- Meital Dohan
-
Meital Dohan 
Meital Dohan, 2007Born August 24, 1979
Ra'anana, IsraelOccupation Stage actress
Playwright
Comedian
Film actress
Television actress
Radio host
Author
Activist
MusicianYears active 1998–present Website Official website Meital Dohan (Hebrew: מיטל דוהן; born August 24, 1979) is an Israeli comedian, stage, television and film actress, and playwright[1] known in the U.S. for her recurring role as Yael Hoffman in the Showtime series Weeds,[1][2][3] for her role of Abby in the Anthony Neilson play Stitching,[3] and her work on the Sony Pictures web comedy Woke Up Dead.[4] She currently stars in the dramatic thriller Monogamy,[1][5] directed and co-written by Academy Award nominee Dana Adam Shapiro, alongside Rashida Jones and Chris Messina.[6]
Contents
Early life
Meital Dohan was born and raised in a small village outside Ra'anana in central Israel. She began studying acting at thirteen, and landed a spot in the Israel Defense Forces Entertainment Corps, later studying at Nissan Nativ acting school.[4] During her studies, she received scholarships from the America Israel Cultural Foundation. In her first year of studies, she wrote, directed, and acted in an original theatre movement production. During the second year of studies, she began working in a variety of television productions and performed in two feature films in her third year. Before graduating, Dohan had signed a contract with Israel's Cameri Theater.[1]
Career
Dohan graduated from Nissan Nativ in 1998, and joined two major theaters.[3] By 2000, she was voted 'Most Promising New Actress' for her work in Best Friends, performed at the Cameri Theater. Since then, she has appeared in several other roles, including Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. In 2002, Dohan played a role in Bad Children, a part that was written especially for her by the Israeli playwright Edna Mazya. She won an award from the Cameri Theater for this role.[3]
Dohan sang and acted in Moving Flesh at the Cameri Theater, a theater play that she directed at Tmuna Theater, and co-wrote the original Revue Love and Sex on the High Holidays with Israeli singer Ivri Lider.
Among other roles, Dohan played Layla in God's Sandbox[1][4] (2002 Manchester film festival winner), and Efrat in Giraffes[1][4] (2003 Scottsdale Arizona Film Festival winner) – roles that earned her the Israeli Oscar nomination.[1]
Dohan recently co-wrote a movie script, Orgy by Heart, along with Maayan Keret, which is in its early stages of production. In her latest TV series production, Ugliest Esti, Dohan plays the central comedy role, Nataly.[4] The series won the TV Oscar for Best Comedy Series award in 2003, and Dohan won an Israeli Tony Award for her work in the series for her lead role.[1][3]
Later in 2003, Dohan was invited by Karen Shefler to play the role of the bride in Blood Wedding by Lorca. Since then, Dohan began working on a number of other projects in the United States, among them Bath Party,[3][7] an original multimedia play written jointly with Karen Shefler and Ayelet Dekel, who was also the video director,[8] and Love and Sex on the High Holidays with well-known Israeli singer Ivri Lide.[4]
In 2008, she appeared in both the Off-Broadway and Los Angeles productions of the play Stitching[1] by controversial British playwright Anthony Neilson and directed by Timothy Haskell, an example of "in-yer-face" theatre, the play sought to confront the audience with shocking and sometimes vulgar depictions of human behavior.[3][9][10][11]
In 2009, she appeared in two episodes of the online series "Woke Up Dead" as the character Aurora.[1]
For her role in Giraffes she studied French, and for her role in the feature film To Dance (2004), she studied belly dancing.[12]
In 2010, Dohan became the official Spokesperson for Artists 4 Israel" and their murality mission "Paint Israel" to paint the bomb shelters in Sderot and show that America's young, graffiti community supports the people of Israel.[13]
In January 2011, and marking her return to theater, Dohan headlined the Alan Bowne stage play Beirut in a limited revival directed by Andrew and Zach Zoppa in New York City.[2]
In 2011, Dohan starred in the dramatic thriller Monogamy directed and written by Academy Award nominee Dana Adam Shapiro. The film centralizes around the strained relationship of a Brooklyn couple, Theo (Chris Messina) and Nat (Rashida Jones). The film won "Best Narrative" at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Dohan has authored the book, Love and Other Bad Habits,[4] and in January 2011, she launched the webcast talk radio show, Loud Miracles which airs on Women's Radio.[1] On her show Dohan declared "I am fascinated by Transcendental Meditation and the effects of it. I was so taken by this technique that now we are talking about bringing more awareness to it and bringing it to people that serve in the Israeli Army".[14]
Partial filmography
Television
- Puzzle (1 episode, 1999)
- Shemesh (1 episode, 2000) as Sarit
- Lochamey HaMasach (2002)
- Shaul (1 episode, 2002)
- My First Sony (2002)
- Esti HaMekho'eret (2003–2004) as Natalie Bushari-Mark
- Elvis, Rosental VeHaIsha HaMistorit (2005) as Natalie Bushari-Mark
- Elvis (2006) as Natalie Bushari-Mark
- The Sopranos (1 episode, 2006) as Yael
- Weeds (6 episodes, 2006) as Yael Hoffman
- Lo Hivtachti Lach (2006)
- Pa'am BaChayim (2007)
- Woke Up Dead (9 episodes, 2009) as Aurora
Film
- Agadat HaIsh SheShatak (The Legend of the Silent Man) (1998)
- Bli Daf Hora'ot (Instructions Not Included) (1999)
- Girafot (2001) as Efrat
- Disphoria (2004) as Danielle
- Tahara (God's Sandbox) (2004)
- If Only He'd Call (2006)
- Lirkod (The Belly Dancer) (2006) as Deby
- Failing Better Now (2010)
- Monogamy (2010) as. Subgirl
- Foreclosure (2011)[6]
- Ponies (2010) (in production) as Aliah
Theater
Of her play Bath Party, co-written with Karen Shefler and Ayelet Dekel, Village Voice praised Dohan's work in the play, writing "What saves the piece from being a purely wandering, aimless morass is the droll humor and keen comedic timing of Dohan and her associates. Dohan has a sharp wit and notable ability to find the unlikely joke." In speaking toward her work with her co-stars, they wrote "Their quick banter and easy back-and-forth are polished and at times charming, and together they make even the most disjointed material a pleasure to watch."[8] The New York Times also spoke well of Bath Party, comparing Dohan to "a younger, prettier, blonder Rosanna Arquette," noting it as an essentially a one-woman show which "focuses on her not particularly interesting efforts to jump-start an American career, complete with film and television clips, circumlocutory monologues and, perhaps most important for this particular performer, multiple opportunities to reveal her appealing anatomy," and also praising the work of the few others in the cast.[7]
Of Dohan's work in the Anthony Neilson play Stitching, The New York Times wrote "With an actress as extremely gorgeous as Meital Dohan and a script that requires her to thrash around in ways most often seen in straight-to-video steamers, you would think thatStitching would be heating up the Wild Project theater to the boiling point." They found that it did not, blaming the Neilson script for working "so hard at being gimmicky that it doesn’t give Ms. Dohan and her co-star, Gian Murray Gianino, a chance to find real chemistry. No chemistry, no combustion." They granted that the two leads " give energetic, bruise-inducing performances under Timothy Haskell’s direction", but that the script's manner of ricocheting "from comedy to pathos to psychosis without ever really providing the starting point that any play needs" placed too many demands on them.[11]
Recognition
Of Dohan's work in the film Monogamy, The Los Angeles Times stated, "Meital Dohan has no lines in the indie thriller, but her sexy, mysterious presence helps propel the film..." They note that even though he character has no lines in the film, she receives top billing.[6]
Awards and nominations
- 2002, nominated for Israeli Academy Award Nominee for 'Best Actress' for her role in Giraffes,[1][3]
- 2003, nominated for Israeli Academy Award Nominee for 'Best Actress' for her role in God's Sandbox[1][3]
- Won Israeli Tony Award for her work in Cameri Theater and for her lead role in the Israeli Emmy winning series Ugliest Esti[1][3]
- Israeli Theater Award (Israel equivalent Tony Awards 2000) for Most Promising Actress for her role as Sofi in Best Girlfriend[3]
- Cameri Theater Scholarship for Deserving Young Actress, 1999[3][12]
- American Israel Foundation Scholarship 1996, 1997[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Avigayil Kadesh (March 30, 2011). "Israeli actress Meital Dohan in the spotlight". Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Israeli_actress_Meital_Dohan_30-Mar-2011.htm. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b BWW Newsdesk (anuary 22, 2011). "Meital Dohan to Headline Alan Bowne's BEIRUT in NYC 1/22/2011". Broadway World. http://cabaret.broadwayworld.com/article/Meital_Dohan_to_Headline_Alan_Bownes_BEIRUT_in_NYC_1222011_20110122. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kenneth Jones (June 25, 2008). "Move Over, George and Martha — Stitching's Stu and Abby Get U.S. Premiere". Playbill. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/118958-Move-Over-George-and-Martha-Stitchings-Stu-and-Abby-Get-US-Premiere. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g April MacIntyre (November 4, 2009,). "Israeli beauty Meital Dohan is drop dead funny". Monsters & Critics. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/features/article_1511391.php/Israeli-beauty-Meital-Dohan-is-drop-dead-funny. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ Viva Sarah Press (February 17, 2011). "Meital Dohan in 'Monogamy'". Israel21c. http://www.israel21c.org/briefs/meital-dohan-in-monogamy. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c Rick Rojas (March 18, 2011). "'Monogamy's' strong, silent type". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/18/entertainment/la-et-meital-dohan-20110318. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b Phoebe HobanN (September 9, 2005). "Musing in the Bathtub on Her Favorite Subject: Herself". The New York Times. http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/09/09/theater/reviews/09bath.html?scp=2&sq=Meital+Dohan&st=nyt. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b David Kornhaber (August 23, 2005). "Sightlines". Village Voice. http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-08-23/theater/sightlines/. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ "Stitching's official site". stitchingtheplay.com. http://stitchingtheplay.com.
- ^ "Meital Dohan, Stitching celebration". bettina-werner.com. http://www.bettina-werner.com/sqf/stitching/.
- ^ a b Neil Genzlinger (June 27, 2008). "Bruise-Inducing Games: Young Sadists at Play". The New York Times. http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/theater/reviews/27stit.html?scp=1&sq=Meital+Dohan&st=nyt. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ a b c Official site
- ^ Jillian Hobbs (April 20, 2010). "Healing Through Art - Artists 4 Israel". Fabric Magazine. http://fabricmag.com/fabric-magazine-art/artists-4-israel/. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
- ^ Meital Dohan (January 18, 2011). "Talking Miracles with Israeli Actress and Author Meital Dohan". Tonic.com. http://www.tonic.com/article/meital-first-column/. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
External links
Categories:- 1978 births
- Israeli actors
- Israeli television actors
- Living people
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