During a visit to the US, President Andrzej Duda granted Polish citizenship to American actor and director Jesse Eisenberg. He is best known for his recent movie called “The Real Pain”, in which the action takes place in Poland. Eisenberg thanked the Polish president and reminded him that his family came to the US from Poland.

The ceremonial granting of citizenship to the actor was the final point of President Duda’s visit to the US. The ceremony took place at the Polish office in the United Nations Organisation in New York.

Eisenberg is an American actor and director of Jewish descent, known for his role as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the film “The Social Network”. 

Last year, the film “Real Pain”, directed by Eisenberg, who also starred in the film, reached the cinemas; his partner in the film, Kieran Culkin, received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

“Real Pain” depicts the journey of two American cousins of Jewish descent to Poland to discover their roots and the history of Polish Jews, including the history of the Bet.

Eisenberg himself has Polish-Jewish roots, and his ancestors emigrated to the US from Poland and Ukraine. In interviews with the media, the actor has repeatedly emphasised his interest in and close ties with Poland, and last year, he also announced that he had applied for Polish citizenship.

„I am delighted that people from 'across the ocean’ acknowledge their heritage, recognise that their ancestors hail from the Republic and seek to forge a connection with our country,” said Duda during the ceremony, which took place at the Polish Mission to the United Nations in New York City.

Eisenberg said that an important moment of his “enlightenment” was when he was shooting the film “Real Pain” in Poland. 

He said that after migrating to the US, his family lost the connection with Polish history, and it was he who had to reestablish the intellectual connection to Poland and its history.

Eisenberg also praised the Polish filmmakers and consultants that worked with him during the creation of “Real Pain”.

“These talented academics could probably have pursued any profession in the world, but they chose to work in this museum – to commemorate the fate of my family, among others. Then I realised that these Poles were doing much more to commemorate these fates than I was. That is why I thought it was a good time to make an emotional connection with the Poles,” the artist said

Source: PAP

Photo: @KinoAlertPL, British Poles

Tomasz Modrzejewski