Mili Avital

Mili Avital מילי אביטל
Mili Avital in Me'ever Layam in 1992
Native name	מילי אביטל
Born	(1972-03-30) 30 March 1972 Jerusalem, Israel
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1992-present
Spouse(s)	Charles Randolph (2004–present)

Mili Avital (Hebrew: מילי אביטל‎‎; born 30 March 1972) is an Israeli-American actress. Avital built a successful international career. She started in her native Israel, starring on stage, film and Television, winning the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992, and nominated for Best Actress in 1994. That year she moved to New York and started to work almost immediately in America. She has maintained her career in both countries since.

Personal life

Avital was born in Jerusalem, the daughter of graphic designers Noni and Iko Avital. Her family is Jewish.^[1] She was raised in Tel Aviv and Ra'anana. She attended the Thelma Yellin High School of Arts in Givatayim. She moved to New York in 1994, and continues to reside there with her husband, screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Life of David Gale, The Interpreter, Love & Other Drugs), and their two children.

Avital served as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa from 2009 to 2013.

American career

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 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 opposite Clair Danes, and Robert Benton's The Human Stain. In 1999, she portrayed a rape victim from overseas in the pilot episode of the long-running NBC legal drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Avital returned to the series in 2012 as the worried mother of an abducted child in the episode "Manhattan Vigil". Her television work includes Scheherazade in the Emmy-nominated ABC miniseries Arabian Nights to rave reviews, Jon Avnet’s Uprising, and After the Storm . In 2009-2010 Avital appeared in the FX TV show Damages, in a recurring role as the mistress to the husband of Patty Hewes (Glenn Close). She recently appeared in the 2012 ABC television series 666 Park Avenue.^[2]

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,^[3] received its world premiere at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Israeli career

As one of the most highly regarded actresses in her native Israel, Avital has achieved international success with her diverse starring roles in film and television. She began her professional career on stage, during her senior year in high school, in Dangerous Liaisons at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv.

Avital was first introduced to Israeli audiences 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 Noodle, 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 for 2006.^[4] Avital stars in Prisoners of War (aka Chatufim), a Keshet prime-time Israeli TV series, on which the American television series Homeland is based. Avital was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series (first season) for her work. The massively successful show won Best Drama Series in the Israeli TV Awards.

Avital recently completed a comedy series, Landing on Their Feet, for Keshet, alongside Shani Cohen (Eretz Nehederet).

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

• Mili Avital at the Internet Movie Database