Meet Benny Safdie’s Parents: Alberto Safdie and Amy Safdie

Benny Safdie, born Benjamin Safdie on February 24, 1986, in New York City, USA, is an acclaimed American filmmaker, actor, and director celebrated for his intense, character-driven storytelling.

Of Jewish heritage, Benny’s background reflects a blend of Sephardic and Syrian-Jewish roots from his father and Russian-Jewish (Ashkenazi) lineage from his mother. Raised in a Jewish household, he continues to practice Judaism, drawing cultural depth from his heritage.

His early life was shaped by his parents’ divorce, which led him and his older brother, Josh Safdie, to divide their time between two very different worlds—his father’s home in Queens and his mother’s in Manhattan, where she later remarried.

His father, Alberto Safdie, a Sephardic Jew born in Italy and raised in France, worked in the jewelry trade, while his mother, Amy Safdie, of Russian-Jewish descent, brought an intellectual and creative influence to the family.

Benny also belongs to a family with notable figures, including architect Moshe Safdie (great-uncle) and playwright Oren Safdie (cousin once removed).

He attended Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in Manhattan before earning a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Boston University in 2008. Standing at 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, Benny has built both a commanding presence on screen and a reputation behind the camera for crafting emotionally charged, authentic narratives.

In his personal life, Benny has been married to Ava Safdie (née Rawski) since 2013, and the couple shares two sons, Cosmo Safdie and Murray James Safdie.

Together with his brother Josh, Benny Safdie co-created some of the most acclaimed films and shows of his generation, including Good Time (2017), Uncut Gems (2019), and the Showtime series The Curse (2023). Their creative approach—often described as chaotic, raw, and deeply human—draws inspiration from the brothers’ unconventional upbringing in New York City.

Alberto Safdie

Alberto Safdie, Benny‘s father, embodies the chaotic, charismatic energy that pulses through many of the Safdie brothers’ films.

A Sephardic Jew of Syrian-Jewish descent, Alberto was born in Italy and raised in France before immigrating to New York, where he immersed himself in the city’s vibrant underbelly.

His career in the jewelry trade—working as a runner and salesman in Manhattan’s Diamond District on 47th Street—exposed him to a colorful cast of characters, from eccentric dealers to high-stakes hustlers, whose stories he regaled his sons with upon returning home.

This world directly inspired Uncut Gems, the brothers’ 2019 thriller starring Adam Sandler as a frantic jeweler, with executive producer Martin Scorsese noting the film’s authenticity drawn from Alberto‘s anecdotes.

Alberto‘s parenting style was anything but conventional, blending affection with unpredictability. The Safdie brothers recall being left alone for days in a small Queens bedroom, surrounded by comic books and basketball cards—a setup that mirrored the impulsive, boundary-testing father figure in their semi-autobiographical film Daddy Longlegs (2009), which premiered at Cannes and starred Raw director Ronald Bronstein in a role loosely based on Alberto.

To explain his divorce from Amy when the boys were young, Alberto had them watch Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), blurring the lines between cinema and reality in a way that ignited their lifelong obsession with filmmaking.

He even bought a video camera shortly after Benny’s birth, using it to capture home movies that foreshadowed his sons’ early experiments with the medium. Despite the challenges, Alberto fostered a profound love for New York’s “characters“—the street-level eccentrics and survivors who populate the Safdies‘ work. As Benny has reflected, his father’s tales from the Diamond District weren’t just entertainment; they were lessons in the “dynamic mess” of human ambition and folly.

Today, Alberto occasionally dips into acting, appearing in small roles in Heaven Knows What (2014) and The Adventures of Slater’s Friend (2005), further intertwining family and art.

His influence endures as the beating heart of the Safdies‘ raw, immersive storytelling.

Amy Safdie

Amy Safdie, Benny‘s mother, represents the steady, nurturing anchor in a childhood defined by flux.

Of Russian-Jewish (Ashkenazi) descent, she provided a more structured environment in Manhattan after her divorce from Alberto, where Benny and Josh split their time between her home—shared with her second husband, a finance professional—and their father’s more bohemian setup in Queens.

This dual existence, shuttling between boroughs, instilled in the brothers a keen sensitivity to class, culture, and emotional undercurrents, themes that ripple through their films’ portrayal of fractured families and urban isolation.

While public details about Amy‘s personal or professional life remain more private—befitting her low-profile role—she was instrumental in the boys’ education and early stability. The Safdies attended the prestigious Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School in Manhattan under her influence, laying the groundwork for their later studies at Boston University, where they co-founded the Red Bucket Films collective.

In Daddy Longlegs, Amy‘s character is evoked through the composed, everyday normalcy she offered, contrasting Alberto‘s whirlwind—embodied on screen by artist Leah Singer in a cameo as the mother figure.

Amy‘s Russian-Jewish heritage added another layer to the family’s cultural tapestry, complementing Alberto‘s Sephardic roots and enriching the brothers’ exploration of identity in their Jewish-inflected narratives.

Though she shuns the spotlight, her quiet resilience likely informed the grounded female characters in films like Heaven Knows What, where survival amid chaos takes center stage. As Benny pursues solo projects—like directing The Smashing Machine (2025) with Dwayne Johnson—Amy‘s enduring support underscores the familial foundation that has propelled his rise from indie provocateur to Hollywood contender.

In the end, Alberto and Amy Safdie‘s contrasting worlds—vibrant disorder and quiet fortitude—forged Benny‘s unique voice, turning personal upheaval into cinematic gold. Their story is a testament to how the most intimate family dynamics can birth art that resonates on the world’s biggest stages.