From Tel Aviv to Hollywood: Ariella Weld-Cohen Turns Costume Design into Jewish Outreach

Weld-Cohen has worked for decades in Hollywood on films and television, including the new sixth Scary Movie installment, iCarly, South Side, Insidious: Chapter 3, Waitress, and My Best Friend’s Exorcism. She was born in South Africa, moved to Kibbutz Kfar Etzion at age 9, studied stage costume design at Tel Aviv University, and trained in makeup at the Yarin Shahaf school. Before finishing her master’s degree, she and her new husband moved to the United States with $4,000 and four suitcases, first living with relatives in Philadelphia, then in someone’s basement, while she searched for work in movie-industry magazines and job ads.

Her first submission went to Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, where she was surprised to be hired despite having no experience in special effects or makeup. After four years in New York, the family moved to Los Angeles, where she left makeup work and focused on costume design. She says the 2007 film Waitress was the turning point in her career. Weld-Cohen stresses that costume design is not fashion design, but storytelling: “We create characters, not fashion.” She says she sees colors and characters as soon as she reads a script, and that her work usually combines about 60 percent custom design with purchased pieces she alters for the production.

She has also worked on period films and says actors’ input depends on the project. Bill Crystal, she said, told her, “That is your job, I will do what you say,” while younger actors sometimes want to push for a more personal look or ask for expensive items outside budget. She recalled working with Yehuda Levi on For the Love of Money, where a disagreement over flared 1970s pants was resolved after she explained the period style. Weld-Cohen said the hardest part of the job is being away from home, including a five-month stretch in Atlanta for Scary Movie 6.

Living in Los Angeles for more than 30 years, she still feels deeply connected to Israel and says she may eventually return. She serves as co-chair of The Jewish affinity Group of the Television Academy, which has 400 registered Jewish and Israeli members, and says she is often forced into the role of a cultural explainer. Since October 7, she has regularly worn a yellow hostage pin, has talked on set about her son’s reserve service in Gaza and later Lebanon, and says she often explains Judaism to people who know little about it. She described bringing apples and honey for Rosh Hashanah and wearing only water on Yom Kippur while the crew greeted her with white clothing and wished her a happy holiday.