Lea Koenig
| Lea Koenig | |
|---|---|
 Lea Koenig in 2013 | |
| Born |
Lea Kamien 30 November 1929 Łódź, Poland |
| Alma mater | Bucharest National University of Arts |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1940s - present |
Lea Koenig (Hebrew: ליא קניג; b. 30 November 1929) is an Israeli theatre actress of Polish descent,[1] nicknamed The First Lady of Israeli Theatre.[2]
Biography
Lea Koenig was born in 1929 in Łódź, Poland, to a Polish Jewish family, the daughter of the Yiddish actors Dina and Józef Kamien.[1] She spent her childhood in Poland, then in Tashkent, in the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In the end of the 1940s, she emigrated with her parents to Romania, where she began studying at National University of Arts in Bucharest and debuted at Jewish Theatre.[3]
In 1961, she emigrated to Israel.
Primarily acting in Hebrew, Koenig performs in Israel and all over the world also in Yiddish theaters.[4] She speaks English, Hebrew, German, Polish, Romanian and Yiddish.
Awards and honors
- In 1987, Koenig was awarded the Israel Prize for acting.[5]
- Both the Tel-Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University have conferred on her Honorary Doctorates.
- In 2012 got the EMET Prize for art and culture