Adam Brody Plays a "Hot Rabbi" in 'Nobody Wants This' — Is He Religious in Real Life?

We know, we know — acting is acting. But there are some instances in which an actor does such a stellar job depicting a character that you start to wonder how much they have in common in real life.

In Netflix's new rom-com series, Nobody Wants This, actor Adam Brody plays a devout rabbi named Noah, who has fallen in love with Kristen Bell's character, who isn't Jewish. Drama ensues, particularly hinged on the fact that their parents don't approve of their relationship. As the title suggests, nobody wants them to be together.

Now, folks are wondering if Adam himself is Jewish or whether he's religious at all. Here's what we know.

Folks wondering whether Adam is Jewish like his Netflix character will be interested to know that he was raised within the religion, though he doesn't seem to practice it anymore.

Both of Adam's parents, Valerie Siefman and Mark Alan Brody, are both Jewish, and the actor grew up in a somewhat religious household, having a bar mitzvah ceremony and celebrating Hanukkah.

However, Adam considers himself to be a "secular Jew" and actually initially felt unsure about taking on the role of a rabbi in Nobody Wants This. "I initially winced at the religiosity of it," he told the LA Times. "But I came around to being excited by that aspect and going, 'Well, that’s the different part than me, and that’s what will be fun stuff to research and explore and commit to and play.'"

He continued, "I’ve inherited some things through osmosis but, by and large, I didn’t know the first thing about Judaism — even having been bar mitzvahed, having played Jewish characters before."

His co-star, Kristen Bell, explained in the interview that in order to prepare for the role, Adam was constantly consuming Jewish media and studying up on the religion: "Every time I would come up to him, he would be listening to some Jewish podcast or reading some very Jewish book, really putting in the work."

Adam also told Variety that he did some boots-on-the-ground research, as well.

When asked if he spoke to any "hip rabbis" to prepare, he told the publication, "I briefly did that sort of thing. I went to a synagogue for a Shabbat service. I went to a Shabbat dinner. ... I really went to school. It was very fun. It was very interesting, and I’m a lot wiser for it."

"It spanned the breadth of all things Jewish: I had my Torah studies, I had my Holocaust studies, I had my history of a people, tracing the lineage. It was all very illuminating," he said.

Adam also compared his Nobody Wants This character to his O.C. character, Seth Cohen, who was culturally Jewish: "[Noah] is the first character I’ve looked at that’s religious. I didn’t look at Seth Cohen as religious. [Previous characters] were Jewish culturally, but they weren’t, to me, referencing God or thinking about God. This character very much is."