Doctor of Humane Letters
“I am moved and honored to receive an honorary degree from Yeshiva University, an institution that so deeply embodies the strength and values in which I believe.”
Throughout her remarkable career as an actress, singer and playwright on stage, television and film, Tovah Feldshuh illuminates the Jewish diaspora through her portrayals of strong, complex women.
For her work on the New York stage, from Yentl to Saravà! to Lend Me A Tenor to Golda’s Balcony, Ms. Feldshuh has earned four Tony nominations for best actress and won four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, the Obie, the Theatre World Award and the Lucille Lortel Award for best actress for Golda’s Balcony, which became the longest-running one-woman show in the history of Broadway. This year, the Drama League nominated her for “Distinguished Performance” for her searing portrayal of Irena Gut Opdyke on Broadway in Irena’s Vow.
Film audiences recognize Ms. Feldshuh from such movies as Kissing Jessica Stein; A Walk on the Moon, Brewster’s Millions and Daniel. Most recently, she appeared onscreen in O Jerusalem, in which she played Golda Meir, and Lady in the Water. On television, she received her first Emmy nomination for her portrayal of the Czech freedom fighter Helena in Holocaust. She starred in The Amazing Howard Hughes, Citizen Cohn, The Cosby Mysteries, The Cosby Show and The Education of Max Bickford, to name a few. In 2004 she was nominated for her second Emmy for her work on Law & Order as defense attorney Danielle Melnick.
Her one-woman musical show, Tovah: Out of Her Mind! sold out in London’s West End and culminated in a symphonic concert with Billy Crystal at Los Angeles’ Royce Hall. The Boston Globe selected Tovah: Out of Her Mind! as the best one-person show of 2000. Ms. Feldshuh created a new concert, Mining Golda: My Journey to Golda Meir, which also played the West End at the Savoy Theatre, as well as in major venues in Manchester, Leeds, Johannesburg and Sydney. Most recently, she was the first artist ever to be asked to extend at the renowned Feinstein’s Nightclub at the Loews Regency Hotel in New York in her smash cabaret show, Tovah: In a Nutshell!
Ms. Feldshuh, a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, won the McKnight Fellowship to the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre. She has taught at Yale, Cornell and New York universities. This year, she has been invited to join a think tank at Harvard University on Jewish life and leadership. She is a supporter of Seeds of Peace, a non-profit, non-political organization that helps teenagers from regions of conflict and is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitas Award and the Israel Peace Medal, among others.
Ms. Feldshuh is married to New York attorney, Andrew Harris Levy. They have two children, Garson Brandon and Amanda Claire.