Mazel tov to fabulous Canadian Jewish actress Sarah Levy on the birth of her first child, baby James Eugene!
Levy best known to U.S. audiences for her role as waitress Twyla Sands in “Schitt’s Creek,” announced the birth of her son this Wednesday on Instagram, sharing a picture of adorable baby feet. “He decided to make an early entrance but we are so glad sweet James Eugene Outerbridge is in the world,” she wrote.
Levy, who also plays agent Susan Ireland in the Canadian paranormal show “SurrealEstate,” shared that she was pregnant on the same platform back in May, saying that her pregnancy cravings were salt and vinegar chips and hot sauce. Sounds pretty great if there was no heartburn involved!
Of course, the birth of baby James makes “Schitt’s Creek” actor and showrunner Dan Levy a first-time uncle (very excited for all his stylish baby gifts) and comedy legend Eugene Levy and wife Deborah Divine first-time grandparents.
Levy paid tribute to her family’s Jewish Sephardic roots and to her father by giving the baby the middle name Eugene.
While Ashkenazi Jews traditionally discourage naming babies after living people, many Sephardic Jews traditionally name their kids in honor of a living grandparent or family member (as do some more modern Ashkenazi Jews, like Andy Cohen, who got permission from his rabbi to give his daughter his mother’s name as a middle name).
Levy’s grandmother, Rebecca, was born in Scotland to Ashkenazi Polish Jews, but her Ontario-born grandfather, Joseph “Joe” Levy, was Sephardic — he has Spanish and Bulgarian roots. They raised Eugene in a not very Jewish area of the city of Hamilton, where he had to reject Gideon Bibles in public school because he was a Jew. The funny movie and TV star later became more involved in the local Jewish community as a teen.
Levy herself was raised in an interfaith home — her mother, Deborah Divine, is Protestant, but she’s very grateful to raise a mixed Jewish family. Her brother Dan Levy drew inspiration from their upbringing when he created “Schitt’s Creek’s” Rose family, calling himself a “delightful half-half situation” in the show’s excellent holiday special.
Such haberes buenos (that’s Ladino for good news!). We’re absolutely thrilled for the entire Levy family.
