List of Israeli Americans - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of notable Israeli American
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...

s, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants. The list is ordered by category of human endeavour. Persons with significant contributions in two fields are listed in each of the pertinent categories, to facilitate easy lookup. To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Israeli American or must have references showing they are Israeli American and are notable.

Actors

Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman
Natalie Hershlag , better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel...

Israeli-born American film star (Léon
Léon (film)
Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...

, Star Wars prequel trilogy)^{http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/25140/edition_id/491/format/html/displaystory.html}
Chaim Topol
Chaim Topol
Chaim Topol , often billed simply as Topol, is an Israeli theatrical and film performer, actor, writer and producer. He has been nominated for an Oscar and Tony Award, and has won two Golden Globes.-Early life:...

one of the most famous Israeli theatrical and film performers (Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof (film)
Fiddler on the Roof is the 1971 film adaptation of the 1964 Broadway musical of the same name, with music composed by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905, about Tevye and his Daughters. It was directed by Norman Jewison. The film won three...

)
Oded Fehr
Oded Fehr
Oded Fehr is an Israeli film and television actor now based in the United States. He is known for his appearance as Ardeth Bay in the 1999 remake of The Mummy and its sequel The Mummy Returns, as well as Carlos Olivera in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Resident Evil: Extinction and Resident Evil:...

Israeli/American actor (The Mummy
The Mummy (1999 film)
The Mummy is a 1999 American adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah and Kevin J. O'Connor, with Arnold Vosloo in the title role as the reanimated mummy. The film features substantial dialogue in ancient Egyptian language, spoken...

, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is a 1999 comedy film starring Rob Schneider. Other cast members include Eddie Griffin, Amy Poehler, Oded Fehr, Arija Bareikis, and William Forsythe....

)^{http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=11743}
Mili Avital
Mili Avital
Mili Avital is an Israeli actress. Avital built a successful stage and film career in Israel, winning the Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1992 and nominated for Best Actress in 1994.-Personal life:...

Israeli-born actress (Stargate
Stargate (film)
Stargate is a 1994 American adventure-military science fiction film released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carolco Pictures. Created by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, the film is the first release in the Stargate franchise...

)^{http://www.juf.org/tweens/new_cel.asp?id=139}^{http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7793}
Raviv Ullman Israeli-born American actor, teen idol (Phil of the Future
Phil of the Future
Phil of the Future is an American situation comedy that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 18, 2004, to August 19, 2006 for a total of two seasons. The series was created by Tim Maile and Douglas Tuber and produced by 2121 Productions, a part of Brookwell McNamara Entertainment...

)^{http://starrymag.com/content.asp?ID=392&CATEGORY=Interviews&PAGE=8}
Tami Stronach
Tami Stronach
Tamara "Tami" Stronach is a dancer and choreographer who has also worked as an actress.Stronach was born to Israeli and Scottish parents. Her father, David Stronach, is a renowned archeologist of ruins of Ancient Persia and a professor at UC Berkeley...

Israeli/American actress (The Neverending Story
The NeverEnding Story (film)
The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 German-American epic fantasy film based on the novel of the same name written by Michael Ende. The film was directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen and starred Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway and Tami Stronach. At the time of its release, it was the most...

)
Omri Katz
Omri Katz
Omri Haim Katz is an American actor. His TV and film credits include Eerie, Indiana; Matinee; Adventures in Dinosaur City; Hocus Pocus; and the CBS prime time soap opera Dallas, in which he played the role of John Ross Ewing III, the son of J.R...

Israeli/American actor (Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana
Eerie, Indiana is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1991 to 1992 and then on syndication on Fox from 1997 to 1998. The series was created by José Rivera and Karl Schaefer, with Joe Dante serving as creative consultant.-Premise:...

)
Shiri Appleby
Shiri Appleby
Shiri Freda Appleby is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her leading role as Liz Parker in the television series Roswell...

Israeli/American actress (Roswell
Roswell (TV series)
Roswell is an American science fiction television series developed, produced, and co-written by Jason Katims. The series debuted on October 6, 1999 on The WB and moved to UPN for the third season. The last episode aired May 14, 2002...

)
Steve Bond
Steve Bond
Steve Bond is an Israeli-American television actor and model.Bond was born Shlomo Goldberg in Haifa, Israel of a Romanian mother and a Hungarian father who had emigrated to Israel. He was a child actor who starred in Tarzan and the Jungle Boy, a 1968 release...

Israeli-born television actor and model
Daphne Rosen Israeli/American porn
PORN
Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...

star
Daniella Rabbani
Daniella Rabbani
Daniella Zeva Rabbani is an Israeli-American actress, singer and voiceover artist. She has worked extensively with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, starring in the Theatre's 2008 production of Gimpel Tam and 2010 production of Hershele Ostropolyer. She has also performed with the Vermont...

Israeli/American actress and singer

Arts and entertainment

Ari Emanuel
Ari Emanuel
Ariel "Ari" Zev Emanuel is an American talent agent, founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California, and now co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Endeavor's successor by merger...

, talent agent and basis for the character Ari Gold
Ari Gold (Entourage)
Ariel "Ari" Gold is a fictional character on the comedy-drama television series Entourage. He was played by Jeremy Piven.-Biography:Ari Gold is Vincent Chase's neurotic movie agent. He is a product of the public school system. He was an undergrad at Harvard University before earning his J.D./M.B.A....

on the TV show Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

.
Shuki Levy
Shuki Levy
Shuki Levy is a music composer and television writer, director, and executive producer. Levy's best known work is soundtrack compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s, such as Inspector Gadget, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, M.A.S.K., Dinosaucers, Dragon Quest, He-Man and the...

, Israeli-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

whose best known work is soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

compositions for children's television programs of the 1980s.
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi
Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...

, Israeli-born animation film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

.
Avi Nesher
Avi Nesher
Avi Nesher is an Israeli film producer, film director, screenwriter and actor.- Biography :Avi Nesher was born and raised in Ramat Gan, Israel. The child of a Romanian-born diplomat, and a mother who came from Russia. In 1965, he moved with his family to the United States...

, Israeli-born film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

, film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

and actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.
Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan is a film producer, Israeli intelligence agent, and arms dealer. Milchan produced many films such as The War of the Roses, Once Upon a Time in America, Pretty Woman, Natural Born Killers, Under Siege, The Devil's Advocate, The Fountain, Unfaithful, L.A. Confidential and many others...

, an Israeli-American film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

and businessman who produced many film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

s such as The War of the Roses
The War of The Roses
The War of the Roses is a novel by Warren Adler.http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9806E0D91138F93BA15755C0A967948260-Plot introduction:...

, Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...

, Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman
Pretty Woman is a 1990 romantic comedy film set in Los Angeles, California. Written by J.F. Lawton and directed by Garry Marshall, this motion picture features Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, and also Hector Elizondo, Ralph Bellamy, and Jason Alexander in supporting roles. Roberts played the only...

, Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...

, The Devil's Advocate, and L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (film)
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...

.
Rod Lurie
Rod Lurie
Rod Lurie is an Israeli-American director, screenwriter and former film critic.-Early life and career:The son of internationally syndicated cartoonist Ranan Lurie, he was born in Israel but moved to the United States at a young age, growing up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Honolulu,...

, Israeli-born American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...

and former film critic.
Ariel Vromen
Ariel Vromen
Ariel Vromen is the director of the film Rx. According to Showtime, this is a 2005 film in which "Three close friends encounter two flamboyant drug dealers while on a weekend road trip. Starring Eric Balfour, Colin Hanks, Lauren German, Alan Tudyk, Ori Pfeffer, Daniel Pino. 1 hr. 29 min. Rated...

, Israeli-American producer and director.
Lyor Cohen
Lyor Cohen
Lyor Cohen is the North American Chairman and CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group . He has been a pioneer in the development of hip hop music and influential in the development of hip hop music acts, including Beastie Boys, Foxy Brown, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Nas, Run-D.M.C...

, the North American
North American
North American generally refers to an entity, people, group, or attribute of North America, especially of the United States and Canada together.-Culture:*North American English, a collective term used to describe American English and Canadian English...

Chairman and CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

(WMG).
Maira Kalman
Maira Kalman
Maira Kalman, born in 1949, is an American illustrator, author, artist, and designer. Born in Tel Aviv, Kalman came to New York City with her family at age 4. She attended the High School of Music and Art, now LaGuardia High School....

, Israeli-born American illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

and designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

.
Oren Moverman
Oren Moverman
Oren Moverman is an Israeli filmmaker, screenwriter, and former journalist based in New York City.Moverman was the screenwriter and associate producer of Jesus' Son, a 2000 Lion’s Gate/Alliance Release...

, Israeli-American film director/screenwriter.
Amir Blumenfeld
Amir Blumenfeld
Amir Schmuel Blumenfeld is an Israeli-American writer, comedian, actor, and television host.Blumenfeld was born in Afula, Israel. He is literate in Hebrew and displayed his bilingual talents on episodes of Jake and Amir. He is a graduate of Milken Community High School and the University of...

, Israeli-American writer, comedian, actor, and television host.

Academics

Arnon Katz, Psy.D., Israeli-born American Clinical Psychologist.^{http://evergreenpsychologist.com/credentials.php}
Yossef Bodansky
Yossef Bodansky
Yossef Bodansky is an Israeli-American political scientist who served as Director of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare of the US House of Representatives from 1988 to 2004. He is also Director of Research of the International Strategic Studies Association and has...

, Israeli-born American political scientist
Yaron Brook
Yaron Brook
Yaron Brook is an intellectual and political activist, and is the current president and executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute, a non-profit organization in Irvine, California, whose mission is to promote the novels of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of Objectivism.-Early life in Israel:Brook...
Idit Harel Caperton
Idit Harel Caperton
Idit Harel Caperton, Ph.D. is an educational psychologist and epistemologist specializing in the study of the impact of computer-based new media technology on the social and academic development of children...
Ehud Kalai
Ehud Kalai
Ehud Kalai is a prominent American game theorist and mathematical economist known for his contributions to the field of game theory and its interface with economics, social choice, computer science and operations research. He is the James J...

– a prominent Israeli-born American game theorist and mathematical economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...

.
Rabbi David Weiss Halivni
David Weiss Halivni
David Weiss Halivni is an American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish Sciences and professor of Talmud.-Biography:...

, Israeli-American world-acclaimed scholar in the domain of Jewish Sciences
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

and professor of Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....

.
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman is an Israeli-American psychologist and Nobel laureate. He is notable for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, behavioral economics and hedonic psychology....

Nobel laureate
Robert Aumann
Robert Aumann
Robert John Aumann is an Israeli-American mathematician and a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He is a professor at the Center for the Study of Rationality in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel...

Nobel laureate

Business and commerce

Haim Saban
Haim Saban
Haim Saban is an Egyptian born Israeli-American television and media proprietor. With an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 104th richest person in America.-Biography:...

, a television and media proprietor
Media proprietor
A media proprietor is a person who controls, either through personal ownership or a dominant position in any media enterprise. Those with significant control of a public company in the mass media may also be called "media moguls", "tycoons", "barons", or "bosses".The figure of the media proprietor...

. notable for his adaptations of Power Rangers
Power Rangers
Power Rangers is a long-running American entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live action children's television series featuring teams of costumed heroes...

. ranked by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...

as the 98th richest person in America
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...

.
Avi Arad
Avi Arad
Avi Arad is an Israeli-American businessman. He became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s, and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, a Marvel director, chairman, CEO and the founder of Marvel Studios....

, an Israeli-American businessman.
Guy Oseary
Guy Oseary
Guy Oseary is an Israeli-American expert businessman who began his career in entertainment at 17 at what was to become Maverick Records. He is Madonna's manager.-Maverick:...

, an Israeli-American businessman. He is Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

's manager.
Vince Offer
Vince Offer
Offer "Vince" Shlomi , known as Vince Offer, the ShamWow! Guy, or Headset Vince, is an infomercial pitchman, writer, director, and comedian . Offer's first major work was the 1999 comedy film The Underground Comedy Movie, which was met with negative reception...

, better known as "the ShamWow! Guy", is an Israeli-American actor whom is well known for his appearance in the infomercials for the absorbent towels ShamWow! during the 2000s.
Tamir Sapir
Tamir Sapir
Tamir Sapir ; *1948/49, Tbilisi) is an American immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Georgia who made millions bartering fertilizer and oil with the Soviets in the 1980s; he took most of his money and put it into New York real-estate. Tamir is in The 400 Richest Americans list of September...

, an Israeli-Georgian-American businessman. Earned billions in the 1980s barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...

ing fertilizers for oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....

. In 2006 he was ranked at position 160 in the list of the 400 richest Americans, with an estimated fortune of 2 billion dollars.
Elie Tahari
Elie Tahari
Elie Tahari is an Israeli-American luxury fashion designer of men and women's clothing. Elie Tahari, Ltd., the company he founded, has annual revenue of around $1 to 2.5 million...

, founder of fashion label Elie Tahari

Musicians

Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons is an Israeli-American entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, actor, and rock bassist. Known as "The Demon", he is the bassist/vocalist of Kiss, a hard rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s.-Early life:...

from KISS
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...

, Israeli-born.
Hillel Slovak
Hillel Slovak
Hillel Slovak ‏ was an Israeli-American musician best known as the original guitarist and founding member of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers...

the original guitarist of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...

, Israeli-born.
Elliott Yamin
Elliott Yamin
Elliott Yamin , born Efraym Elliott Yamin, is an American singer known for his hit single "Wait for You" and placing third on the fifth season of American Idol....

an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

singer who is best known for being the third place finalist on the fifth season
American Idol (season 5)
The fifth season of American Idol began on January 17, 2006 and concluded on May 24, 2006. Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell returned to judge, and Ryan Seacrest returned to host. It is the most successful season to date ratings-wise and also with 18 contestants getting record deals -...

of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

.
Carmit Bachar
Carmit Bachar
Carmit Bachar is an American singer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. She was a member of the successful pop/R&B group, The Pussycat Dolls and one of the main vocalists of the group, along with Nicole Scherzinger and Melody Thornton. Bachar left the group in February 2008. She is currently...

member of the pop group, The Pussycat Dolls
Miri Ben-Ari
Miri Ben-Ari
Miri Ben-Ari is an Israeli violinist, who currently resides in the United States.Ben-Ari grew up playing classical music; she started training at age 5 and at age 12, she was presented with a violin by Isaac Stern. During her mandatory Israeli military service, she was chosen to play for the...

The hip-hop violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist plays songs with emcee Twista
Twista
Carl Terrell Mitchell , better known by his stage name Twista, is an American rapper. He is known for once holding the title of fastest rapper in the world according to Guinness World Records in 1992, being able to pronounce 598 syllables in 55 seconds...

and R&B singer Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

.
Ofer Ben-Amots
Ofer Ben-Amots
Ofer Ben-Amots is a classical Israeli-American composer and teacher of music composition and theory at Colorado College. His music is inspired by Jewish folklore of Eastern-European Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish Ladino traditions...

Israeli-American composer and professor of composition at Colorado College
Colorado College
The Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It was founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell...

.
Goapele
Goapele
-Early life:Goapele's South African father Douglas Mohlabane was an exiled political activist who struggled against the Apartheid System. Goapele's New York-born Israeli Jewish mother Noa had been attending protests since the age of 12. Noa attended Friends World College and was studying in...

, an African-American soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

and R&B singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, son of a New York-born Israeli Jewish mother.
Didi Benami
Didi Benami
Vered "Didi" Benami is an American singer/songwriter from Knoxville, Tennessee, who was the tenth place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol.-Early life:...

an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

singer who is best known for being a finalist on the ninth season
American Idol (season 9)
The ninth season of American Idol premiered on January 12, 2010 and concluded on May 26, 2010 on Fox. Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi all returned as judges, and Ellen DeGeneres permanently replaced Paula Abdul as the fourth judge. Idol Gives Back also returned for the season and was...

of American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

. Daughter of an Israeli Jewish father.
Inon Zur
Inon Zur
Inon Zur is an Israeli American music composer who has won several awards for his work. Originally writing for movies and television, he later moved into composing for video games. He has been described as being "internationally recognized as one of the A-list orchestral composers in the video...

, an Israeli American
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...

award-winning music composer.
Gil Shaham
Gil Shaham
-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...

, an Israeli American
Israeli American
Israeli Americans are Americans of Israeli descent. According to the 2000 census, there were 106,839 people of Israeli ancestry in the United States.- Demographics :...

award-winning violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist.
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...

, a violin virtuoso.
Ill Bill
Ill Bill
William Braunstein, better known as Ill Bill, is a American rapper and record producer from Brooklyn, New York. Having gained notoriety in the underground hip hop group Non Phixion, Ill Bill is known for his hardcore lyrics and as the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records...

, rapper
Necro
Necro
Ron Raphael Braunstein , better known under his stage-name Necro, is a Jewish-American rapper, producer and director from Brooklyn, New York...

, rapper, younger brother of Ill Bill
Ill Bill
William Braunstein, better known as Ill Bill, is a American rapper and record producer from Brooklyn, New York. Having gained notoriety in the underground hip hop group Non Phixion, Ill Bill is known for his hardcore lyrics and as the producer, founder and CEO of Uncle Howie Records...

Politics

Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...

, former White House Chief of Staff
White House Chief of Staff
The White House Chief of Staff is the highest ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President.The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...

and current mayor-elect of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Literature, journalism

Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl
Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was kidnapped and killed by Al-Qaeda.At the time of his kidnapping, Pearl served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, and was based in Mumbai, India. He went to Pakistan as part of an investigation into the alleged links between...

– Israeli-American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, who was kidnapped and murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
Michael Dorfman
Michael Dorfman
Michael Dorfman is a Jewish writer, essayist, journalist, and human rights activist. Revivalist of the Yiddish culture among the Russian Jews....

– Russian-Israeli essayist and human rights activist
Nicole Lapin
Nicole Lapin
Nicole Miriam Lapin is an anchor on CNN Live who regularly appeared on CNN Headline News, CNN, and CNN International. In January 2010, Lapin joined CNBC in New York as an anchor for Worldwide Exchange, joining CNBC Europe's Ross Westgate in London and CNBC Asia's Christine Tan in Singapore. She...

– Israeli-American business reporter for CNBC

Fashion

Yael Markovich
Yael Markovich
Yael Markovich is an Israeli/American model. She is the current Israeli beauty pageant titleholder crowned Miss Supranational Israel 2011 and went on to represent her country in the 2011 Miss Supranational pageant. In addition, She holds the title for being the first Miss Supranational Israel...

– an Israeli/American model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.
Donna Feldman – an American model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

. Daughter of Israeli parents.
Sharon Genish
Sharon Genish
Sharon Ganish is an Israeli-American model. She was born in Los Angeles to Jewish parents, and her family moved to Israel when she was 3 years old...

– an Israeli/American model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.
Nili Lotan
Nili Lotan
Nili Lotan is an Israeli American fashion designer best known as the founder of the Nili Lotan Design Studio, a designer clothing company.-Early life and education:...

– fashion designer.

Sports

Moti Horenstein
Moti Horenstein
Moti Horenstein is an Israeli-American martial artist.-Early Training and Fight History:Beginning his training at the age of five, Horenstein captured three Junior Champion of Israel titles before induction in the army in 1983. Serving his required service but in no special capacity in the army,...

- an Israeli-American martial artist and holder of world championship titles in several disciplines.

Other

Eli Elezra
Eli Elezra
Eliahu Ilan Elezra is an Israeli professional poker player and a businessman, now living in Las Vegas, Nevada.While he was in Israel, Elezra was a lieutenant in the Golani Brigade. He was bedridden by a leg injury; during this time he began playing poker...

, a world-class poker player
Donna Feldman
Brian George
Brian George
Brian George is a British-Israeli actor and voice actor for Indian accents, who typically plays guest roles for characters of South Asian descent. Perhaps his most famous role is as Pakistani restaurateur Babu Bhatt on Seinfeld.-Early life:...
Arison family
Arison family
The Arison family is an Israeli-American business family. Moshe and Sarah Arisohn immigrated to Turkish-ruled Palestine from Romania in 1882, and were among the founders of the town of Zikhron Ya'aqov...
Ami James – a tattoo artist, businessman and media personality (Miami Ink
Miami Ink
Miami Ink is an American reality show on TLC that follows the events that took place at a tattoo shop in Miami Beach, Florida. The show premiered in July 2005 and has finished broadcasting its fourth season...

)
Michael Arad
Michael Arad
Michael Arad is an Israeli-American architect who best known for being the designer of the World Trade Center Memorial. He won the competition to design the memorial in 2004.-Early life and education:...

– an architect who won the design competition for the World Trade Center Memorial
World Trade Center Memorial
- Fundraising :The Foundation has fundraising responsibilities because of the tasks assigned to it by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation...

in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

in 2004.