With cinema fans excitedly awaiting the release of Iron Man 3 – dubbed the film of the season — one of the film’s key stars Gwyneth Paltrow has been named ‘World’s Most Beautiful Woman of 2013’ by People Magazine.

Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California, and is the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and the late film producer/director Bruce Paltrow. Her father was Jewish and her mother is from a Christian background, and Paltrow was raised with “both Jewish and Christian holidays”. Her father’s Ashkenazi family immigrated from Belarus and Russia, while her mother’s ancestry is Pennsylvania Dutch, and more distantly, white Barbadian. Paltrow’s paternal great-great-grandfather, whose surname was “Paltrowicz,” was a rabbi in Nowogród, Poland. Paltrow has a younger brother, Jake Paltrow, and is a half-cousin of actress Katherine Moennig, and a second cousin of former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Famous Jewish Actresses