Mila Kunis identifies as Jewish and has described a growing appreciation for Jewish religious traditions in her adult life. Her story includes a childhood shaped by pressure to keep that identity quiet, followed by a home where Shabbat and Hanukkah have become meaningful family practices.
Her clearest recent explanation came during a December 2024 Hanukkah conversation with Noa Tishby. Kunis spoke openly about the difference between knowing she was Jewish culturally and becoming more involved with the religious side of that identity. Her own account gives a much better answer to questions about her faith than assumptions based on a television role.
What Mila Kunis has said about Judaism
In the conversation with Tishby, reported by The Algemeiner, Kunis explained that she grew up knowing she was Jewish but was taught to avoid speaking about it. She connected that caution with life in the Soviet Union, where religion faced restrictions.
She credited her husband, Ashton Kutcher, with helping her learn more about Judaism. Becoming a parent also encouraged her to take part in its practices. She spoke about lighting Hanukkah candles and observing Shabbat, explaining that her children’s interest helped draw her toward the religious side of a heritage she had long understood mainly through culture.
That account matters because religious identity can involve several things at once: family history, community, memory, belief, and daily practice. Kunis described a movement toward traditions she values. She did not use that short conversation to explain every doctrine she accepts, and there is no need to fill those gaps with guesses.
How family traditions became part of the story
PEOPLE’s report on the same interview also highlighted her movement from childhood silence to adult participation. The contrast is striking: something once kept private could now be shared with her family in ordinary acts of celebration.
A meal, a candle, or a holiday can carry meaning beyond the event itself. Such practices give families time to remember, ask questions, and pass stories to another generation. That observation does not tell us everything about Kunis’s private beliefs. It helps explain why readers should take her comments about tradition seriously rather than dismiss them as a label.
From television comedy to film
Kunis moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles as a child and built a career across television, voice acting, and film. She became widely known as Jackie Burkhart on That ’70s Show and as the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy. Her films include Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Black Swan, and Bad Moms. Her career history reflects work in both broad comedy and serious drama.
Those roles explain why so many people recognize her. They do not decide what she believes. A performer can portray someone with a very different outlook, and even a familiar character remains a written part. For questions of religion, her statements about Jewish identity and practice remain the relevant evidence.
How does this connect with the Bible?
Jewish tradition and the Christian Bible share deep roots. Christians receive the Hebrew Scriptures as God’s Word. The accounts of creation, Abraham, the exodus, the prophets, and the Psalms form an essential part of the biblical story. Jesus and his earliest followers were Jewish.
The Bible also takes remembering seriously. Deuteronomy 6:6–7 describes teaching God’s words within the normal rhythm of family life. A faith that touches meals, conversation, rest, and children’s questions has a clear biblical point of contact. Belief is never meant to remain only an idea stored away from daily living.
Respect for these shared roots should also lead Christians to reject contempt toward Jewish people. Romans 11 warns Gentile believers against pride. An honest discussion of differences calls for humility, care, and a willingness to listen. It does not require pretending the differences are small.
The central difference concerns Jesus. The New Testament presents him as Israel’s promised Messiah, the Son of God, and the risen Savior. John 20:31 explains that its account was written so people would believe in him and have life through his name. This is a claim about who Jesus is, rather than a judgment that one ethnic group is better than another.
The gospel’s invitation
The Bible’s diagnosis includes everyone. Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Our problem is deeper than missing a tradition or failing to join a community. We have rebelled against a holy God through our thoughts, desires, words, and actions. We cannot purchase forgiveness with ancestry, religious effort, or personal success.
The good news is that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save sinners. Jesus lived without sin, died on the cross for our sins, and bore the judgment we deserve. He was buried and rose bodily from the dead. In him, God offers forgiveness and a restored relationship with himself.
Ephesians 2:8–9 teaches that salvation is a gift of grace, received through faith, not earned through works. Jesus calls us to repent, turning from sin and self-rule, and to trust him as Lord and Savior. Good works follow that new life; they do not buy it.
Kunis’s public story is one of Jewish identity and a growing love for family traditions. For readers exploring their own beliefs, it also opens meaningful questions about memory, belonging, and truth. The Christian invitation is to examine Jesus himself and respond to the mercy he offers.
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Image resized.
