Before she was a “Master of Sex,” Lizzy Caplan was a Russian dancer in her elementary school’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

The actress, who was nominated for an Emmy Award this year for her performance as sex research pioneer Virginia Johnson in Showtime’s “Masters of Sex,” has come a long way since her “Mean Girls” days.

A longtime favorite of fans of such cult classics as “Freaks and Geeks” and “Party Down,” Caplan has finally gone mainstream. But don’t worry — fame or not, Caplan remains the sarcastic outsider who inspired a generation of Janis Ians to embrace quirky hairclips. Asked by The New York Times if she was confident in her ability to win an Emmy, she replied: “I don’t think it’s fair to assume that at all. I’m Jewish, so I’m predisposed to assume there’s no chance in hell that’s going to happen.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Born Elizabeth Anne Caplan in Los Angeles to a lawyer and a political aide, the 32-year-old remembers her Reform Jewish upbringing fondly. She had a bat mitzvah and attended Jewish summer camp.

Now, she’s more of a High Holiday Jew. “I kind of strayed away from it,” she told American Jewish Life Magazine in 2005. “I think once I have a family I’ll be back into it. I love being a Jew, but I’m not Super Jew.”

With the third season of “Masters of Sex” set to air in 2015, we can expect to see a lot more of Caplan. Literally.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount