Ronit Elkabetz

Ronit Elkabetz (Hebrew: רונית אלקבץ‎; 27 November 1964 – 19 April 2016) was an Israeli actress, screenwriter and film director. She worked in both Israeli and French cinema. She won three Ophir Awards and received a total of seven nominations.

Biography

Elkabetz was born in Beersheba in 1964 to a religious Moroccan Jewish family, originally from Essaouira. She grew up in Kiryat Yam. Her mother spoke French and Moroccan Arabic, but her father insisted on speaking only Hebrew. Elkabetz was the eldest of four children, with three younger brothers. Her younger brother Shlomi also became a director, and they worked together on the trilogy Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem.

Elkabetz never studied acting and started her career as a model. She divided her time between her homes in Paris and Tel Aviv. She married architect Avner Yashar, the son of prominent architect Yitzhak Yashar and singer Rema Samsonov, on 25 June 2010. In 2012, Elkabetz gave birth to their twins, a son and daughter. During her final years, she was honorary president of the Mizrahi feminist movement "Ahoti – for Women in Israel", and volunteered in the organization's activities, such as the fair trade store and clothing drives. In 2015 she was selected to be the president of the jury for the International Critics' Week section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.