About this episode
Shira Haas joins the show to discuss her astonishing performance in “Unorthodox,” the Netflix original limited series about a young woman from the Hasidic community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn who breaks out of her arranged marriage and travels to Berlin to find herself. Directed by Maria Schrader, created by Anna Winger and Alexa Karolinski, and inspired by Deborah Feldman's bestseller of the same name, “Unorthodox” has captured the imagination of viewers around the world. At 25 years old, Haas is a well-established actress back home in Israel, where she landed her first lead film role at just 16. In the course of her young career, she has already received four nominations for the Israeli Academy Awards, winning Best Supporting Actress for the film “Noble Savage.” Her work in international film began with her performance in Natalie Portman’s directorial debut “A Tale of Love and Darkness” and “The Zookeeper’s Wife,” directed by Niki Caro. In this interview, Haas talks about how she got her start, how she approaches her work, and her preparation for “Unorthodox,” which included learning Yiddish. She also talks about how she’s navigated the ups and downs of the acting life, how she decompresses between roles, and why she particularly loves the challenge of conveying emotion in scenes with less dialogue.