Mili Avital - I’d say the biggest role that put her on the American map, would be playing Sha’uri in the original Stargate movie with James Spader. Avital was born in Jerusalem to two graphic designers named Noni and Iko (And if you are wondering, no these are not typical Israeli names).

Mili may have been born in Jerusalem but she didn’t stay there for long. She was raised in Tel-Aviv and Ra’anana and attended the Thelma Yellin High School of Arts in Giva’atayim. She began her acting career at the age of 17 and even won the 1992 Israeli Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Two years later she decided to move to New York to take the Circle in the Square Acting program. A year later, while working as a waitress, she was discovered by an agent and two weeks later, she landed the female Lead in Stargate.

Avital did not want to be type cast in her acting career, and after training with dialect coaches for many years, she has been cast in American, British and Southern roles. Her filmography includes: Stargate, Invasion of privacy, The End of Violence, Kissing a Fool, After The Storm, Uprising, The Human Stain and When Do We Eat. After being in movies that clearly no one knows about, (Except for Stargate of course) she started appearing in more recent TV shows such as Damages, Law & Oder: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent as recently as 2010.

Oded Fehr – Mostly known for the character of Ardeth Bay in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser. For those of you who have seen the movie but not very familiar with the characters, Ardeth would be the main guy on the horse with all the face paint who is protecting Hamunaptra (See picture).

Oded was born in Tel-Aviv to a Jewish day-care supervisor (Mother) and a German born Physicist (Father). Like a good Israeli kid, he went to serve in the Israeli Navy after graduating high-school. After completing his service, he briefly lived in Frankfurt, Germany where he took drama classes and worked security for El-Al (Israeli airline) in the German airport. Those drama classes may have inspired him because he later decided to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England.

Now Fehr is one of the few Israeli guys who have been around the Hollywood block. Some of the more known movies he has been in include: Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Cleopatra, The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. He also made guest appearances on TV shows like: Persidio Med, Sleeper Cell, Burn Notice, Medium, Covert Affairs and as a repeating character named Zankou on Charmed.

Ayelet Zurer - Primarily known in the U.S. as Vittoria Vetra, from the legendary movie Angels & Demons (Second part of the Da Vinci Code) with Tom Hanks. Zurer was born and raised in Tel Aviv, even though her mother didn’t relocate to Tel Aviv until after World War II, during which time she was hiding in a convent in Czechoslovakia.

After finishing the required military service (Which I escaped), Zurer moved to New York to develop her acting skills. It didn’t take long for her to miss the mother land, and in 1991 she moved back to Israel and began starring in a series of films and television shows. One of the more popular dramas was called “Betipul” (2005), where she played a seductive patient who initiates a romance with a doctor. The series became so huge, Zurer won a Best Actress award from the Israeli Television Academy and the series was remade as the highly successful Emmy-and-Golden Globe-winning HBO series named In treatment.

Zurer’s Hollywood credits include Steven Spielberg’s Munich (which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture), where she played Eric Bana’s wife. Vantage point, along side Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver, where she played an exotic terrorist named Veronica. And of course the aforementioned Angels & Demons along side Tom Hanks where she played a physicist trying to stop anti-matter from exploding in the Vatican.

Continue reading “5 Most Successful Israeli Actresses (And Actor) in Hollywood»” »

A few months ago (Yes, I said months… That’s how long it took me to finish this) I saw an E! special about the 13 most shocking Hollywood curses. Some of these curses were news to me and so I decided to document them. I know a curse is somewhat hard to believe in, especially during these modern times but when a slew of tragedies connect to one event with no obvious explanation, you have to admit that something eerie is going on, so a curse is born. Some of the curses may seem coincidental by nature but two that really creeped me out was the 27 club and the tragedies surrounding the movie ATUK. Read the examples below and then ask yourself, do you believe in curses now?

13. The 27 Club – The curse of The 27 Club  refers to a group of influential rock and blues musicians who all died at the age of 27. Sometimes the cause of death is normal but sometimes the circumstances surrounding their death are somewhat suspicious. One thing’s for sure, the number of musicians who died at the age of 27 is definitely far from the norm. Some of the most famous 27 clubers include Brian Jones, founder and guitarist for The Rolling Stones, who drowned in a pool; Jimi Hendrix, pioneering electric guitarist, singer and songwriter, who became asphyxiated on vomit after combining sleeping pills with wine; Janis Joplin, a vocalist and songwriter, who died of a heroin overdose; Jim Morrison, lead singer and songwriter for The Doors, who supposedly died from heart failure (no autopsy was performed); Kurt Cobain, lead singer and songwriter for Nirvana, committed suicide with a shotgun. Currently there are 40 recorded members of the 27 club but many of the young musicians of our time haven’t turned 27 yet and so we wait and see who’ll join the club next. Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse better get their act together soon.

12. The Superman Curse –Superman’s curse refers to the unfortunate deaths of many actors who have played the role of Superman. Superman’s have been dropping dead since 1959 when George Reaves, who played Superman in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men as well as television series Adventures of Superman was found dead from a gunshot to the head. In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s staff approved a Superman story in which the hero had the president’s physical fitness initiatives but unfortunately Kennedy was shot and killed before the story came out. Christopher Reeve, who played Superman / Clark Kent in Superman 1,2,3 and 4 between 1978 and 1987, was paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown off his horse in a cross-country riding event in 1995. Reeve subsequently died in 2004 due to heart failure stemming from his medical condition. Even baby Superman wasn’t immune to the curse, Lee Quigley, who played baby Kal-El in the 1978 Superman movie, died in 1991 at the age of 14 after inhaling solvents.

11. The Lee Family Curse – Many say that the curse started with Chinese actor and martial artist, Bruce Lee, who shared some of the Eastern fighting secrets with the Western world. In 1973, while Bruce Lee was working on over dubs for his movie Enter The Dragon, he started complaining about major headaches, took a pill and never woke up. His son, Brandon Lee, followed his father’s foot steps and became an actor. After doing same small roles in several movies, Lee was Cast in The Crow as the lead actor. 21 years after his fathers death, Brandon Lee was shot and killed at 28 with a prop gun prepared for a scene that just happened to be filled with real bullets.

10. Billy Bob Thornton’s Co-Stars Curse – Since 1998 , 6 of Billy Bob Thornton’s co-stars have met an untimely death and 4 others had brushes with disasters. The first victim was J.T. Walsh, who acted along side Billy Bob in the 1996 film slingshot and died in 1998 from a heart attack. Our favorite Three’s Company roomie, John Ritter, joined Billy Bob for Bad Santa, and a few months later died on the operating table during a heart surgery on September 11, 2003. Bernie Mac, also a Bad Santa member, died in 2008 due to complications from an pneumonia. Heath Ledger and Thornton met while co staring in Monster’s Ball in 2001, and in 2008 Ledger passed from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. The two lucky ones are Morgan Freeman and Shia Labeouf who were both in serious car accidents in 2008 and brought the total to 4 hurt co-stars in one year.

9. John Lennon and the Curse of the Number 9 – (Did you see how they put that at #9… How clever) As one of the most influential people in the music industry, John Lennon (who was one of the founding members on The Beatles for people who just crawled out from under a rock) considered himself a very lucky person. So lets start from the beginning. John Lennon was born on Oct. 9; The Beatles were discovered on the Ed Sullivan show on Feb. 9; the Beatles called it quits after 9 years; Lennon met Yoko Ono on Nov. 9; 9 years later their son was born on Oct. 9. Now this is where his #9 luck turned into a curse, 9 years after moving to NY John Lennon was shot at 11:07 (1+1+7=9) on Dec. 9, which was the date in Liverpool (9 letters) where he was also born.

8. The Curse of the Movie ATUK –  The movie tells the story of an overweight Eskimo, who dreams of going to New York City. The curse of ATUK struck all the leading men who got in contact with the script.  John Belushi was the first person considered for the part, and the first to reveal the curse. While preparing for the role, Belushi was found dead from an overdose of cocaine and heroine. The script was then passed on to Sam Kinison, who died in a fiery car crash two years after reading it. Next was John Candy, who died of a heart attack (while reading the script). The script then moved on to Chris Farley (Died from cardiac arrest brought on by an overdose combination of cocaine and morphine), who shared the script with his buddy John Hartman, who died in a murder suicide committed by his wife. Right now the script is collecting dust in some Hollywood vault, waiting to strike again.

Continue reading “13 Creepiest Hollywood Curses, Even The Rich and Famous Can’t Escape»” »

Aaahhh the redheads… You gotta love ‘em. The first thing that may come to mind is the expression “treating someone like a redheaded stepchild” which according to the Urban Dictionary means the following: “With red hair being rare, a child born to non red headed parents was often assumed to be the child of an affair. Thus was treated badly, usually in the form of beatings”. Although we might use the term pretty loosely in present time, unfortunately this kinda stuff actually happened. In ancient times however, ladies with red hair were considered the most beautiful in the land.

According to Wiki, red hair is also referred to as titian or ginger hair and approximately 1% to 2% of the human population has red hair, more commonly in northern and western Europeans. Red hair is associated with fair skin, freckles and sensitivity to ultraviolet light. Many common stereotypes exist regarding redheads and they are often portrayed as “fiery-tempered”, though cultural reactions have varied from ridicule to admiration.

Red hair is also considered the rarest natural hair color in humans. The pale skin associated with red hair may be of advantage in far-northern climates where sunlight is scarce, as studies suggest that lighter skin pigmentation prevents rickets (softening of bones in children potentially leading to fractures and deformity) in colder latitudes by encouraging higher levels of Vitamin D production and allowing the individual to retain heat better than someone with darker skin. Other studies suggested that the vividness and rarity of red hair may lead to its becoming desirable in a partner and becoming more common through sexual selection. So let’s check the most beautiful redheads we have had the pleasure of knowing and watching.

After seeing Lisa Kudrow’s new show, Who Do You Think You Are?, yesterday I was very inspired to look into the stars ancestry myself and see who I may be related to. Ok, so maybe not related, but since I myself was born in Odessa, Ukraine it’s kinda fun to see who else is from my neck of the woods. After some research, I found 20 celebrities who believe it or not, are in fact descendants of Russian /Ukrainian immigrants (No, it is not the same place) or were born there themselves.

1. Pamela Anderson – Known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement and Baywatch. Pamela was born in Ladysmith, British Columbia. Her great-grandfather, Juho Hyytiäinen, was Finnish, a native of Saarijärvi who left Finland in 1908, changing his name to Anderson when he arrived as an immigrant. Her mother however is of Russian ancestry.
2. Amanda Bynes – Known for her co-lead role in the Television series What I Like About You as well as popular movies such as She’s the Man (2006) and Hairspray (2007). Amanda was born and raised in Thousand Oaks, California. Her father is Catholic and her mother is Jewish. Her maternal grandparents are from Toronto, Ontario but she is of  Polish, Irish, Russian and Romanian descent. 
3. Leonardo DiCaprio - Known for movies like Titanic, Romeo + Juliet, Catch Me If You Can and Shutter Island. Leo was born in Los Angeles, California. His maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken, who was born Yelena Smirnova, was a Russian immigrant to Germany. His mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick at the Ruhr, Germany, to the U.S. during the 1950s, while his father is a fourth-generation American of half Italian and half German descent.
4. Michael Douglas - Known for movies such as Wall Street, Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. Michael was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His mother and maternal grandparents, Ruth Rapalje Neilson and Lt. Col. Thomas Melville Dill, were natives of Devonshire Parish, Bermuda, while his paternal grandparents, Bryna Sanglel and Herschel Danielovitch, were Jewish immigrants from Gomel in Belarus, at that time a part of the Russian Empire.
5. Harrison Ford – Known for movies like The Fugitive and the Indiana Jones series. Harrison was born in Chicago. His maternal grandparents, Anna Lifschutz and Harry Nidelman, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire) and his paternal grandparents, Florence Veronica Niehaus and John Fitzgerald Ford, were of German and Irish Catholic descent.
6. James Franco – Known for movies such as the Spider Man trilogy, Pineapple Express and Milk. James was born in Palo Alto, California. Franco’s father is of Portuguese and Swedish descent and Franco’s mother is Jewish, a descendant of immigrants from Russia.
7. Katerina Graham – Known for playing Bonnie Bennett in the The CW show The Vampire Diaries. Katerina was born in Geneva, Switzerland. She is the daughter of a Liberian father, Joseph Graham, and a Russian Jewish mother, Natasha. Graham attended Hebrew school and speaks English, Spanish, French, and some Portuguese and Hebrew.
8. Mila Jovovich – Known for movies like The Fifth Element and Resident Evil. Mila was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Mila is the daughter of Bogdan Bogdanovich Jovović, a Serbian pediatrician, and Galina Loginova, a Ukrainian/Russian stage actress.
9. Leonard Nimoy – Best known for playing the role of Spock in the original Star Trek series. Leonard was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Ukraine.
10. Mila Kunis - Best known for her roles in That ’70s Show, Family Guy and The Book of Eli. Mila was Born Milena Markovna Kunis in Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to a Jewish family that moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991.
    Continue reading “Hollywood’s Top 20 Celebrities of Russian Descent»” »

9. Jason Wahler

In 2004 Jason was a senior at Laguna beach high school and a leading man on the Real O.C.  MTV hit show “Laguna Beach”. Jason was known as the ladies man of the high school and with his growing celebrity status alcohol was inevitably involved. Jason admitted to getting drunk on a regular basis and that his life was out of control. He obviously wasn’t ready for all the fame and fortune which led him to 4 arrests in only a 9 month period. He assaulted a tow truck driver, got  caught drinking underage at a bar in North Carolina and a few more violent and drunk outings went wrong. A week after his 4th arrest, he was due in court for his first charges and was sentenced to 80 days in jail. But before going in, he was arrested once again for underage drinking at a Seattle hotel. It only took 5 arrests, 80 days in jail and a few hefty fines but Jason finally hit his rock bottom and  decided to go to rehab. He may have cleaned up his act but still had to face his charges and spent a measly 18 days in jail.

8. Haley Joel Osment

Everyone’s favorite child star, Haley made his jump into movie stardom with 4 simple words “I see dead people”. He had so much talent but like so many other child stars, work wasn’t there and he started doing voice overs. By 2006 it had been 3 years since his hiatus and he was driving home from a concert when he lost control of the vehicle and drove his station wagon into a brick mail box. Haley was injured and taken to the local hospital but before he was charged with a DUI and possession of marijuana.  Since it was his first misdemeanor, he got it pretty easy. He pleaded no contest and was charged with 3 years probation, 3 months of AA and a fine. Since his run in with the law he’s been keeping a low profile and going to school in NY. Hopefully we’ll see him acting again.

7. Macaulay Culkin

With Home Alone, Macaulay became one of the first sought after child actors of his time. He was getting serious money (16 million for two movies in 1994) which caused many problems between him and his parents. His dad wanted full control of the money Macaulay was making since he was still a child but Macaulay thought he  was after his money for good. So he decided to quit… for 9 years. He wanted to do rolls that he found interesting and not just rolls that will prolong his fame. Even though he was very young, he thought he knew best and married very young  but they divorced in 2000. He came back to the business 3 years later and made a guest appearance on Will and Grace as well as a movie called Party Monsters. Now that he was back on the scene he took a ride with one of his buddies and they were stopped for speeding, unfortunately for them they were speeding with a bag of marijuana, joints, $3,ooo, sleeping pills, and Zanex for which he had no prescription. He was taken in and released on $3,000 bail (How ironic). While he was in the brig, he was described as jittery and not making much sense for which the fine was about  $940. Now he’s trying to stay away from the scene which could be difficult with him dating actress Mila Kunis.

6. Nick and Aaron Carter

Looks like being the favorite Backstreet Boy got to Nick’s head a little more then we knew… As the older brother, Nick set an example for his little brother in more ways then one.  While Nick was doing the Hollywood thing and dating Paris Hilton, Aaron was doing the same Hollywood thing and dated Lindsey Lohan and  Hilary Duff … At the same time. By 2005 the former Backstreet Boy’s solo career had crashed and burned and when leaving a restaurant “slightly” tipsy, was pulled over and charged with a DUI. When Nick was arrested there hadn’t a been a ton of celebrity mug shots so when Nick’s glamor shots came out everyone was pretty shocked.  After $1,200 in fines and 3 years probation, his brother obviously thought that sounded like fun and while driving from California to Florida to the family’s beach house, was pulled over for speeding and pot was found in his car. Aaron came out with a statement that he sincerely regrets his behavior and in September 2008 he pleaded no contest for possession , served 29 days on probation and the matter was forgotten.

Continue reading “Top 9 Child Star Mugshots»” »