Mili Avital
Encyclopedia
Mili Avital is an Israeli actress. Avital built a successful stage and film career in Israel
, winning the Israeli Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 and nominated for Best Actress in 1994.
and Ra'anana
. She attended the Thelma Yellin High School of Arts in Giv'atayim
. She moved to New York
in 1994, and later dated David Schwimmer
in the early 2000s. Avital continues to reside in New York City with her husband, screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Life of David Gale
), and their son.
at the Cameri Theater
in Tel Aviv
.
In 1993 she arrived in New York City to study acting at the "Circle in the Square Theatre
School". The following year, discovered by an agent while working as a waitress, she was immediately cast as the female lead in Stargate
, 1994, for which she received a Sci-fi Universe award. She has appeared in films such as Jim Jarmusch
's Dead Man
opposite Johnny Depp
, Doug Ellin
's Kissing a Fool
, Polish Wedding
, Robert Benton
's The Human Stain
and When Do We Eat?
Her television work includes portraying Scheherazade
in the Emmy-nominated ABC
miniseries Arabian Nights
to rave reviews, Jon Avnet
’s Uprising
and After the Storm . In 2009-2010 Avital has appeared in the FX TV show Damages
, in a recurring role as the mistress to the husband of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close
).
In theater, Avital played Cordelia
in King Lear
at the Electric Lodge (Venice, California), 2006, directed by Patsy Rodenburg.
Her directorial debut, a short documentary I Think Myself I am All the Time Younger, received its world premiere at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival
in New York.
, for which she received the 2007 Israel’s Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress, the Israeli Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and Israel’s Person of the Year nomination. 2006. In 2010 Avital is starring in Prisoners of War (aka Chatufim), a Channel 2
prime-time Israeli TV series. Avital was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and Prisoners of War won Best Drama Series at the 2010 Israeli TV awards.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, winning the Israeli Academy Award
Israeli Film Academy Ceremony
The Ophir Awards , also the Israeli Oscars, are film awards awarded by the Israeli Film and Television Academy to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry...
for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 and nominated for Best Actress in 1994.
Personal life
Avital was born in Jerusalem, the daughter of graphic designers Noni and Iko Avital. She was raised in Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
and Ra'anana
Ra'anana
Ra'anana is a city in the heart of the southern Sharon Plain of the Central District of Israel with a population of 68,300, . Ra'anana is bordered by Kfar Sava on the east and Herzliya on the southwest...
. She attended the Thelma Yellin High School of Arts in Giv'atayim
Giv'atayim
Giv'atayim is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. It has a population of 53,000....
. She moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1994, and later dated David Schwimmer
David Schwimmer
David Lawrence Schwimmer is an American actor and director of television and film. He was born in New York City, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was two. He began his acting career performing in school plays at Beverly Hills High School. In 1988, he graduated from Northwestern...
in the early 2000s. Avital continues to reside in New York City with her husband, screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Life of David Gale
The Life of David Gale
The Life of David Gale is a 2003 American drama film directed by Alan Parker and written by Charles Randolph.Kevin Spacey stars as the eponymous character, a college Professor and longtime activist against capital punishment who is sentenced to death for killing a fellow capital punishment opponent...
), and their son.
American career
As one of the most highly regarded actresses in her native Israel, Avital has created international success with her diverse starring roles in film, television and theater. She began her professional career during her senior year in high school, in the play Dangerous LiaisonsLes liaisons dangereuses (play)
Les liaisons dangereuses is a play by Christopher Hampton adapted from the 1782 novel of the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The plot focuses on the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, rivals who use sex as a weapon of humiliation and degradation, all the while enjoying their...
at the Cameri Theater
Cameri Theater
The Cameri Theater , established in 1944 in Tel Aviv, is one of the leading theaters in Israel, and is housed at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center....
in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
.
In 1993 she arrived in New York City to study acting at the "Circle in the Square Theatre
Circle in the Square Theatre
The Circle in the Square Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre in midtown Manhattan on 50th Street in the Paramount Plaza building.The original Circle in the Square was founded by Paul Libin, Theodore Mann and Jose Quintero in 1951 and was located at 5 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village...
School". The following year, discovered by an agent while working as a waitress, she was immediately cast as the female lead in Stargate
Stargate (film)
Stargate is a 1994 American adventure-military science fiction film released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco Pictures. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise...
, 1994, for which she received a Sci-fi Universe award. She has appeared in films such as Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
's Dead Man
Dead Man
Dead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum . The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted...
opposite Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Doug Ellin
Doug Ellin
Douglas Reed Ellin is the creator of the HBO television series Entourage. Ellin also serves as executive producer and head writer for the series. He attended Tulane University.-Life and career:...
's Kissing a Fool
Kissing a Fool
Kissing A Fool is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Doug Ellin. It primarily stars David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, and Mili Avital...
, Polish Wedding
Polish Wedding
Polish Wedding is a 1998 comedy/drama film written and directed by Theresa Connelly.It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 1998 and at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 12...
, Robert Benton
Robert Benton
Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director.Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Benton has won numerous awards for both writing and...
's The Human Stain
The Human Stain (film)
The Human Stain is a 2003 American romantic thriller film directed by Robert Benton. The screenplay by Nicholas Meyer is based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Philip Roth...
and When Do We Eat?
When Do We Eat? (2006 film)
When Do We Eat? is a 2006 American comedy film. It is rated R for drugs, sex, and suggestive content.-Plot:When Do We Eat? is the story of a dysfunctional Jewish family's Passover Seder. This is the family's first Seder in three years and the tension is high. Before the Seder, Zeke slips his...
Her television work includes portraying Scheherazade
Scheherazade
Scheherazade , sometimes Scheherazadea, Persian transliteration Shahrazad or Shahrzād is a legendary Persian queen and the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights.-Narration :...
in the Emmy-nominated ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
miniseries Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights (TV miniseries)
Arabian Nights is a two-part 2000 American/British miniseries, adapted by Peter Barnes from Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the medieval epic One Thousand and One Nights. Mili Avital and Dougray Scott stars as Scheherazade and Shahryar respectively...
to rave reviews, Jon Avnet
Jon Avnet
Jonathan Michael "Jon" Avnet is an American director, writer and producer.-Early life:Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive and electronics distributor. He attended Great Neck North High School in Great Neck, New York...
’s Uprising
Uprising (film)
Uprising is a 2001 war/drama television movie about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman...
and After the Storm . In 2009-2010 Avital has appeared in the FX TV show Damages
Damages (TV series)
Damages is an American television drama series created by the writing and production trio of Daniel Zelman and brothers Glenn and Todd A. Kessler . It is broadcast in the United States on the DirecTV channel Audience Network after originally airing on FX and is produced by the creators' own...
, in a recurring role as the mistress to the husband of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
).
In theater, Avital played Cordelia
Cordelia
Cordelia is a common first name in English. It is an elaboration of the word 'cor', which means 'heart' in Latin. In Celtic usages, the name is generally understood to mean 'daughter of the sea' or 'jewel of the sea' , due to its association with the mythological Welsh figure of...
in King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
at the Electric Lodge (Venice, California), 2006, directed by Patsy Rodenburg.
Her directorial debut, a short documentary I Think Myself I am All the Time Younger, received its world premiere at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in New York.
Israeli career
Avital was first introduced to Israeli audience in the title role of Yael's Friends, a highly popular television film, to rave reviews. She won the 1992 Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first feature film role, in Me'ever Layam (Over the Ocean). Her recent work in Israel includes the cult comedy Ahava Colombianit (Colombian Love), as well as NoodleNoodle (film)
Noodle is an award-winning 2007 Israeli film directed by Ayelet Menahemi, written by Shemi Zarhin and Ayelet Menahemi, and starring Mili Avital, Chen Baoqi, and Alon Aboutboul.-Plot:...
, for which she received the 2007 Israel’s Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress, the Israeli Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, and Israel’s Person of the Year nomination. 2006. In 2010 Avital is starring in Prisoners of War (aka Chatufim), a Channel 2
Channel 2 (Israel)
Channel 2 is an Israeli commercial television channel.- History :In 1990, after 13 years of deliberations, the Knesset passed a law that paved the way for the establishment of commercial television in Israel. The goal was to enhance pluralism and create competition. Channel 2 began broadcasting on...
prime-time Israeli TV series. Avital was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and Prisoners of War won Best Drama Series at the 2010 Israeli TV awards.
Filmography
- Yael's Friends (1991)
- Me'ever Layam (1992)
- GroupieGroupieA groupie is a person who seeks emotional and sexual intimacy with a musician or other celebrity. "Groupie" is derived from group in reference to a musical group, but the word is also used in a more general sense, especially in casual conversation....
(1993) - StargateStargate (film)Stargate is a 1994 American adventure-military science fiction film released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco Pictures. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise...
(1994) - Dead ManDead ManDead Man is a 1995 American Western film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum . The film, dubbed an "Acid Western" by its director, includes twisted...
(1995) - Invasion of Privacy (1996)
- Minotaur (1997)
- The End of ViolenceThe End of ViolenceThe End of Violence is a 1997 film by the German director Wim Wenders. The film's cast includes Bill Pullman, Gabriel Byrne, Traci Lind, Rosalind Chao, Andie MacDowell, and Loren Dean, among others. It also features a soundtrack marked with the signature sounds of Wenders regulars Jon Hassell, Ry...
(1997) - Polish WeddingPolish WeddingPolish Wedding is a 1998 comedy/drama film written and directed by Theresa Connelly.It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival on January 16, 1998 and at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 12...
(1998) - Animals and the Tollkeeper (1998)
- Kissing a FoolKissing a FoolKissing A Fool is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Doug Ellin. It primarily stars David Schwimmer, Jason Lee, and Mili Avital...
(1998) - The Young Girl and the MonsoonThe Young Girl and the MonsoonThe Young Girl and the Monsoon is a 1999 comedy-drama from Monsoon Productions and starring Terry Kinney and Ellen Muth. Writer-director, James Ryan, won Best Screenplay and the Gold Medal at the Wine Country Film Festival in 2000 for the film....
(1999) - Arabian NightsArabian Nights (TV miniseries)Arabian Nights is a two-part 2000 American/British miniseries, adapted by Peter Barnes from Sir Richard Francis Burton's translation of the medieval epic One Thousand and One Nights. Mili Avital and Dougray Scott stars as Scheherazade and Shahryar respectively...
(2000) - Preston Tylk (2000)
- After the Storm (2001)
- UprisingUprising (film)Uprising is a 2001 war/drama television movie about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The film was directed by Jon Avnet and written by Avnet and Paul Brickman...
(2001) - The Human StainThe Human Stain (film)The Human Stain is a 2003 American romantic thriller film directed by Robert Benton. The screenplay by Nicholas Meyer is based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Philip Roth...
(2003) - Ahava Colombianit (2004)
- When Do We Eat?When Do We Eat? (2006 film)When Do We Eat? is a 2006 American comedy film. It is rated R for drugs, sex, and suggestive content.-Plot:When Do We Eat? is the story of a dysfunctional Jewish family's Passover Seder. This is the family's first Seder in three years and the tension is high. Before the Seder, Zeke slips his...
(2005) - NoodleNoodle (film)Noodle is an award-winning 2007 Israeli film directed by Ayelet Menahemi, written by Shemi Zarhin and Ayelet Menahemi, and starring Mili Avital, Chen Baoqi, and Alon Aboutboul.-Plot:...
(2007)