The Jewish Santa who has spread festive magic for 35 years

For 35 years, Daniel Rolnick has held an unusual job for a Jew who grew up in Elstree. Every year, he is Father Christmas.

After drama school, aged 18, he started doing children’s parties and it was only a matter of time before he was asked to take on the role of Santa.

He stayed at the job ever since. “I love the job of Santa. It's the next best thing to being God,” says Rolnick, who lives in a village near Watford with his wife and 16-year-old daughter.

“I love it because of the children’s belief – it's total devotion. Kids are very star- struck.”

Rolnick soon became a mobile Santa, visiting families in their homes. At the peak of his career, he was booked consecutive years at the Dorchester Hotel in London, where regular guests in the penthouse suite were Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

“I used to have to go and visit their rooms, visit their kids, and I did a few kids’ parties for them as well,” he recalls.

When he started out, he felt he was too young to be fully convincing as Santa Claus, so he performed as a character he dubbed “Santo” – Santa's nephew, who looked a bit like his uncle, although his suit was green rather than the traditional red.

One year, Rolnick was booked at the Dorchester’s penthouse for what turned out to be a Thanksgiving party hosted by Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Their guests included Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, whose movie Striptease was newly released.

“Loads of people were there. The Macarena had just come out and I taught Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore the actions there. Bruce Willis walked in and he saw a green Santa, and he said, ‘Who the hell are you?’ And I said, ‘I'm Santo. Who are you?’ I got them all doing the conga around the dinner table.”

Although his job has allowed him to meet countless celebrities over the years, it’s other smaller encounters which have proven the most meaningful. In one particularly emotional moment, an elderly woman approached him to say that Santa never visited her when she was a child but that he did visit her own children.

“I got a lump in my throat and I gave her a big hug and apologised,” he says. “Little moments like that are magical.”

This December he has been Santa every Saturday and Sunday at a shopping centre in Hammersmith. Visited there by diverse cultures and nationalities, since October 7 Rolnick – who served in the Israeli army for three-and-a-half years – has hoped that some Jewish children might pay him a visit. A wish that came true for Rolnick this month.

Approaching the end of a shift, he asked his final visitors where they were from. One sister replied “London”, while another said “Israel”.

“The first sister looked at the second as if to say, ‘Don’t say that’. Once they had taken some selfies with me, they walked away and I called out in Hebrew, ‘Lehitra’ot’ [goodbye].

“One of the sisters heard, and told the others what she had surprisingly heard Santa say. As they were my final visitors of the day, I ran after them in character and I punched my hand in the air and said ‘Am Israel Chai’.”

He then said to their mother, “It’s funny, most people know Jesus was Jewish, but far less people know that Santa is, too.”

As an expert, Rolnick, who describes himself as “an eccentric, loud and authentic” Santa, holds two rules firmly in mind: to not patronise children and to extend their belief for as long as possible. He does not, therefore, rate Santas in cheap costumes.

“They destroy the illusion and break the spell,” he says. “There are terrible Santas. Shopping centres might have a local guy in a £25 costume. I get frustrated about that.”

By contrast, Rolnick has spent £1,000 on his very special outfit, sourcing it meticulously down to what he calls his “Santashave” – a Christmas-scented body spray.

“I wear clothes that people don't even see like a Christmas shirt, just to feel the part. I also glue my beard on. When children say, ‘How do I know you're the real Santa? I say, ‘Because you can see my mouth’.”