Ronit Elkabetz

Ronit Elkabetz (Hebrew: רונית אלקבץ‎; 27 November 1964 – 19 April 2016) was an Israeli actress, screenwriter and film director. She worked in both Israeli and French cinema. She won three Ophir Awards and received a total of seven nominations.

Elkabetz was born in Beersheba in 1964 to a religious Moroccan Jewish family, originally from Essaouira. She grew up in Kiryat Yam. Her mother spoke French and Moroccan Arabic, but her father insisted on speaking only Hebrew. Elkabetz was the eldest of four children, with three younger brothers. Her younger brother Shlomi also became a director, and they worked together on the trilogy Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem.

Elkabetz never studied acting and started her career as a model. She divided her time between her homes in Paris and Tel Aviv. She married architect Avner Yashar, the son of prominent architect Yitzhak Yashar and singer Rema Samsonov, on 25 June 2010. In 2012, Elkabetz gave birth to their twins, a son and daughter. During her final years, she was honorary president of the Mizrahi feminist movement "Ahoti – for Women in Israel", and volunteered in the organization's activities, such as the fair trade store and clothing drives. In 2015 she was selected to be the president of the jury for the International Critics' Week section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Elkabetz's first film appearance was in The Appointed (1990), where she played in the starring role opposite Shuli Rand. They both starred in Gidi Dar's Eddie King in 1992. In 1994 she starred in Sh'Chur, for which she won the Israeli Film Academy (Ophir) Award. In 1995 she wrote with her partner, Haim Buzaglo, the script for Scar, in which she also starred, and for which she learned French. In 1996 she starred in Amos Gitai's Metamorphosis of a Melody. In 1997 she moved to Paris to study in Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil. During that period, she supported herself as a waitress. She did a one-woman show on the life of the choreographer Martha Graham at the Avignon Festival.

In 2000 she guest-starred in the popular Israeli drama series, Florentine. Her character, Nicole, made history, sharing the first-ever lesbian kiss on Israeli television with Shira (Ayelet Zurer).

In 2001 she starred in the French film Origine contrôlée, and won her second Ophir Award for Late Marriage. In 2003 she teamed again with Gitai on Alila. In 2004 she was nominated for an Ophir Award for Or (My Treasure), and starred in the Israeli legal drama series Franco and Spector.

In 2004 she wrote, directed (with her brother, Shlomi Elkabetz) and starred in the semi-autobiographic film To Take a Wife, for which she was again nominated for an Ophir Award.

In 2006 she also starred in the Israeli drama series Parashat HaShavua. In 2007 she starred in Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit, for which she won her third Ophir Award.