (2019-08-02). "A Song in His Heart. It Was for Her". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Horwitz, Simi (2019-11-06). "In 'Soon By You,' Leah Gottfried Tells Stories About Modern Orthodox Dating". Moment Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stern, Carly (2019-07-18). "The Filmmaker Creating 'Friends' for Modern Orthodox Jews". OZY. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
  6. 1 2 3 Bettencourt, Michael (2016-08-03). "Lights! Camera! And…". Yeshiva University News. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  7. 1 2 3 Hyman, Talya (2018-11-14). "Trailblazing into the Spotlight: A Conversation with Leah Gottfried". The YU Observer. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  8. ↑ Wildes, Rabbi Mark (November 10, 2021). "A Conversation with Leah Gottfried". The Wildescast. Simplecast. Retrieved 2021-12-23.
  9. 1 2 Lobell, Kylie Ora (2016-06-01). "The love of your (Modern Orthodox) life". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  10. ↑ Litvak, Yehudis (2019-06-20). "The Los Angeles Premier of Soon By You at The Community Shul". JEWISH HOME LA. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  11. ↑ Danneman, Carmelle (2013-10-21). "Film Talk: Operation Candlelight". The YU Observer. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  12. ↑ Renee Ghert-Zand (May 21, 2016). "New web series charts trials of searching for your bashert in the Big Apple". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
  13. ↑ asymonds (2015-12-24). "Leah Gottfried". Jewish Entertainment Network LA. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  14. ↑ Spiro, Amy (May 15, 2016). "When 'Srugim' takes on New York City". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  15. ↑ Spielman, Sara Trappler (May 6, 2016). "New Web Series 'Soon By You' Depicts the Trials and Tribulations of Modern Orthodox Dating". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  16. 1 2 Zeitlin, Alan (15 February 2019). "How 'Soon By You' Became Now By Them". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
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