During a week when the Israeli public was occupied with news of the reemergence of the polio virus, local health services sent around some thoughtful advice in its weekly newsletter: “Yehuda and Ninet are breaking up: how to survive this?” Apparently, the sudden collapse of the relationship between two of Israel’s biggest celebrities has some kind of effect on our private lives. Their tragedy is also ours—at least, that’s what the media seems to think.
So who are Yehuda and Ninet? You might recognize actor Yehuda Levi from his appearances in American films like Steven Spielberg’s Munich or Ellie Kenner’s For the Love of Money, but he also enjoys home-based fame as one of Israel’s biggest and hottest stars. He’s been well-known here since his teenage days, when he dated teen model Yael Bar Zohar and acted alongside her in the daily series Ramat Aviv Gimel. He made it on his own as the star of 2002’s Yossi and Jagger, where he played a gay army officer, and later in Joseph Cedar’s Campfire and Schwartz Dynasty. His major success, though, came from his roles on popular television series like Ha-Alufa (“The Champion”) where he played a soccer player, and The Arbitrator, where he played the unknown son of an arch-mobster. Most recently he starred in Avi Nesher’s hit film Plaot (“The Wonders“).
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