We all know that many American celebrities are famous in Israel. Israelis follow the careers of American actors, musicians and athletes and enjoy their work. But! Did you know that there are many Israelis who are just as famous in the States?!
Well Americans love Israeli celebs just as much as Israelis love American celebs! Let’s see if you recognize them!
No 1 – Miri Ben Ari
An Israeli-American violinist. She lives in New Jersey. Ben-Ari was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. She grew up playing classical music; started training at age 5 and at age 12, Isaac Stern presented her with a violin. During her mandatory Israeli military service, she was chosen to play for the Israeli Army String Quartet. During her stint in the Israeli military, she heard an album by Charlie Parker and immediately fell in love with jazz; she later said, “My soul was sold.” She released her first solo CD Sahara in 1999.
Her persistence earned her an appearance on BET’s 106 & Park; the viewer response netted her a return visit a few weeks later. Her performances caught the eye of Jay-Z, who invited her to play as one of the headliners of New York radio station Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert in 2001, where she netted a standing ovation. Around the same time, a mutual friend introduced Ben-Ari to Wyclef Jean, who invited her to perform with him at his Carnegie Hall show, the first by a hip-hop artist at the venue.
Miri Ben Ari won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song in 2005 as one of the co-writers of Kanye West’s Jesus Walks.
In 2006, she co-founded Gedenk (Yiddish for “remember”), an organization dedicated to promoting education about the Holocaust in the United States. In 2007 she received the International Jewish Woman To Watch of 2007 Award and in 2008 she received the “2008 Israel Film Festival Visionary Award,” “The Jewish Federation” award and “the American Society for Yad Vashem” Award. In 2009, she released Symphony of Brotherhood, an instrumental track featuring Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech. In part due to the song, she received the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Israeli Award in January 2008 at a ceremony hosted by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres. In March 2011, Ben-Ari was invited to the White House by Michelle Obama as part of a Women’s History Month celebration, to perform and to be honored as a “Remarkable Woman”. In July 2011, she performed at the 2011 Miss Universe China pageant. In addition, in October 2011 she performed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Presidential memorial dedication in Washington, DC. In 2012, Ben-Ari was invited to perform for U.S. President Barack Obama.
No. 2 – Omri Caspi
An Israeli professional basketball player who last played for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) tall, and plays the small forward position, but he can play also at the power forward position. He was drafted 23rd overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings, making him the first Israeli to be selected in the first round of an NBA draft. With his Kings debut in 2009, Casspi became the first Israeli to play in an NBA game.
On October 28, 2009, Casspi made his NBA debut for the Kings against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 15 points. On December 16, 2009, Casspi made his first NBA start. Scoring 22 points against the Washington Wizards, he tied the most points scored by any Kings player in his first start since the team moved to Sacramento in 1985. On February 20, 2017, Casspi and teammate DeMarcus Cousins were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Tyreke Evans, Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway, and 2017 first round and second round draft picks. In his only game for the Pelicans three days later, Casspi broke his right thumb after scoring 12 points in the 129–99 loss to the Houston Rockets. The Pelicans subsequently waived him on February 25 after being ruled out for four to six weeks.
No 3 – Bar Refaeli
An Israeli model, television host, actress and businesswoman. Considered among the most internationally successful models to come from Israel, alongside models such as Nina Brosh and Michaela Bercu. According to Forbes Israel, she was the highest paid model in Israel in 2013, ahead of the combined modeling income of other Israeli models such as Esti Ginzburg, Gal Gadot, and Shlomit Malka. She was the cover model of the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and was voted No. 1 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 list of 2012. Since 2013, she has been the host of The X Factor Israel.
Refaeli began modeling at the age of eight months, when she first appeared in commercials. Orthodonture at twelve interrupted her modeling until she was fifteen, when an Israeli beauty pageant awarded Refaeli “Model of the Year” (2000). She played prominently in campaigns for the fashion brands Castro and Pilpel, and she starred in a Milky Pudding commercial. Refaeli became the second Israeli model to appear in Sports Illustrated magazine (after Michaela Bercu), in her 2007 debut in its Swimsuit Issue, where she posed with the rock band, Aerosmith. Refaeli was the cover model for the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Southwest Airlines painted a bikini-clad Refaeli from that shoot on the side of its Boeing 737, which led some passengers to criticize the airline for what they regarded as prurient, and hence “offensive to families.”
In 2011, Refaeli starred in American-Israeli film Session directed by Haim Bouzaglo. The film is a psychological thriller that tells the story of a manipulative psychiatrist who becomes obsessed with a new young patient. She also served as a guest judge on cycle four of Germany’s Next Topmodel hosted by Heidi Klum. In November 2012 she started her own model casting show Million Dollar Shootingstar on German TV Channel Sat.1.
No 4 – Infected Mushroom
An Israeli musical duo formed in Haifa in 1996 by producers Erez Eisen and Amit Duvdevani. They produce and perform psytrance, electronica, and Psychedelic music. They are one of the best-selling groups in Israeli music history in terms of both domestic and international sales. They employ a variety of musical sources, including acoustic guitars and complex synthesized basses. Their compositions often contain changes of drum beat and tempo. Infected Mushroom’s live shows feature vocals and analogue instruments in performances that are set against a multimedia backdrop.
Eisen and Duvdevani first began to play together in 1996. A few of their early efforts were released under the name Shidapu & Duvdev. The duo then renamed themselves Infected Mushroom, a name they stole from a local punk band that had been disbanded. The young duo drew inspiration from The Prodigy and Metallica. In 1998 the group began work on their first album, 1999’s The Gathering, inspired by Simon Posford, X-Dream and Transwave. This album featured a dark, rhythmic sonic atmosphere exemplified by its popular track, “Psycho”, using a sample from the movie Batman & Robin. It was one of the first albums to bring Israeli psytrance to mainstream audiences, and contributed to the genre’s worldwide popularity.
Their 2000 album, Classical Mushroom, contained “Bust A Move”, one of their most lauded productions. The album is commonly referred to as one of the group’s best efforts, in which they continued their sonic evolution, and it remains one of the best-known albums in the genre.
Following their Animatronica tour, the band officially announced that their new album would be a follow up to their widely acclaimed Converting Vegetarians album of 2003, sporting the same name. Additionally, it has been announced that the vocals of Sasha Grey will be featured in the track Fields of Grey. The album was released on September 11, 2015.
On January 27, 2017, the band released their eleventh studio album, Return to the Sauce, which features their signature psy-trance sound. This is in stark contrast to Converting Vegetarians II, which is ambient and down-tempo in style. Two singles, “Liquid Smoke” and “Nutmeg”, preceded the release of Return to the Sauce.
No 5. and defiantly not the last Israeli to ever make it big in the States is no other then:
Gal Gadot!
An Israeli actress and model. Gadot is known for her role as Gisele Yashar in The Fast and the Furious film series. In 2016, Gadot began playing the role of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and continuing as the lead in Wonder Woman (2017). She is a former Israel Defense Forces trainer and served in the Israeli army for two years.
In past years, she has been ranked as one of the highest earning models in Israel, behind Bar Refaeli. She is the face of Gucci’s Bamboo perfume.
Gadot was born and raised in Rosh HaAyin, Israel (YES! You have heard about this city before! I am also from Rosh Ha’ayin!). In Hebrew, her first name means, “wave” and her surname means “riverbanks”. From the age of 20, Gadot served for two years as an enlisted soldier of the Israel Defense Forces. There, she excelled in a grueling three-month boot camp that prepared her to serve as a combat trainer. Gadot was criticized for being “Zionist” on Twitter, in reaction to her military service. She says of her time in the army: “You give two or three years, and it’s not about you. You give your freedom away for a while. You learn discipline and respect. The things I’ve been through as a soldier prepared me to deal with career things as well”.
In 2007, the 21-year-old Gadot took a part in the Maxim photo shoot “Women of the Israeli Army”, and as a result, she was featured on the cover of the New York Post. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked her Number 5 on its list of “the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish women in the world”, behind model Bar Refaeli and actress Eva Green. In 2014, Gadot was one of two Israeli actresses, along with Odeya Rush, listed as an upcoming leading lady by InStyle magazine.
In 2008, Gadot starred in the Israeli drama Bubot. She appeared as Gisele in Fast & Furious, the fourth film in The Fast & the Furious franchise, having won the role over six other actresses. In 2010, she had a small role in the action-adventure Knight and Day. Earlier that year, she appeared in the film Date Night as Natanya, the girlfriend of Mark Wahlberg’s character. 2011 brought her back to The Fast & the Furious franchise, reprising her role as Gisele in Fast Five. In 2013, Gadot played Gisele again in Fast & Furious 6.
Gadot played Wonder Woman in the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and is signed for two future sequels which include the Justice League and a solo Wonder Woman film. Gadot received swordsmanship, Kung Fu kickboxing, capoeira and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training in preparation for the role. Gadot’s performance as the superhero, which is the first time for the character on film, was hailed as one of the best parts of the film.
Want to hear about more Israelis that made it big in the States? Email me!
Until next time…
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