Odeya Rush (Hebrew: אודיה רש; born May 12, 1997) is an Israeli-born American television and film actress, perhaps best known for her role in the 2012 film The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which earned her a Young Artist Award nomination as Best Young Supporting Actress in a Feature Film. Rush was born in Haifa, Israel. Her name, "Odeya," means "Thank God" in Hebrew.[1] She moved to the United States when she was nine so that her father, Shlomo, could take a job as a security consultant in Alabama.[3][4] Rush is Jewish, and attended N.E. Miles Jewish Day School in Birmingham, Alabama, where she lived.[1][5] She later moved to Midland Park, New Jersey, where she attended public school.[6] Rush has six brothers, including two sets of twins.[3][7] She has appeared in short films and commercials and in the television series Curb Your Enthusiasm in the episode "Mister Softee," as Emily, and Law and Order SVU, in the episode "Branded," in which she played the character Hannah Milner.[8] She played Joni Jerome, the best friend of Timothy, in the Peter Hedges-directed Disney film The Odd Life of Timothy Green.[9] In May 2012, it was confirmed that Rush will be cast as Mary in Mary, Mother of the Christ, the Hollywood prequel to The Passion of the Christ.[10] In September 2013, The Weinstein Company announced that Rush will star as Fiona in upcoming science fiction film The Giver, based on a 1993 novel of same name from Lois Lowry with director Phillip Noyce and writer Michael Mitnick. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep, Katie Holmes, Alexander Skarsgård and Taylor Swift. After wrapping the female lead role in "The Giver" Rush has landed the young female lead in Sony Pictures Studios’s “Goosebumps” the film adaptation of R.L. Stine’s mega-popular book series. Jack Black will play in the film Mr. Shivers, a Stine-like author whose scary characters literally leap off the page, forcing him to hide from his own creepy creations. As for Rush, she’ll play Black’s quirky and mysterious niece, who teams up with her young male neighbor to battle the monsters unleashed from Mr. Shivers’ works.