Hollywood star Jesse Eisenberg applies for Polish citizenship

Jesse Eisenberg has revealed that he applied for Polish citizenship around nine months ago, and is in the process of “waiting for the final signature”.

In an interview with Polish publication Głos Wielkopolski, The Social Network star explained that both his and his wife’s families were from Poland. He added that shooting his film A Real Pain in Poland reminded him of stories he’d heard from family growing up, and made him want to “create better relationships between Jews and Polish people”.

“I applied for Polish citizenship about nine months ago. Apparently, all the paperwork has already been submitted and I’m waiting for the final signature,” said Eisenberg.

“My family is from the southeast, from Krasnystaw, my wife’s [Anna Strout] family is from Łódź. We wanted to have a greater connection to Poland. I would like to work here more.

“Growing up, I’ve heard stories of the Polish relationship with my Jewish family and all the stories were great: we were best friends with the Poles.”

He added: “My family lived in Krasnystaw up until the war, one person survived the war and moved to Szczecin. Unfortunately, she passed away from Covid, so it was quite recent.”

The Independent has reached out to Eisenberg’s representatives for comment.

Eisenberg wrote, directed, and starred in A Real Pain, which he shot in places his family hails from including Lublin, Warsaw, Krasnystaw, as well as Kraśnik, Radom.

A Real Pain premiered at Sundance in January, and also stars Kieran Culkin as one of two estranged cousins who end up joining a Holocaust tour in Poland after their grandmother dies.

“While I was working here, I met some people who worked in positions related to the government. I said to them: ‘I would love to create better relationships between Jews and Polish people. To me, it’s so unfortunate they are not great. I would love to do that. My family is from here, my wife’s family is from here. Is there any way we could apply for Polish citizenship’?” said Eisenberg.

Eisenberg also spoke about how he was drawn to Poland “in a personal way,” since his family lived there for “so many generations, centuries”.

“It makes me feel connected to something. In America, everyone is very new, apart from the people who were there first, the Indigenous Americans. Poland made me feel a real connection to something historically bigger than myself.”