Mah jongg is not just your bubbe’s game anymore; it hasn’t been for a while. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there’s been a real boom in the culture around the Chinese tile game, which was “Americanized” by mostly Jewish American players in the 1920s.
And who can blame the game’s legions of new fans? There’s something just so addictive about the tile game, the clacking sounds, the thrill of trying to form a set and stop another player from winning, the addictive joy of finally getting to yell “mah jongg” and announcing your win to everyone in the room.
So it’s not surprising that the game also has many famous fans, from Meghan Markle to Julia Roberts, who plays it once a week with her girlfriends. And of course, the game has quite a few famous Jewish fans who are following in their bubbes’ footsteps, too.
Here are some Jewish celebs who’ve proudly kvelled over mahj over the years.
Sarah Jessica Parker
The “Sex and the City” star talked about how she started playing mah jongg on “Live With Kelly and Mark” back in 2025.
“I started playing mah jongg about two and a half years before COVID and I fell in love with it, and I played every Wednesday,” she recounted. The play group she was in included one woman who she met on the beach, whose best friend teaches mah jongg in Stuytown in Manhattan.
Then that friend moved to Northern California and COVID came, and SJP’s mah jongg group stopped playing. The actress kept playing on her phone, but it just wasn’t the same. Still, she has all the mah jongg gear at home: “I have sets, old sets, new sets, banged up sets… I have a card table,” she told Kelly Ripa, who then attempted to bring her to play mahj with her in Palm Springs among a group that I assume probably skews more than less Jewish. (“It’s a group of your people,” the host told the Jewish actress.)
The “Hocus Pocus” actress then started singing the praises of the game, saying that even though the cliche player is an “archetypal housewife,” it’s “incredibly stimulating, there’s luck because it’s a draw, but there’s strategy, it’s really being thoughtful about how other people play… It’s a great game.”
We’d hire SJP to be mahj’s new ambassador — and also, she’s always welcome to come play with us!
Fran Drescher
While mah jongg was prominently featured in “The Nanny” from its first season in an episode titled “Schlepped Away,” Fran Drescher didn’t learn how to play the tile game until the 2020s, when she took it up, like many, as a pandemic hobby. She posted this adorable video of her teaming up with Rosie for her game, and the two can be seen celebrating their win quite joyfully:
Back in 2021, she hosted a mah jongg benefit for her organization Cancer Schamncer with our lovely friends at Modern Mahjong, with whom we’re hosting our New York Mah Jongg Festival this summer!
Tovah Feldshuh
The younger generation is bringing Broadway and TV star Tovah Feldshuh to the mahj table! The actress recently shared a picture of herself celebrating her daughter’s birthday two months late by playing the game. “What a fabulous gathering of so many people who love our daughter, and we all got tutored in the latest rage, MAHJONG!” Feldshuh shared on her Instagram.
Tovah, come play mahj with us!
Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal took up mah jongg during the first weeks of the pandemic, when his wife, Janice, tried to teach him the game. He shared a video about his new hobby with the Hebrew Home of Riverdale, and even “played” his “Uncle Harry” and “Aunt Sheila,” old mah jongg pros, in the video he shot for the Jewish home, complete with a nice New York Jewish accent and wigs. The 2020 video is still pure gold, but we can’t help but want even more Billy Crystal mah jongg content.
Jill Kargman
Jill Kargman, creator and star of “Odd Mom Out” and the upcoming “Influenced,” is a relatively new, but pretty devout fan of the game. She told Kveller about it in a recent interview.
“It’s connecting me to my roots. My late grandmother, Ruth, she died at 98 and three-quarters. She was almost 99. She played mah jongg the week before she died. I really think it keeps you sharp as a tack… I think it keeps you sharp, and it staves off dementia. And you also just have, you know, top quality time with your friends, without your phones out, without a distraction.”
“I really think it can’t possibly be a coincidence that this is having a resurgence at the same time as technology and AI going crazy. It just has to be some sort of innate rebellion against that,” Kargman brilliantly observed. Hear hear!
Here is Jill hosting an event with Donna and Dara from Modern Mahjong:
Jackie Tohn
Back in October of 2025, “Nobody Wants This” star Jackie Tohn kvelled over her love for mah jongg with TODAY show host Jenna Bush Hager and guest co-host Savannah Guthrie. She talked about her parents’ 55 and over community where they take iPad classes, among other things, and Hager and Guthrie couldn’t help but ask if they play the duo’s favorite game — mah jongg.
“I love mah jongg,” Tohn then exclaimed. “You guys need to come to LA because I need mah jongg players!” Then there was a lot of lovely cooperative overlapping in which Tohn, Hager and Guthrie argued about who should go where to play mahj (“Can you come to New York?… Everybody plays Mah Jongg here!!” the hosts rightfully asked Tohn, which, please, come play mahj with us in June, Jackie!), but they finally all agreed to go visit Jackie in Glendale. Here’s hoping that magical mahj night really took place.
We’re hosting a Jewish Mah Jongg Festival in NYC this June! Get your tickets here.
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Lior Zaltzman is a senior writer at Kveller.