Short answer: Yes. David Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin on September 16, 1956, in Metuchen, New Jersey, to Jewish parents, and he has spoken about his Jewish upbringing on the record for decades. He had a bar mitzvah, raised his own children with bar and bat mitzvahs, and in 2020 was inducted into a Jewish hall of fame alongside Harry Houdini.
What the record actually shows
- 1956: Born David Seth Kotkin to a Jewish family. His mother, Rebecca Kotkin, was an insurance adjuster born in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine. His father, Hyman Kotkin, owned Korby's, a men's clothing store, and his paternal grandparents were Jewish emigrants from the Ukrainian SSR (Wikipedia). In his own words: "My mother was born in Israel. My father was born in Russia. My parents experienced a lot of suffering. They faced a lot of challenges" (Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2020).
- Performing before his bar mitzvah. The Encyclopaedia Judaica entry describes him as "the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants (his father owned a small clothing store)" and notes that "Before his bar mitzvah he was performing magic at local community centers" (Encyclopaedia Judaica via Encyclopedia.com).
- His bar mitzvah, in his own words. In a 2003 Cleveland Jewish News interview he joked that he did not make the Torah disappear during the Aleinu, but he did make the yad, the Torah pointer, vanish. "That was real sleight-of-hand," he said. "And I was adept at making the checks disappear neatly into my pocket" (Cleveland Jewish News).
- On Jewish culture and magic. In the same 2003 interview, noting that many great magicians, most famously Harry Houdini, have been Jewish, he said something inherent in Jewish culture provides fertile ground for magicians: "We are taught throughout childhood not to take 'no' for an answer," and "It is possible to turn 'no' into 'yes' and that is what magic is all about." The piece also connects his Project Magic charity, a rehabilitative program established in 1982 that uses sleight-of-hand as physical therapy for disabled patients, to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam (Cleveland Jewish News).
- On his Jewish upbringing and his children. "A Jewish upbringing, like any upbringing, certainly affects how you behave. Growing up Jewish, it was drummed into your head: You have to survive, and there are going to be all kinds of problems and people who aren't going to like you. You have to rise above." He added: "My kids have been bar and bat mitzvahed because I felt it helped give them a sense of where they came from" (Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2020).
- December 12, 2020: Inducted into a Jewish hall of fame with Houdini. Copperfield and Harry Houdini were inducted into the National Museum of American Jewish History's "Only in America" hall of fame in Philadelphia, joining Golda Meir, Albert Einstein, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Barbra Streisand, Irving Berlin, Emma Lazarus, and Steven Spielberg. As he told the Forward in 2013, in a line Smithsonian magazine later quoted: "Being Jewish is all about picking yourself up by your bootstraps. When people are beating you down and throwing you out, you just dust yourself off and make the best of it. That's the Jewish upbringing" (Smithsonian, Philadelphia Inquirer).
Why people ask
The question comes almost entirely from his stage name. "David Copperfield" is borrowed from English literature, not from his family, and it gives no hint of the recognizably Jewish name he was born with, Kotkin. He chose it himself. "I had read Charles Dickens' David Copperfield and liked the sound of the hero's name, so I adopted it when I began doing professional magic acts," he told the Cleveland Jewish News, which opened its profile with the line: "At age 12, master illusionist David Copperfield made little David Kotkin disappear." He also liked to note that Dickens himself had been a magician (Cleveland Jewish News).
There is no rumor or dispute here. His Jewish background is thoroughly documented, from the Encyclopaedia Judaica to his own repeated interviews, and he stands in a long tradition of famous Jewish magicians going back to Houdini. The Forward even ran a 2013 feature on his relationship with God and Judaism. Searches have also picked up since his 25-year residency at the MGM Grand Las Vegas ended with a final show on April 30, 2026, after more than 7 million attendees, with a new project teased but not yet announced (Fox5 Vegas).
David Copperfield and Israel
His most direct tie to Israel is family: his mother was born in Jerusalem, a fact he has stated himself in interviews. Beyond that, we found no verified public statements from Copperfield about the Israel-Hamas war or related events through August 2026. Full details in our companion piece Does David Copperfield Support Israel?.
The bottom line
Yes, David Copperfield is Jewish. He was born David Seth Kotkin to a Jewish family, had a bar mitzvah, gave his own children bar and bat mitzvahs, and credits his Jewish upbringing with the resilience behind his career. The name on the marquee came from a Dickens novel, but the man behind it has never hidden where he came from.
Celebrate your own story
Copperfield's story is a reminder that Jewish identity travels with you, whatever name is on the marquee. If you are exploring your own story or standing with the Jewish community, our Star of David jewelry collection has pieces made in Israel that say it beautifully.
Related
Does David Copperfield Support Israel? · Is Zendaya Jewish? · Is Sabrina Carpenter Jewish?
Last updated August 2026. We update these profiles as the record changes.
