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(JTA) — “Glee” star Lea Michele took a deeper look at her Greek-Jewish roots on the TLC television series “Who Do You Think You Are?”<\/p>\n
The episode is scheduled to air tonight, and is the season finale of the series, The Forward reported.<\/p>\n
Michele, born Lea Michele Sarfati in the Bronx to an Italian mother and a Jewish Sephardic father, reportedly identifies with the Catholic faith of her mother in which she was raised.<\/p>\n
On the TV show, she discovers that her paternal grandmother’s family were Sephardic Jews from the port city of Salonika, or Thessaloniki, in today\u2019s northern Greece.<\/p>\n
Michele is guided through the archives that tell her about her family history by the University of Washington\u2019s Sephardic studies chair, Devin Naar, the university’s Jewish studies department said in a statement released last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost Americans probably have never heard of Sephardic Jews,\u201d said Naar, who is also a professor in the history department. \u201cSo for such a prominent celebrity to speak so publicly and intimately about her connection to this often invisible history and culture will be a turning point. It\u2019s really exciting: The episode will familiarize Americans with the very existence of Sephardic Jews and hopefully pique their curiosity and inspire them to learn more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Naar said he located specific documents regarding the actress’ ancestors in the remnants of Greek Jewish community archives housed in New York and Moscow, despite the near-complete destruction of Greek communities and their records during World War II.<\/p>\n
Michele starred as Rachel Berry on “Glee” from 2009 to 2015, and currently stars in Fox\u2019s horror-comedy series “Scream Queen.”<\/p>\n