Hollywood’s New Go-to Cantor For Saying The Mourner’s Kaddish On TV

Cantor Kenny Ellis posing with “Curb Your Enthusiasm” creator Larry David. Image by Courtesy of Kenny Ellis
(JTA) — Kenny Ellis isn’t a rabbi. But it wasn’t much of a stretch for him to play one on TV.
Ellis is a veteran cantor at Temple Beth Ami, a Reform Jewish synagogue in Santa Clarita, California.
After 27 years at the pulpit, he is breaking into prime-time TV this week with two roles as the officiant of a fictional Jewish funeral. He will lead the Mourner’s Kaddish Sunday on HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and then again Tuesday on NBC’s “Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.”
A former aspiring actor and comedian, Ellis has a history with “Curb” creator and star Larry David. The two Jews met on the New York comedy circuit in the 1970s before reuniting during filming of Sunday’s episode, which will be the third of the ninth season of the hit comedy series.
“I was wondering if after all these years, he would remember me,” Ellis said of David, “and he did!”
Although the men’s careers took very different paths, they both ended up being Jewish performers of sorts. In addition to his day job as a cantor, Ellis takes his standup comedy show “The Man Behind the Matzoh Ball” on tour and last year released an album called “Hanukkah Swings.”
Ellison will appear Tuesday on “Law & Order” at the funeral of Edie Falco’s character’s mother. Despite the dark subject matter, he was thrilled to meet the “Sopranos” star.
“It was so wonderful to ‘hang out’ with Edie for the day,” he said. “She was not only an amazing actress, but also as sweet as can be. She didn’t hide in her trailer between takes; instead, she hung out with us and ‘kibitzed.’”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Film & TV Val Kilmer was the voice of my generation’s Moses (and God)
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker spoke at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. Its rabbi says Jews should learn from his 25-hour Senate speech.
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker’s rabbi has notes on Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech
-
Fast Forward Naftali Bennett is back: Former Israeli prime minister will make another run at Netanyahu
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.