Gila Almagor

Gila Almagor, one of Israel's leading actresses, was born in pre-state Israel in 1939, four months after the death of her father, and grew up in various children's institutions. She has been a professional actress since the age of 17. At age 25, after studying in New York for two years, she started performing in Israel's top theaters. She has also starred in some 40 movies as well as numerous TV programs, has hosted her own radio show for many years, and is actively involved in voluntary work with children suffering from cancer.
Almagor has published books for children and youth. The first, Aviya's Summer, has been widely translated. The film based on the book received the Berlin Silver Bear Award (1989), the Golden Spike Award at the Valladolid Festival (Spain, 1989), and was named Best Foreign Film at the 1989 San Remo Festival. Almagor has received the Israel Prize for Cinema (2004), a Hans Christian Andersen Ambassadorship (2005), the Liberitas Film Festival Prize for Lifetime Achievement (Croatia, 2007) and the EMI Prize for Lifetime Achievement (2017). In 2009, both Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Tel Aviv University awarded her an Honorary Doctorate.