{{Short description|American actress and filmmaker}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Leah Gottfried | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Leah Gottfried | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1991|4}}<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Bromwich|first=Jonah Engel|date=August 2, 2019|title=A Song in His Heart. It Was for Her.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/style/a-song-in-his-heart-it-was-for-her.html|access-date=December 21, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> | birth_place = Monsey, New York, U.S. | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | occupation = Actress, writer, producer, director | years_active = 2006–present | known_for = | notable_works = ''Soon By You'' | website = {{URL|leahgottfried.com}} }}
'''Leah Gottfried''' (born April 1991) is an American actress and filmmaker, best known for creating and starring in the web series ''Soon By You''. In 2017, she was featured in ''The Jewish Week''<nowiki/>'s "36 Under 36", an annual list of influential Jews under age 36.<ref name="jweek">{{cite web|author1=Tova Ross|title=Leah Gottfried: Chronicler of Jewish Singlehood|url=http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/leah-gottfried/|website=The Jewish Week|accessdate=January 21, 2018|date=May 25, 2017}}</ref>
==Early life== Gottfried was born in 1991 in Monsey, New York, to a Haredi Orthodox Jewish family. After her parents divorced when she was five, she and her mother, Esther Litchfield-Fink, moved to Flatbush and transitioned to Modern Orthodox Judaism.<ref name=":8">{{Cite news|last=Bromwich|first=Jonah Engel|date=August 2, 2019|title=A Song in His Heart. It Was for Her.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/02/style/a-song-in-his-heart-it-was-for-her.html|access-date=December 25, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> Gottfried became interested in acting at age eight,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Bettencourt|first=Michael|date=August 3, 2016|title=Lights! Camera! And…|url=https://blogs.yu.edu/news/lights-camera-and/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=Yeshiva University News|language=en-US}}</ref> and at 11 she began directing friends in recreations of her favorite TV episodes using her mother's camcorder.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Hyman|first=Talya|date=November 14, 2018|title=Trailblazing into the Spotlight: A Conversation with Leah Gottfried|url=https://yuobserver.org/2018/11/trailblazing-spotlight-conversation-leah-gottfried/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=The YU Observer}}</ref> She attended local Orthodox schools, where she was discouraged by teachers from pursuing an acting career.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name="jweek" /> Despite this, her mother was supportive and helped her audition for commercials, although she often ended up dropping out because shooting schedules conflicted with Shabbat; this motivated her to pursue writing and directing in order to set her own schedule for projects.<ref name=":4" />
At age 14, Gottfried and her mother moved to Los Angeles and she began appearing in commercials for Yamaha ATV and Time Warner Cable, among others.<ref name="jweek" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Wildes|first=Rabbi Mark|date=November 10, 2021|title=A Conversation with Leah Gottfried|url=https://the-wildescast.simplecast.com/episodes/a-conversation-with-leah-gottfried-vaCv5GnZ|access-date=December 23, 2021|website=The Wildescast|publisher=Simplecast}}</ref> She lived in Los Angeles for six years and attended Valley Torah High School.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|last=Lobell|first=Kylie Ora|date=June 1, 2016|title=The love of your (Modern Orthodox) life|url=https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/185972/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=Jewish Journal|language=en-US}}</ref> During the summer of 2005, she attended Kol Neshama, a summer arts conservatory for teen girls led by Orthodox filmmaker Robin Garbose; Garbose became a mentor to Gottfried, who later worked on her films ''The Heart That Sings'' (2011) and ''Operation: Candlelight'' (2014).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Stern|first=Carly|date=July 18, 2019|title=The Filmmaker Creating 'Friends' for Modern Orthodox Jews|url=https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/the-filmmaker-creating-friends-for-modern-orthodox-jews/95440/|access-date=December 21, 2021|website=OZY|archive-date=December 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221105125/https://www.ozy.com/the-new-and-the-next/the-filmmaker-creating-friends-for-modern-orthodox-jews/95440/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Litvak|first=Yehudis|date=June 20, 2019|title=The Los Angeles Premier of Soon By You at The Community Shul|url=https://jewishhomela.com/2019/06/20/the-los-angeles-premier-of-soon-by-you-at-the-community-shul/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=JEWISH HOME LA|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Danneman|first=Carmelle|date=October 21, 2013|title=Film Talk: Operation Candlelight|url=https://yuobserver.org/2013/10/film-talk-operation-candlelight/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=The YU Observer}}</ref> She made her first major film appearance in the 2007 boxing comedy ''The Hammer'', where she played a secretary.
After spending a post-high school year in Israel, Gottfried attended Yeshiva University's Stern College for Women, where she created a shaped major in film and became the school's first student to graduate with a Film Studies degree in 2014.<ref name="toi">{{cite web|author1=Renee Ghert-Zand|date=May 21, 2016|title=New web series charts trials of searching for your bashert in the Big Apple|url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/new-web-series-charts-trials-of-searching-for-your-bashert-in-the-big-apple/|publisher=The Times of Israel|accessdate=August 4, 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> She also took a cinematography course at New York University as part of this major.<ref name=":6" />
==Career== Gottfried founded her own production company, Dignity Entertainment, in 2011 while at Stern.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> After directing several music videos, most notably for Orthodox pop artist Shaindel Antelis, she directed, wrote, and produced the short film ''Angie's Song'' in 2014. She has also appeared onstage as Nora Morton in ''Brighton Beach Memoirs'', Gert in ''Lost in Yonkers'', and Anna in ''The Government Inspector''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=asymonds|date=December 24, 2015|title=Leah Gottfried|url=https://jenla.org/leah-gottfried/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=Jewish Entertainment Network LA|language=en-US}}</ref> She had a brief role in the 2021 Jewish dance comedy film ''Tango Shalom''.
=== ''Soon By You'' === {{Main|Soon By You}} In 2016, Gottfried created the YouTube comedy web series ''Soon By You''. Conceiving of the show as a combination of ''Friends'' and ''Srugim'' centered around Orthodox singles navigating the ''shidduch'' system in New York, Gottfried developed the show with producers Danny Hoffman and Jessica Schechter; all three also star in the series. The pilot episode, "The Setup", won Best Short at the 2016 Washington Jewish Film Festival,<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|last=Spiro|first=Amy|date=May 15, 2016|title=When 'Srugim' takes on New York City|url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/when-srugim-takes-on-new-york-city-454043|access-date=December 22, 2021|website=The Jerusalem Post|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Spielman|first=Sara Trappler|date=May 6, 2016|title=New Web Series 'Soon By You' Depicts the Trials and Tribulations of Modern Orthodox Dating|url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/soon-by-you-depicts-the-trials-and-tribulations-of-modern-orthodox-dating|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=February 21, 2020|website=Tablet Magazine|language=en}}</ref><ref name="jweek" /><ref name=":7" /> and the first season received over a million views on YouTube.<ref name=":0" />
== Personal life == Gottfried is married to Isaiah Rothstein, a rabbi and musician who is the lead singer for the band Zayah and rabbi-in-residence at Hazon.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Zeitlin|first=Alan|title=How 'Soon By You' Became Now By Them|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/how-soon-by-you-became-now-by-them/|access-date=December 21, 2021|website=jewishweek.timesofisrael.com|date=February 15, 2019 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Horwitz|first=Simi|date=November 6, 2019|title=In 'Soon By You,' Leah Gottfried Tells Stories About Modern Orthodox Dating|url=https://momentmag.com/in-soon-by-you-leah-gottfried-tells-stories-about-modern-orthodox-dating/|access-date=December 23, 2021|website=Moment Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> The two met at a Hevria open-mic night event in late 2017 where both were performing (her reading a poem, him performing music);<ref name=":2" /> she later attended a talk he gave at the 2018 Limmud NY conference in Monsey and co-directed a music video for his band Zayah, and he eventually proposed to her via song later that year.<ref name=":1" /> The two were married on June 16, 2019, at Oz Farm in Saugerties, New York.<ref name=":8" />
She has cited Rama Burshtein, Greta Gerwig, and Ava DuVernay as directing influences, particularly noting DuVernay for how she “brings stories about people who are marginalized to the forefront”.<ref name=":4" />
==Filmography== ===Film and TV=== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Role !Actor !Director !Writer !Producer !Self !Notes |- | rowspan="2" |2006 |''Distant Roads'' |Host / daughter | | | | |{{Tick}} |Episodes: "Wyoming", "Indiana" |- |''Camp Bnos Yisrael'' |Reisy Rubin |{{Tick}} | | | | |Direct-to-video; Episode 1: "Together as One" |- | rowspan="2" |2007 |''The Lockdown Club'' |Cheerleader |{{Tick}} | | | | |Short film |- |''The Hammer'' |Secretary |{{Tick}} | | | | | |- |2011 |''The Heart That Sings'' |Libby Guggenheim |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} | | | |Second assistant director |- | rowspan="2" |2014 |''Angie's Song'' | | |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} | |Short film |- |''Operation: Candlelight'' |Officer Smith |{{Tick}} | | |{{Tick}} | |line producer |- |2016–present |''Soon By You'' |Sarah Jacobs |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} |{{Tick}} | |Main cast and series creator |- | rowspan="2" |2018 |''My Million Dollar Mom'' |Girl at Bar Mitvah |{{Tick}} | | | | |Short film |- |''The Cheeseburger'' |Shira |{{Tick}} | | | | |Short film |- |2021 |''Tango Shalom'' |Wedding Guest |{{Tick}} | | | | | |}
===Music videos=== {| class="wikitable" !Year !Song !Artist !Notes |- |2011 |"Change" | rowspan="3" |Shaindel Antelis | |- |2012 |"The Light" | |- |2013 |"The Palace" | |- | rowspan="5" |2014 |"Spilling Wine" |Barefoot City | |- |"Hooleh!" |8th Day |Line producer and first assistant director |- |"Suspended" |Livia LVX | |- |"Invisible" |Shaindel Antelis | |- |"Chanukah Light" |Ari Goldwag |Assistant director |- | rowspan="2" |2015 |"Criminal Love" |Carl Man |Producer |- |"By Your Side" |Shaindel Antelis |Also editor |- | rowspan="2" |2017 |"Honey You'll Survive" |Rivky Saxon | |- |"Shiru L'Hashem" |Franciska | |- |2018 |"Modeh Ani" |Zayah |With Isaiah Rothstein |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name |2592762 | Leah Gottfried}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottfried, Leah}} Category:1991 births Category:Living people Category:Actresses from Brooklyn Category:American Modern Orthodox Jews Category:American music video directors Category:American women film directors Category:Artists from Brooklyn Category:Filmmakers from New York (state) Category:Jewish American actresses Category:Modern Orthodox Jewish feminists Category:People from Monsey, New York Category:21st-century American women