Jesse Eisenberg just went full Poland mode!
The 41-year-old actor, writer, and guy who always seems slightly nervous in interviews has been granted Polish citizenship by President Andrzej Duda himself. Why? Because Jesse made a movie, A Real Pain, which tells the story of Jewish history in Poland during World War II. The film won an Oscar—for Kieran Culkin (ouch, Jesse)—but hey, at least Poland decided to adopt him!
The movie follows two American cousins who travel to Poland to honor their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. This is based on Jesse’s own great aunt, proving once again that Hollywood loves a based on a true story moment.
While accepting his citizenship, Jesse had an emotional realization:
“While we were filming in Poland, I was walking the streets, getting comfy, and then it hit me—my family lived here for waaaay longer than we lived in New York. And, you know, then history happened… in a really, really bad way.”
But instead of just being sad about it, Jesse wanted to reconnect with his roots.
“It kind of broke my heart that my family lost their connection to Poland. So I figured, why not go full citizen mode? Maybe this is the first step toward bringing that connection back.”
President Duda was all for it, saying something very official-sounding:
“It’s great when people from across the ocean remember their Polish roots and want to be part of our country.”
Translation: Welcome to Poland, Jesse! Now let’s see if he can handle the national pierogi-eating challenge (not a real thing… but should be).
