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Natalie Portman is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Black Swan (2010)).

Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born doctor, and Shelley Stevens, an American-born artist (from Cincinnati, Ohio), who also acts as Natalie's agent. Her parents are both of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Natalie's family left Israel for Washington, D.C., when she was still very young. After a few more moves, her family finally settled in New York, where she still lives to this day. She graduated with honors, and her academic achievements allowed her to attend Harvard University. She was discovered by an agent in a pizza parlor at the age of 11. She was pushed towards a career in modeling but she decided that she would rather pursue a career in acting. She was featured in many live performances, but she made her powerful film debut in the movie Léon: The Professional (1994) (aka "Léon"). Following this role Natalie won roles in such films as Heat (1995), Beautiful Girls (1996), and Mars Attacks! (1996).

It was not until 1999 that Natalie received worldwide fame as Queen Amidala in the highly anticipated US$431 million-grossing prequel Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). She then she starred in two critically acclaimed comedy dramas, Anywhere But Here (1999) and Where the Heart Is (2000), followed by Closer (2004), for which she received an Oscar nomination. She reprised her role as Padme Amidala in the last two episodes of the Star Wars prequel trilogy: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). She received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Black Swan (2010).

She received a second nomination for Best Actress, for playing Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie (2016).

Mili Avital is the first Israeli actor to establish a career in Hollywood. She started on stage at 17 in Tel Aviv's Cameri National Theater. In film, she won the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for Best Actress, both before she was 20. Moving to the U.S. in 1994, Avital starred in numerous films including Jim Jarmusch's "Deadman" and Roland Emmerich's "Stargate." Her extensive television work includes "Law & Order", "Damages" and a starring stint in "Prisoners of War" (aka Hatufim)-- which the New York Times listed number one in its "Thirty Best International TV Shows of the Decade" (2019).

For 2024, Avital has just completed "Mary" opposite Anthony Hopkins, and she is currently filming "Kugel", a spin off of the hit series "Shtisel." An Italian film based on Meir Shalev's award-winning novel "Four Meals" is scheduled for release next year.

As a director, Avital co-wrote and directed "Next Stop at the Broadway Comedy Club" (2017-2018) and her short documentary film, "I Think Myself I Am All the Time Younger," was part of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2004.

Avital lives in London and New York, and was married for many years to Oscar-winning screenwriter, Charles Randolph. They have two children.

Daniella Kertesz was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She is an actress, known for World War Z (2013), Shtisel (2013) and Incitement (2019).

Lior Raz was born on 24 November 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an actor and writer, known for Fauda (2015), Hit & Run (2021) and 6 Underground (2019). He has been married to Meital Berdah since 2008. They have three children.

The youngest of four siblings, Brian George was born in Jerusalem to Jewish parents in July 1952. Both of his parents had immigrated to Israel from India. His father was born in Iraq but raised in Bombay and his mother was born and raised in India. When Brian was a year old, the family immigrated to London. Brian attended an all-boys school in London. In 1966, the family moved to Toronto and he attended public high school, followed by the University of Toronto, where he became involved in theater. George left before graduation and formed an unsuccessful theater group. He joined The Second City, where he trained with comedy greats including John Candy, among others. His career in acting and voice-over work has flourished ever since.

Niv Sultan was born on 16 September 1992 in Jerusalem, Israel. She is an actress, known for Tehran (2020), Eilat (2018) and Traitor (2022). She has been married to Maor Schwietzer since March 2022.

Born in 1919 in Jerusalem, Nehemiah Persoff emigrated with his family to America in 1929.

Following schooling at the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York, he found a job as a subway electrician doing signal maintenance until an interest in the theater altered the direction of his life.

He joined amateur groups and subsequently won a scholarship to the Dramatic Workshop in New York. This led to what would have been his Broadway debut in a production of "Eve of St. Mark", but he was fired before the show opened. He made his official New York debut in a production of "The Emperor's New Clothes" in 1940.

WWII interrupted his young career in 1942, when he was inducted into the United Sates Army, returning to the stage after his hitch was over in 1945, three years later. He sought work in stock plays and became an intern of Stella Adler and, as a result, a strong exponent of the Actor's Studio. Discovered by Charles Laughton and cast in his production of "Galileo" in 1947, Persoff made his film debut a year later with an uncredited bit in The Naked City (1948).

Short, dark, chunky-framed and with a distinct talent for dialects, Persoff became known primarily for his ethnic villainy, usually playing authoritative Eastern Europeans.

In a formidable career which had him portraying everything from cab drivers to Joseph Stalin, standout film roles would include Leo in The Harder They Fall (1956) with Humphrey Bogart, Gene Conforti in Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956), Albert in This Angry Age (1958) and gangster Johnny Torrio in Al Capone (1959). That same year he played another gangster, the small role of Little Bonaparte, in Some Like It Hot (1959).

He was a durable performer during TV's "Golden Age" (Gunsmoke (1955), The Twilight Zone (1959)) and well beyond (Chicago Hope (1994), Law & Order (1990)), playing hundreds of intense, volatile and dominating characters.

In later years, his characters grew a bit softer as Barbra Streisand's Jewish father in Yentl (1983) and the voice of Papa Mousekewitz in the An American Tail (1986) will attest. Later stage work included well-received productions of "I'm Not Rappaport" and his biographical one-man show "Sholem Aleichem".

After declining health and high blood pressure forced him to slow down, Persoff took up painting in 1985, studying sketching in Los Angeles. Specializing in watercolor, he created more than 100 works of art, many of which have been exhibited up and down the coast of California. He celebrated his 100th birthday in 2019.

Maya Eshet was born on 9 May 1990 in Jerusalem, Israel. She is an actress and producer, known for Teen Wolf (2011), Shiur Moledet: Avdei Hashem (2003) and Man Seeking Woman (2015).

Shadi Mar'i was born on 17 November 1994 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an actor, known for Munich Games (2022), Fauda (2015) and The Way of the Wind.

Jonah Lotan was born in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an actor, known for 24 (2001), Generation Kill (2008) and The Jacket (2005).

Ori Pfeffer was born on 28 July 1975 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an actor, known for Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Jolt (2021) and The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017). He has been married to Yael Goldman since 18 June 2009.

David Darlow was born on 25 December 1943 in Jerusalem. He is an actor, known for Miller's Crossing (1990), Road to Perdition (2002) and The Fugitive (1993). He has been married to Rachel Silverman Darlow since 3 April 2006. He was previously married to Kristie Thatcher.

Yaara Benbenishty was born on 23 June 1989 in Jerusalem, Israel. She is an actress, known for Exodus to Shanghai (2015), Fauda (2015) and Batel the Virgin (2019).

Reymonde Amsellem was born on 19 July 1978 in Jerusalem, Israel. She is an actress and writer, known for Seven Blessings (2023), Rendition (2007) and The House on Fin Street (2021).

Gideon Raff was born on 10 September 1972 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a writer and producer, known for Homeland (2011), The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019) and Prisoners of War (2009).

Noam Murro was born on 16 August 1961 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is a director and producer, known for 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Watership Down (2018) and Smart People (2008).

Ahd Tamimi was born in Jerusalem, Palestine. He is an actor and writer, known for River City (2002), Vikings: Valhalla (2022) and The Darkness (2024).

Palestinian-Israeli actor Makram Khoury was the youngest artist and the first Arab to win the Israel Prize, the highest artistic honor in the country.

He is one of Israel's most respected actors, playing leads in all the major theatres as well as acting in films and on television.

Khoury is an actor's actor: subtle, powerful and protean. He embodies many of the paradoxes of Israeli society. He was born to a Christian-Arab family who belonged to the Greek Orthodox church: Greek Orthodox, Christian, Arab, Palestinian. He and his family fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. After five months of unemployment, Makram's lawyer father decided to risk returning rather than live in a refugee camp.

Makram's family found housing in the Northern Israeli city of Acco. When he graduated high school in 1963, he went to study at The Hebrew University but soon dropped out to act. He trained with Jacqueline Kronberg-an American teacher who had worked with Second City-and also got involved with an Arab Theatre in Haifa. Eventually he went to Drama School in England.

When he returned, even though he soon began getting work at The Cameri Theatre and the Haifa Municipal Theatre, he experienced an identity crisis. The Cameri arranged coaching for him in voice, diction and Hebrew. No professional Arabic theatre existed in Israel, only amateur companies. To fulfill himself as an actor, he had to work in Hebrew.

Khoury came to a compromise with this situation through dreams." With help from his friend Anton Shamas, a distinguished Palestinian-Israeli writer, he decoded a message from his own unconscious. He saw himself as a clown in a circus sitting on a unicycle going around a circle, balancing with arms spread out, saying, 'I'm breathing, I'm alive! & saw a coin with two heads on the handlebars. On one side it said 'Israeli-Arab,' on the other, 'Israeli.' Acting managed to cure his wounds.

Maintaining this balance is particularly challenging for Makram since the 2nd Intifada began. "I started to blame and hate my colleagues. I said: How will I go up on the Israeli stage and act in Hebrew? I can't, I can't. Then I see all these bombs, these terrorist acts that I disagree with, like many other Palestinians, and that brings me back to the balancing."

Makram's wife Wadia is an Art Teacher. Two of his children - Clara & Jamil- are also actors. His daughter Rula is a Project Manager at The Science Museum in Jerusalem.

Vic Tablian was born in Palestine, which was a British Mandate from 1917 to 1948. He is an actor known for his roles in the Indiana Jones' franchise: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in which he had two roles, as Peruvian guide Barranca and the Nazi collaborating "Monkey Man", and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992) in which he played as Demetrios/Claw. He is also known for Midnight Express (1978), Navy Seals (1990), Sphinx (1981), Eleni (1985), The Bill (1984)...

Born in Jerusalem November 4th, 1929. Fourth generation Israeli. Educated at "Alliance" school of Jerusalem. In his teens studied at "Haohel" Theatre Studio. At the age of 15 joined the "Palmach" underground forces and participated in safeguarding the convoys to Jerusalem. Also fought at the "Palyam" (Palmach's Naval section), where he met Dan Ben-Amotz, who was very impressed with his comic talents, and appointed him to his friend Haim Heffer, founder of the "The Cheezbatron", the Palmach's entertainment troupe. Ophir was the first person asked to contribute his multi-talents to the band and became its undisputed star. Besides his many comic pieces, he became a musical performer, singing the band's first songs: "Dahilak Motke" with Naomi Polani, "Inyan Shel Offi" (A matter of character) with Rivka Kramer and "Ani Akiva". He met his first spouse, the singer Ohela Halevi at The Cheezbatron.

Was invited by Marlene Dietrich to join her in creating a show. The great actress also designated him words of admiration in a book written by her. Life magazine defined him as standing in line with Marcel Marceau as one of the world's best mime artists.

Godfrey Quigley was born on 4 May 1923 in Jerusalem, Palestine [now Israel]. He was an actor, known for A Clockwork Orange (1971), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Get Carter (1971). He was married to Genevieve Lyons. He died on 7 September 1994 in Dublin, Ireland.

Born and raised in the old city of Jerusalem Israel, Tamar is an Award-Winning actress, writer, VO artist, and jewelry designer. Tamar has acted extensively on various film, TV & Stage productions in both Israel and the U.S.

As a voice-over artist, she is best known for her lead roles in the English versions of the Netflix hit shows 'Money Heist, 'Dark', & 'Fauda'.

As a writer, She is developing a feature, two dark comedy TV shows, a play, and a drama series.

And Tamar is also the designer & maker behind the brand Janjoon Jewelry, which can be found in different museums and stores all across California.

Sirhan Sirhan was born on 19 March 1944 in Jerusalem, Palestine [now Israel].

Guy Oseary's entrepreneurial leadership and global vision includes the development and innovative business management of artist brands, (Madonna), producing films (vampire film trilogy Twilight), concert tours (Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet Tour" grossed 408 million dollars), management of three-time American League MVP Alex Rodriguez, advisor to the leading coconut water brand company (Vita Coco), and a joint venture partnership with Iconix Brand Group in the apparel industry.

At the age of 15, Guy Oseary began searching for and developing talent in Los Angeles while still in high school. Two years later, he joined what was to become Maverick Records as an A&R man and quickly rose through the ranks to become Chairman of the label. During Oseary's tenure, he guided Maverick to sales of over l00 million units globally including 33 million copies of the debut album of his young discovery Alanis Morrisette. Her "Jagged Little Pill" album would take home four Grammy Awards in l996, including Album of the Year, securing a spot for Maverick Records as one of the industry's leading boutique labels. During Oseary's tenure the label also released albums by Michelle Branch, Prodigy, Deftones and The Wreckers as well as soundtracks to "The Wedding Singer," "The Matrix," "Austin Powers," and Quentin Tarantino's films "Jackie Brown" and "Kill Bill."

In 2005, Oseary became Madonna's manager following several years as the artist's business partner. Their collaboration in all aspects of Madonna's career included the release of multi platinum CDs and two recent worldwide concert tours. The 2006 "Confessions Tour" grossed $195 million and her 2008-2009 "Sticky & Sweet" Tour was the most successful tour by a solo artist in history with gross revenue of 408 million dollars. In 2007, Oseary negotiated a groundbreaking deal by partnering Madonna with Live Nation, the number one touring promotion company in the world. The unprecedented deal is valued at 120 million dollars.

As part of Maverick Films, Oseary executive produced the stunningly successful Twilight series. The latest installment, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse set a new record for the biggest midnight domestic opening in box office history. The three movies to date have grossed over l.7 billion dollars.

In 2009, his client, three-time American League MVP, NY Yankees third baseman, and baseball giant, Alex Rodriguez, won his first World Series Championship.

Oseary co-manages YouTube singing sensation, 13 year-old Greyson Michael Chance. Chance's performance of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" has had 50 million views on YouTube with no signs of slowing down. He is currently recording his debut CD for Ellen Degeneres' new record label ElevenEleven.

NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, now in its tenth year, is executive produced by Oseary along with NBC's New Year's Eve - also hosted by Daly.

Since 2004, Oseary has been a principal at the top entertainment management company, Untitled Entertainment (in partnership with Jason Weinberg and Stephanie Simon). The firm oversees a roster of clients including Hilary Swank, David Caruso, Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Lucy Liu, and Blake Lively amongst others.

In early 2010, Oseary became an adviser to Vita Coco, the coconut water brand company. He brought on board an investment group including Madonna, Demi Moore, Anthony Kiedis and Matthew McCounaghey. Vita Coco currently has a 70 percent market share for coconut water in the US with sales continuing to surge monthly.

Oseary has signed on as an advisor to Groupon.com. Forbes proclaimed the company as "the fastest-growing company in web history." In April 2010, at just 17 months old, Groupon's valuation was l.35 billion dollars.

In partnership with Madonna, Oseary formed MDG Icon, a joint venture with Iconix Brand Group which focuses on fashion and apparel projects. The first collection under MDG is a sunglass collection designed by Madonna in collaboration with designer duo Dolce and Gabanna. The first apparel collection, Material Girl, is a fast fashion junior line designed by Madonna and her daughter sold exclusively in all Macy's stores.

Oseary has written two books and has had two photography books published.

Fedor Fedotov was born on 12 July 1995 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an actor, known for Silver Skates (2020), Mir! Druzhba! Zhvachka! (2020) and Mezhdu nami (2024). He is married to Anastasiya Gribova. They have one child.