Honestly, if you only know Dianna Agron as the head cheerleader from Glee, you're missing out on one of the most interesting career pivots in recent memory. We need to talk about Dianna Agron in Shiva Baby.
It’s a small movie. 77 minutes of pure, unadulterated anxiety.
The film, directed by Emma Seligman, is basically a horror movie disguised as a Jewish family comedy. You've got Danielle (Rachel Sennott), a college senior and sugar baby, who ends up at a shiva where she runs into her sugar daddy, Max. And then, the ultimate nightmare happens: Max’s wife, Kim, shows up.
That’s where Agron comes in.
She plays Kim Beckett. She is perfect. She is organized. She is, quite frankly, terrifying in a way that only a woman who has her entire life together can be to someone who absolutely does not.
The Shiksa Princess Subversion
There is a massive amount of meta-commentary happening with this casting.
In the world of the film, the family members keep referring to Kim as a "shiksa"—a non-Jewish woman. They treat her like an outsider, someone whose presence is a bit of a mystery. They constantly question her, even though she’s the one actually paying the bills.
The irony? Dianna Agron is actually Jewish.
Emma Seligman has talked about this quite a bit. She initially didn't even want to cast Agron because she thought she might be "too perfect" or that she wouldn't want to play a "shiksa princess" role. But the reality is that Agron has spent her whole career having her Jewishness questioned because of her looks.
By casting her as Kim, Seligman flipped the script. It’s a brilliant bit of casting that adds a layer of "if you know, you know" to the entire production.
Kim isn't just a plot device. She isn't the "evil wife" who stands in the way of a romance. There is no romance here. There is only a mess. And Kim is the one trying to hold the mop while her husband, Max, acts like a complete child.
Why Kim Isn't a Villain
It would have been so easy to make Kim a caricature. A cold, distant woman who just doesn't "get" her husband. But Agron plays her with this piercing togetherness that feels like a shield.
You can see the cracks.
There’s a scene where Kim tries to get Danielle to hold her baby. It is one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever watched on screen. Kim isn't being nice; she’s testing. She has intuition. She knows something is off, and she is using her "perfect" life as a weapon to prod at Danielle’s insecurities.
- She is smart.
- She is successful.
- She is the primary breadwinner.
- She is exhausted.
If a man had written this character, she might have been a monster. Instead, she’s a person who is realizing her husband is a deadbeat while standing in a room full of people who think he’s a "nice Jewish boy."
The Performance That Relaunched a Career
For a long time, Agron was boxed in.
People saw her as Quinn Fabray and stayed there. But Shiva Baby acted as a sort of "reset" button. It proved she could do indie grit. She followed this up with Clock and As They Made Us, but Shiva Baby remains the catalyst.
The film relies on close-ups. Like, really close close-ups. The camera is practically inside the actors' pores. You can’t fake that kind of tension.
Agron’s face does so much work with so little movement. A tightening of the jaw. A look that lingers just a second too long. It’s a masterclass in "less is more."
Honestly, the chemistry between her and Rachel Sennott is the engine of the movie’s second half. They aren't friends, but they are tethered. They are two women being manipulated by the same mediocre man, and the way they eventually navigate that space together—without ever having a big "sisters-in-arms" moment—is incredibly sophisticated.
Breaking Down the Cringe
If you haven't seen the movie, prepare for the "rugelach" scene.
It was actually Agron’s idea to lean into the food identity of the character. There’s a bit where the mother (played by Polly Draper) judges Kim for how she says the name of the pastry. It’s petty. It’s hilarious. It’s exactly what happens at every family gathering where an outsider is present.
The movie thrives on these tiny, sharp cuts.
Dianna Agron in Shiva Baby is the personification of that "tight smile" we all use when we're at a party we hate. She isn't just playing a character; she’s capturing a very specific type of modern female performance—the need to be "on" even when everything is falling apart.
Real Talk: The Indie Impact
Let’s be real for a second.
Indie films don't usually get this much traction. Shiva Baby became a cult hit because it felt visceral. It felt like a memory people wanted to forget.
Agron taking a supporting role in a micro-budget debut feature by a young director was a power move. It showed she was more interested in the work than the paycheck. That kind of street cred is hard to buy in Hollywood.
She wasn't there to be the "star." She was there to be a piece of an ensemble, and she fit perfectly into the chaotic, claustrophobic puzzle Emma Seligman built.
Next Steps for the Cinephile:
🔗 Read more: What Is The First Madea Movie? The Real Story Behind the Legend
- Watch the Movie: If you haven't, Shiva Baby is usually streaming on MUBI or Max. It’s only an hour and 17 minutes—you have time.
- Track the Evolution: Watch Glee Season 1 and then watch Shiva Baby immediately after. The contrast in her acting style is a fascinating study in growth.
- Explore the Genre: If you liked the "house-bound anxiety" of this film, check out Mother! or The Celebration (Festen).
- Follow the Director: Emma Seligman’s follow-up, Bottoms, also stars Rachel Sennott and carries that same frantic energy, though it’s much more of a broad comedy.
Dianna Agron didn't just show up for a paycheck in this one. She helped define a very specific era of the "anxiety comedy." It's a performance that holds up better with every rewatch, mostly because you start to realize that Kim might be the only sane person in the entire house.
And that’s the real tragedy of the movie.