Israeli-American celebrities
by connorclarkferguson | created - 5 months ago | updated - 3 months ago | PublicCelebrities with Israeli ancestry.
1. Ralph Bakshi
Director | Wizards
Ralph Bakshi worked his way up from Brooklyn and became an animation legend. He was born on October 29, 1938, in Haifa, Israel, the son of Mina (Zlotin) and Eliezar Bakshi, and is of Krymchak Jewish descent. He was raised in Brownsville, after his family came to New York to escape World War II. ...
2. Nancy Beiman
Animation_department | Hercules
Nancy Beiman is known for Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002) and A Goofy Movie (1995).
3. Jack Bender
Producer | Lost
Jack Bender was born on September 25, 1949 in the USA. He is a producer and director, known for Lost (2004), From (2022) and Alias (2001). He is married to Laura Owens. They have two children.
4. Justin Berfield
Actor | Malcolm in the Middle
Justin Tyler Berfield was born on the 25th of February, 1986, and resides in Los Angeles. Born and raised in California, he has been acting since he was 5 years old when he landed a part in a commercial for Folgers Coffee. He has appeared in over 22 national television commercials including an ...
5. Andy Cohen
Producer | Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List
Andy Cohen was born on June 2, 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (2005), Top Chef (2006) and Queer Eye (2003).
6. Bobcat Goldthwait
Director | God Bless America
Robert Francis 'Bobcat' Goldthwait, born May 26, 1962, is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, and star of films and television shows. He is most widely known for his at times screechy voice and scattergun delivery during his standup comedy performances and some film roles.
He was born ...
7. Corey Haim
Actor | The Lost Boys
Corey Haim was born in Toronto, Ontario, to Judy Haim, an Israeli-born data processor, and Bernie Haim, a clothing sales representative. He has a sister, Carol, and a half-brother, Daniel. His family is Jewish. He was raised mostly in Willowdale.
Corey appeared in 26 episodes of the early 1980s ...
8. Nicky Katt
Actor | Boiler Room
Nicky Katt has been acting since the age of 7, when he appeared on the TV series CHiPs (1977) in 1977. He continued to work steadily through the 1980s on shows like Quincy M.E. (1976), Father Murphy (1981), and V (1984) but did not fall into the trap of many child actors who became identified with ...
9. Omri Katz
Actor | Hocus Pocus
Omri Katz is probably best known for appearing on the hit TV shows Dallas (1978) and Eerie, Indiana (1991). He has appeared in many movies, including Hocus Pocus (1993), Matinee (1993), and Adventures in Dinosaur City (1991). He also has made guest appearances on many TV shows. His Israeli parents ...
10. Sheldon Leonard
Producer | Make Room for Daddy
Sheldon Leonard was born in New York City's lower Manhattan, the son of Jewish parents. He studied acting at Syracuse University and, after graduating, landed a job on Wall Street. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, he found himself unemployed and resolved to become a professional actor on ...
11. Stella Maeve
Actress | Starlet
Stella Maeve Johnston is an American film and television actress. Highlights include a starring role in The Runaways (2010), a two-season recurring role in NBC television's Chicago P.D., and a main role in SyFy television's The Magicians. Maeve's first feature film role was in the comedy-drama, ...
13. Rita Rudner
Writer | Peter's Friends
Rita Rudner was born on September 17, 1953 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is a writer and actress, known for Peter's Friends (1992), Tales from the Crypt (1989) and Love Hurts (2009). She has been married to Martin Bergman since June 24, 1988. They have one child.
14. Lauren K. Solomon
Actress | That's So Awesome
Lauren K. Solomon is known for That's So Awesome (2011), Why I Hate Bitsy Malone (2010) and The Festival (2009).
15. David L. Wolper
Producer | L.A. Confidential
David L. Wolper was born on January 11, 1928 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for L.A. Confidential (1997), Murder in the First (1995) and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). He was married to Gloria Hill, Dawn Richard and Toni Carroll. He died on ...
16. Josh Gad
Actor | Frozen
Josh Gad is an American actor and singer who is well-known for voicing Olaf the Snowman in Disney's Frozen franchise. He was also in Beauty and the Beast as LeFou, Ghostbusters: Afterlife as Muncher, The Wedding Ringer, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Pixels, The Internship, The Rocker, 21 and The ...
17. Nehemiah Persoff
Actor | An American Tail
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 ...
18. Etan Cohen
Writer | Holmes & Watson
Etan Cohen was born on March 14, 1974 in Israel. He is a writer and producer, known for Holmes & Watson (2018), Idiocracy (2006) and Men in Black³ (2012). He has been married to Emily Bowen-Cohen since June 14, 1998. They have three children.
19. Jonathan Aibel
Producer | Kung Fu Panda
Jonathan Aibel was born in Demarest, New Jersey, USA. Jonathan is a producer and writer, known for Kung Fu Panda (2008), King of the Hill (1997) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011).
20. Peter Sollett
Director | Raising Victor Vargas
Peter Sollett was born on February 9, 1976 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Raising Victor Vargas (2002), Freeheld (2015) and Five Feet High and Rising (2000).
21. Gene Shalit
Actor | Mystery!
Gene Shalit was born on March 25, 1926 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Masterpiece Mystery (1980), SpongeBob SquarePants (1999) and The Critic (1994).
22. Louise Sorel
Actress | Days of Our Lives
A flashy, aggressive, cold and calculating villainess and eternally hopeless meddler on a number of daytime soap operas, Louise Sorel has given her opulent, show-stopping characters major doses of humor and grit that have allowed her to become one of daytime's more popular figures for over six ...
23. Kara Taitz
Actress | The Secret Lives of Dorks
Kara Taitz was born in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for The Secret Lives of Dorks (2013), The Hard Times of RJ Berger (2010) and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005).
24. Odelya Halevi
Actress | Black Adam
Odelya Halevi was born on February 12, 1987 in Rosh HaAyin, Israel. She is an actress, known for Black Adam (2022), Law & Order (1990) and Why Women Kill (2019).
25. Olivia Barash
Actress | Repo Man
Olivia Barash began her work in the entertainment industry at the age of five. During her early years of acting, singing and dancing in classic musicals on stage in New York, Olivia starred as "Baby June" in Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. She was the first child actor to win the acclaimed New York ...
26. Robert A. Cinader
Writer | Emergency!
Robert A. Cinader, also fondly known as RAC, was born on November 10, 1924. He was raised in New York City, where he attended prestigious Townsend Harris, an experimental prep school open only to those public school students with extremely high IQs. He enrolled at New York University for a semester...
27. Ronald B. Solomon
Writer | California Dreams
Ronald B. Solomon is known for California Dreams (1992), Saved by the Bell (1989) and Hang Time (1995).
28. Dorit Kemsley
Actress | The Prince
Dorit Kemsley was born on July 14, 1976 in Woodbridge, Connecticut, USA. She is an actress, known for The Prince (2021), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (2010) and Vanderpump Rules (2013). She has been married to Paul Kemsley since 2015. They have two children.
29. Lee H. Katzin
Director | Mission: Impossible
Lee H. Katzin started directing features in the late 1960s. Turning to made-for-television movies, he became one of the busiest directors in that genre, churning out a slew of mostly routine fodder. Every so often, however, one would rise above the rest: Along Came a Spider (1970) is a tense, ...
30. Arnon Milchan
Producer | L.A. Confidential
Arnon Milchan (PRODUCER) is widely renowned as one of the most prolific and successful independent film producers of his time, with over 100 feature films to his credit. Born in Israel, Milchan was educated at the University of Geneva. His first business venture was transforming his father's modest...
31. Keith Silverstein
Actor | Genshin Impact
Keith Silverstein is an American voice actor who primarily works on English dubs of Japanese anime and video games. He is best known for voicing Kimimaro Kaguya in the Naruto franchise, Hisoka in the 2011 version of Hunter × Hunter, and Vector the Crocodile in the Sonic the Hedgehog series since ...
32. Avram D. Gold
Sound_department | Speed
Avram D. Gold is known for Speed (1994), Planet of the Apes (2001) and RoboCop (1987).
33. Cherien Dabis
Producer | Amreeka
Cherien Dabis is a critically acclaimed and award winning Palestinian American film and television director, writer, and actress. Born in the U.S. and raised in Ohio and Jordan, Dabis studied film at Columbia University's School of the Arts.
Most recently, Dabis was Emmy nominated for Outstanding ...
34. Max Mutchnick
Writer | Will & Grace
Max Mutchnick is Creator/Executive Producer of "Will & Grace", "Good Morning, Miami" and Executive Producer, "The Stones". For his work on "Will & Grace," he has been honored with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series; a People's Choice Award (Favorite New Comedy); four Golden Globe ...
35. Joel H. Cohen
Producer | The Simpsons
Joel H. Cohen was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is known for The Simpsons (1989), The Simpsons Movie (2007) and The Angry Birds Movie (2016).
36. Bob Kushell
Producer | 3rd Rock from the Sun
Bob Kushell was born on January 29, 1969 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996), Samantha Who? (2007) and The Muppets. (2015).
37. Adrian Samish
Producer | Cannon
Adrian Samish was born on April 6, 1910 in New York, USA. Adrian was a producer and writer, known for Cannon (1971), Barnaby Jones (1973) and A Time to Live (1954). Adrian was married to Carolyn (Bacot) Page, Edith Ernestine (Witte) Tibbett, Peggy Knudsen and Barbara Brandt. Adrian died on October ...
38. Orly Adelson
Producer | 2011 Golden Globe Awards
Orly Adelson is known for The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2011), The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards (2012) and 70th Golden Globe Awards (2013).
39. Ben Astar
Actor | Bye Bye Birdie
Ben Astar was born on June 15, 1909 in Palestine [now Israel]. He was an actor, known for Bye Bye Birdie (1963), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and 5 Fingers (1952). He was married to Isabella Milch. He died on October 20, 1988 in Tarzana, California, USA.
40. Neil Druckmann
Writer | The Last of Us
Neil Druckmann is an Israeli-American video game developer and co-president of Naughty Dog. He started off as a programmer in Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing. He wrote the Uncharted game series and directed The Last of Us series. He produced an Uncharted movie and a Last of Us television series for ...
41. Ari Emanuel
Producer | UFC 291
The youngest of three brothers, Emanuel grew up in a Chicago household, headed by a pediatrician (his father) and a psychiatric social worker (his mother). He learned to be competitive from his brothers, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, an oncologist and chairman of the department of clinical bioethics at ...
42. Usher Morgan
Producer | Pickings
Usher Morgan is an award-winning screenwriter, film director, and producer residing in New York City. Morgan started his career in book publishing and later became involved with film production and distribution. He produced his first documentary film "The Thought Exchange" starring David Friedman ...
43. Rod Lurie
Director | The Outpost
Rod Lurie is the director of the "The Outpost," released July 2020, starring Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, and Orlando Bloom. The film, based on CNN chief correspondent Jake Tapper's bestselling book of the same name, tells the true story of the events leading up to and including the Battle ...
44. Arnon Milchan
Producer | L.A. Confidential
Arnon Milchan (PRODUCER) is widely renowned as one of the most prolific and successful independent film producers of his time, with over 100 feature films to his credit. Born in Israel, Milchan was educated at the University of Geneva. His first business venture was transforming his father's modest...
45. Ari Sandel
Director | West Bank Story
Ari Devon Sandel was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Calabasas and Tarzana, California. He went to Taft High School for a year and then graduated from Calabasas High. He studied media arts at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he also received a special certificate in Middle Eastern ...
46. Claudia Katz
Producer | Futurama
Claudia joined Rough Draft Studios in 1994 to produce The Maxx. Since then she has produced numerous projects for film and television including: Disenchantment, Tarantula, Clash-A-Rama, Futurama - the series, Napoleon Dynamite, Full English, Sit Down, Shut Up, all four Futurama DVD features, The ...
47. Sherm Cohen
Animation_department | The Simpsons Movie
Sherm Cohen was born on January 19, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a director, known for The Simpsons Movie (2007), Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010) and SpongeBob SquarePants (1999).
48. Daniel Brimer
Visual_effects | X-Men: Days of Future Past
Daniel Brimer is known for X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Iron Man Three (2013) and Ready Player One (2018).
49. Elad Arbel
Animation_department | The Avengers
Elad Arbel was born on October 11, 1982 in Israel. He is known for The Avengers (2012), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Thomas & Friends: Marvelous Machinery (2020).
50. Lewis Charles
Actor | Topaz
Lewis Charles was born on November 2, 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Topaz (1969), Playhouse 90 (1956) and Al Capone (1959). He died on November 9, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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