Meital Dohan

Meital Dohan
Meital Dohan in 2007
Born	(1979-08-24) 24 August 1979 Ra'anana, Israel
Nationality	Israeli
Occupation	Stage actress Playwright Comedian Film actress Television actress Radio host Author Activist Musician
Years active	1998–present
Website
Official website

Meital Dohan (Hebrew: מיטל דוהן‎; born 24 August 1979) is an Israeli award-winning actress in theater, film, and television; including two Israeli Oscar nominations and an Israeli Tony Award.^[1][2][3] In Israel she was part of major productions such as, Dancing with the Stars, Ugly Betty, Romeo and Juliet, and many more. US audiences were first introduced to Meital as Yael Hoffman on Showtime series Weeds,^[1][2][3] and as Aurora in the Sony Pictures web-comedy Woke Up Dead.,^[4] co-starring Jon Heder and Wayne Knight. Meital also stars in Forclosure with Michael Imperioli and Wendell Pierce and thriller Monogamy,^[1][5] (Oscilloscope), co-starring Chris Messina and Rashida Jones, won the Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. In early 2012 the Israeli bombshell caught the attention of mega hip-hop producer Che Pope (Lauren Hill, Eminem, Dr. Dre) and they began to record her debut album "I'm In Hate With Love". The international attention she received for her first single "Yummy" (Rami Afuni LMFAO) and the viral video led media outlets like MTV Buzzworthy, AOL, Artist Direct, Maxim, Yahoo and others to declare Meital as "the next triple threat" and as MTV Buzzworthy said, "She's also a comedian and a singer. And she's pretty. Why do some people get all the gifts?" The song played on radio stations and in clubs around the world, trending #1 at Reverb Nation globally. Her next single,"On Ya" featuring Sean Kingston, charted No. 5 on the UK Club Pop Charts and No. 31 on the Billboard Club Chart.^[6] Following the immediately successful collaboration with Sean Kingston on the hit single "On Ya," Extra TV, and Fox News, Chart Show in UK, MTV UK, and German Pro Seiben TV have all been raving. Both songs have been remixed by top DJs all over the world such as R3hab, Sidney Samson, Dave Aude, Danny Verde, DJ Reflex, DJ Skee, and others... Meital's third single, "Give Us Back Love" ^[7] was released late October 2013 and is already No. 1 on iTunes Dance Chart Italy, No. 3 on Kings of Spins, No. 4 on UK Pop Music Chart, No. 4 on Commercial Pop Club Chart, No. 7 on Billboard Dance Chart climbing up, No. 5 on Chart Jeffrey / Disastronaut / Audio Sushi Chart Fix, No. 16 in the UK Upfront Club Chart, Cool Cuts Chart TOP 20, & DMC Buzz Chart - TOP 20.

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

Acting

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][8] an original multimedia play written jointly with Karen Shefler and Ayelet Dekel, who was also the video director,^[9] 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][10][11][12]}

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.^[13]

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.^[14]

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".^[15]

Music

In 2011, Dohan announced the production of her solo album I'm In Hate with Love. Dohan began working with producers Rami Afuni of LMFAO and Che Pope, who was best known for his work with Dr. Dre, Eminem and Lauryn Hill. In October 2011, Meital debuted "Yummy Boyz", a viral video that was featured on pop sites including Popdust.com, which called the tune catchy, upbeat and exuding the same sexiness and playfulness that the actress turned singer represented.^{[citation needed]} In February 2012, Meital debuted her hit single, "Yummy" produced by Afuni, on iTunes, MTVu, MTV Buzzworthy, MTV LOGO and MTV Networks. Following the success of her video "Yummy Boyz" and her debut single "Yummy", Meital released her latest track, "On Ya" featuring Sean Kingston which PopCrush has already declared a "club banger". The single hit no. 31 on the Billboard Dance Chart and no. 5 on the UK's Pop Chart, even before it was officially released.^[6]

In addition, the song started playing on radio stations including KIIS-FM. "Yummy Boyz" received rave reviews by entertainment sites across the world,^{[citation needed]} quickly solidifying her as a new gay icon and one of the Top 5 Artists to Watch according to PRIDE Radio and Dinah Shore. "Yummy" has also been the most spun single on PRIDE Radio, one of iHeartRadio.com's most popular channels and reached #49 on the Billboard (magazine) Dance chart. Due to the success of "Yummy", the singer performed at the Winter Music Conference, White Party and The Dinah who named Meital one of the five emerging artists to watch in 2012. In addition, she presented at the 2012 International Dance Music Awards.

In June 2012, Interview (magazine) premiered Meital's second single "On Ya" featuring rapper-singer-songwriter Sean Kingston. Dohan officially released the single on 23 October 2012. Meital also released an official video for "On Ya" including Sean Kingston which garnered over 3 million views in just 1 month. The video was directed by renowned director Ray Kay who is known for his work on music videos for Justin Bieber "Baby", Britney Spears "Til The World Ends", and Lady Gaga "Pokerface".^[16]

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
• Weeds (2012) as Yael Hoffman

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
• Shark Tale (2004) as Angie (Hebrew Dub)
• 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)^[17]
• 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".^[9] 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.^[8]

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.^[12]

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 the character has no lines in the film, she receives top billing.^[17]

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][13]
• American Israel Foundation Scholarship 1996, 1997^[13]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meital Dohan.

• Official website
• Meital Dohan at the Internet Movie Database