Mili Avital is an Israeli-actress, writer and director. Avital built an international career, starting in her native Israel, starring on stage, film and television. She won the IsraeliAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1991, moved to New York in 1993 to study theater in English, was discovered by an agent while working in a restaurant, and started acting in Hollywood almost immediately. She has maintained her career in both countries since.
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 the 1994 science fiction filmStargate, 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 opposite David Schwimmer, Polish Wedding opposite Claire Danes, and Robert Benton's The Human Stain opposite Anthony Hopkins. In 1999, she portrayed a Bosnian rape victim in the Payback |pilot episode of the long-running NBC legal drama, '. Avital appeared in three other episodes of the series: "Parasites", "Manhattan Vigil", and "Depravity Standard". She also appeared in the ' episode "Palimpsest". 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 FXTV showDamages, in a recurring role as the mistress to the husband of Patty Hewes. She recently appeared in the 2012 ABC television series 666 Park Avenue. In theater, Avital played Cordelia in King Lear at the Electric Lodge in a 2006 production directed by Patsy Rodenburg. Her directorial debut, the short documentary I Think Myself I am All the Time Younger, received its world premiere at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Israeli career
Avital began her professional career on stage during her senior year in high school, in Dangerous Liaisons at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv. She was first introduced to Israeli audiences in the title role of Yael's Friends, a television film,. She won the 1992 Israeli Film Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her first feature film role, in Me'ever Layam. Her work in Israel includes the cult comedy Ahava Colombianit, 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. Avital stars in Prisoners of War, a Keshet prime-time Israeli TV series, on which the American television seriesHomeland is based. Avital was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her work. The show won Best Drama Series in the Israeli TV Awards. Avital took part in a comedy series, Landing on Their Feet, for Keshet, alongside Shani Cohen.
Personal life
She moved to New York in 1994, and continues to reside there with her husband, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charles Randolph, and their two children, Benjamin and Fanny. Avital served as a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa from 2009 to 2013.
