# Yehezkel Lazarov

Yehezkel Lazarov (Hebrew: יחזקאל לזרוב Y'ḥezeqel Lazarov; born 8 February 1974) is an Israeli actor, director, and multidisciplinary artist. In 2022 he was elected to serve as the head of the school of Performing Arts at the Kibbutzim Seminary College.

## Biography

As a child, Lazarov performed as a professional tap dancer in musicals. After graduating from the High School of Arts as a ballet dancer and serving as a singer in a military band, he danced with the Batsheva Dance Company for four years. He studied theater at the Actors’ Centre in London before joining the Gesher Theatre and the Cameri Theatre as an actor.
His leading roles include Tevye in the 2018 Broadway National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof, Mack the Knife in The Threepenny Opera at the Gesher Theatre (winning the Israeli Theatre Award for best actor), Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, Avigdor in Yentl, Alexander Pen in Was It a Dream?, Rudi in The Aristocrats, the titular roles in Sholom Aleichem's Stempenyu and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Zach in A Chorus Line. In addition to his work as an actor, Lazarov has served as the in-house choreographer at the Gesher Theatre and Cameri Theatre.
Lazarov has played leading roles in more than 40 films and television productions, including The Mentalist, Mama’s Angel (Series Mania – Official Competition, France), the Israeli films The Kindergarten Teacher and The Debt, Fragile, Russian episodic series Mata Hari, The Fifth Heaven, Waltz with Bashir (winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film), Three Mothers, A Touch Away, and The Dybbuk (nominated for best actor).
As a theater director, Lazarov has served as the adapter, set designer, and choreographer for all his projects, including Lolita / Joan of Arc, Fathers and Sons, Alice, Falling Out of Time (based on the David Grossman novel) at the Gesher Theater, The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Habima Theatre, and Igloo (written by Lazarov), which premiered at the Israel Festival and won the Best Director award.
Lazarov is the artistic director and founder of Studio Ankori Middle and High School for Creative Thinking and Entrepreneurship. He is the co-founder, artistic director, and curator of AZA13, an art venue in Tel Aviv. Among his multidisciplinary exhibitions are "Hope", "Censorship", "Demonstration", and "The Art to Survive".
As a visual artist, Lazarov's photography and video artworks have been shown in several gallery exhibitions. He has written and directed a number of short films, including Snow and Lashabiya, which have been screened in many international film festivals.

## Filmography
### Film/Television

| Year | Title | Director(s) | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Licking the Strawberry | Uri Barbach | Hezi | |
| 1997 | Florentine | Eytan Fox | Erez | |
| 1997 | The Dybbuk | Yossi Somer | Hanan | Nomination for Best Actor |
| 1999 | Woman in Gray | Nissim Dayan | Roni | |
| 1999 | Short Stories About Love | Hagai Levi | Gidi | |
| 2001-2004 | Shemesh | Yoav Tzafir | Hemi | |
| 2005 | The Game of True and False | Julie Shles | Tomi | |
| 2007 | The Shelter | Roy Hornshtein | Father | |
| 2007 | A Touch Away | Roni Ninio | Aharon | Winner, Best TV Series |
| 2006 | Three Mothers | Dina Zvi-Riklis | Felix | |
| 2007 | The Debt | Assaf Bernstein | Ehud | |
| 2008 | Waltz with Bashir | Ari Folman | Carmi Cna’an | Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film |
| 2008 | Ima'lle [he] | Ram Nahari | Gidon | |
| 2008 | Five Men and a Wedding | Eran Kolirin, Arik Rothstein | Yair | |
| 2009 | Room Service | Rony Gruber | Eyal | |
| 2011 | Kol Hazman She’Baolam | Rani Magar | Israeli Soldier | |
| 2011 | Barefoot | Ori Sivan | Naftali | |
| 2011 | The Fifth Heaven | Dina Zvi-Riklis | Dov Markovsky | |
| 2011 | Obsession | Nissim Notrika | Sami | |
| 2012 | Ananda | Ohav Flantz | Yonatan | |
| 2012 | The World is Funny | Shemi Zarhin | Roni | |
| 2013 | Davar Al Mekom Himatzam | Yali Bergman | Nisan | |
| 2013 | Fragile | Vidi Bliu | Etan | |
| 2014 | The Kindergarten Teacher | Nadav Lapid | Aharon | Official Selection, Cannes 2014 |
| 2016 | Mata Hari | Julius Berg | Costelo | |
| 2016 | The Ambassador's Wife | Dina Zvi-Riklis | Jonathan | |
| 2016 | Taagad | Zion Rubin | Avri | |
| 2016 | Mama's Angel | Eyal Sella | Eythan Tamir | |
| 2017 | Driver | Jonathan Indorski | Ovadia | |
| 2018 | Kacha Ze | Ram Nahari | Plastic Surgeon | |
| 2018 | The One Who Reads Minds (The Mentalist) [ru] | Alexey Moradov | Romanov | |
| 2018 | Call for a Dreams | Ran Slavin | Ruven | |

### Theater

| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes |
| 2018 | Fiddler on the Roof | Tevye | Broadway Tour | |
| | The Good Person of Szechwan | Yong Sun | Gesher Theatre | |
| | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander | Gesher Theatre | |
| | The Threepenny Opera | Mack the Knife | Gesher Theatre | Winner, Theatre Award for Best Actor |
| | The Yalta Game | Demitri Gurov | Gesher Theatre | |
| | Design for Living | Leo | Gesher Theatre | |
| | Variations for Theatre and Orchestra | Singer | Gesher Theatre | |
| | The Marriage of Figaro | Figaro | Gesher Theatre | |
| | City/Odessa Stories | Commander | Gesher Theatre | |
| | Village | Captain Drury | Gesher Theatre | |
| | The Slave | Stefan | Gesher Theatre | |
| | Shosha | Feitelzohn | Gesher Theatre | |
| | A Chorus Line | Zach | Cameri Theatre | |
| | Was It a Dream? | Alexander Pen | Cameri Theatre | Nominated for Best Actor |
| | The Aristocrats | Rudi | Cameri Theatre | Nominated for Best Actor |
| | Yentl | Avigdor | Cameri Theatre | |
| | Stempenyu | Stempenyu | Cameri Theatre | |
| | The Wide Winged Sea | Hannan | Cameri Theatre | |
| | A King’s Heart | King | Cameri Theatre | |
| | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Dorian Gray | Habima National Theatre |
| | The Wizard | Scarecrow | | |

### Theatre Director

| Year | Title | Venue | Notes |
| 2018 | Lolita/Jeanne d'Arc | Gesher Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer |
| 2017 | Fathers and Sons | Gesher Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer |
| 2017 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Habima Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer |
| 2016 | Desire at Dusk | Habima Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer |
| 2015 | Alice | Gesher Theatre | Director, set designer |
| 2014 | Falling Out of Time | Gesher Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer |
| 2014 | Orange Blossom | Tmuna Theatre | Adaptation, director, set designer Winner, Best Theatrical Language Award |
| 2014 | Igloo | Israel Festival, Tmuna Theatre | Writer, director, set designer Winner, Best Director Award |
| 2012 | Stempenyu | Cameri Theatre | Co-director |
| 2007 | Radio Heaven | Kibbutzim College | Writer, director, set designer |
| 2006 | Hezi | Gesher Theatre | Writer, director, set designer |

### Short films

| Year | Title | Role | Production Company |
| 2016 | Snow | Writer/Director | Green Productions |
| 2009 | Lashabiya | Writer/Director | Mitcha Figa Productions |