A few months ago, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated “Unorthodox” star Shira Haas was riffling through old photos when she found one of her and her siblings standing next to a man dressed as Captain America.
It was a full circle moment for the actress, who now stars as Ruth Bat-Seraph, an Israeli former Black Widow, in the new Marvel movie “Captain America: Brave New World.”
Haas, 29, was reeling from a very different heroic endeavor at the time the photo was taken: fighting childhood kidney cancer. The trip had been gifted to her family by Give Kids the World Village, which gifts critically ill kids around the world a free, weeklong vacation in central Florida with their family. When asked by CBS Mornings what she would say to that little girl now, Haas replied that “not only is she gonna feel better and stronger, that she should remember this moment and that a lot of her dreams will come true.”
Haas has faced backlash for her openly Israeli role in the movie, with people picketing screenings and urging viewers to boycott Marvel and its franchises for having an Israeli heroine. She isn’t the only star of the movie to draw controversy — star Anthony Mackie was attacked by racist trolls when he was cast as the titular role, making his Sam Wilson the first Black Captain America. Yet in spite of all that drama, the movie outperformed initial expectations, earning over $190 million worldwide on its opening weekend last week. The movie has a rotten Rotten Tomato score and would need to earn more that $700 million worldwide to be considered a Marvel success, but an instant flop it most certainly is not.
While Jewish viewers were concerned that Marvel might change Bat-Seraph’s Jewish and Israeli identity, audiences in Israel cheered loudly last week when they heard Haas’ character describe herself as being from the Jewish state. While she doesn’t have that big head of curly hair or the giant Star of David outfit the character donned in those early 1970s comics where she first appeared, she is played by a curly hair, diminutive and badass Israeli Jew; Haas even did many of her own stunts for the film. She’s not a Mossad agent, either, but instead, she works for the leader of the free world himself, President Thaddeus Ross, played by another iconic Jewish actor, Harrison Ford.
On the red carpet for the movie’s premiere, Haas wore a yellow golden dress and wore a gold ribbon earring, reminiscent of the symbol of solidarity with the Israeli hostages. In an interview there, she shared that she was “screaming from excitement” when she heard she got the role. Haas called her character “a true badass, fun to watch, fun to play. She works for the president, the legend Harrison Ford, so we shared a lot of moments together. I’m a fan, on and off screen.” Photos of Haas and Ford from the premiere are truly enchanting, and the actress said that along with Mackie, he made her feel very welcome in the Marvel universe.
Israeli audiences first fell in love with Haas as the precocious Ruchami in the Haredi drama “Shtisel.” She became a celebrated international star thanks to her leading role in the Netflix hit “Unorthodox” as Esty, a woman who leaves her ultra-Orthodox world behind in Brooklyn. Haas, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, also played a Jewish role in the West End musical “Opening Night” last year. She recently starred in the Netflix show “Bodies” and the Israeli drama “Night Therapy” where she played Yasmin, an introverted, gifted computer whiz struggling with her personal and romantic life. The role, she said, helped her grieve for her mother, who passed away of cancer last year.
“Episodes 6 and 7 of Night Therapy were released at a hauntingly precise moment, marking two years since my mother’s passing,” she wrote on Instagram. “I miss her deeply. In those times when words fall short, I find solace in the art and the characters that help us connect with so many different facets of life, and to everyone who is watching and finding a piece of themselves in Yasmin.”
The role Haas played in the series was so emotionally resonant that she won a special jury prize for it at the Monte Carlo International Television Festival.
We’re so excited to see Haas soar to new heights in this Marvel movie, and can’t wait to see what she does next.
