Reizl Bozyk was born on 13 May 1914 into a stage family in Bydgoszcz, Prussian Poland, where her mother, the actress Lea Lewebrowska, was acting in Joseph Lateiner's operetta The Jewish heart (Dos yidishe harts).

[2] Bozyk was an enduring star of the Yiddish stage in New York City, appearing in hundreds of productions, often as a comedian and later as the familiar mother or mother-in-law character who often stole the show.

She began acting in the Yiddish theater in Poland at the age of 5 or 6, performing first with her parents and then with Max Bozyk, whom she later married.

In 1989, she played her first stage role in English, appearing in the comedy Social Security directed by Peter Lowey at the Forum Theater in Metuchen, New Jersey.

The following year she recreated her Crossing Delancey role on stage in Florida, and was due to tour again when she suddenly died.