Odeya Rush

Rush in 2012, image via kathclick/bigstock.com

Birth Name: Odeya Rushinek

Place of Birth: Haifa, Israel

Date of Birth: May 12, 1997

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

Odeya Rush is an Israeli-born actress and model. She has had leading roles in the films The Odd Life of Timothy Green, We Are What We Are, The Giver, See You in Valhalla, Goosebumps, Almost Friends, The Hunter’s Prayer, The Bachelors, Lady Bird, Dear Dictator, Dumplin’, Spinning Man, Let It Snow, Pink Skies Ahead, Cha Cha Real Smooth, and Umma, and on the Israeli show Baalat HaChalomot.

Born in Haifa, Israel, her father, Shlomo Rushinek, is an Israeli-born Jew, with Polish Jewish ancestry, and her mother, Maia Grinfeld, is a Russian Jewish immigrant. Odeya’s grandmother lived in Ukraine. Her first name means “I will thank God” in Hebrew. Odeya moved to the U.S. at the age of nine, initially living in Alabama, where her father worked as a security consultant. Her family later moved to Midland Park, New Jersey, and then Los Angeles, California.

Odeya’s paternal line can be traced back to her seventh great-grandfather, Samson Rusinek.

Odeya’s paternal grandfather was Mordechai/Mordecai Rusinek (the son of Shlomo/Szlomo Rusinek and Hanna/Chana Sara Schneiderman/Shniedermann). Mordechai was a Polish Jew. Shlomo was born in Pilica, Zawiercie County, Silesian Voivodeship, the son of Rafal Rusinek and Chana Jablonowska/Herbet. Shlomo and his father were killed in the Holocaust, in 1942, in the Treblinka extermination camp. Hanna was born in Zawiercie, Zawiercie County. She was killed in the Holocaust, in 1942.

Odeya’s paternal grandmother is the daughter of Asher Zelig Bendel/Bendall and Chila. Asher was the son of Aron Tzwi Bendel. Chila was the daughter of Tzwi and Gitel.

Source: Genealogy of Odeya Rush (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com