Hana Laszlo ( he, חנה לסלאו; born 14 June 1953) is an Israeli actress, television presenter and comedian. In 2005, she won a

Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress The Best Actress Award (french: Prix d'interprétation féminine) is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival since 1946. It is given to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance and chosen by the jury from the films in officia ...

for her performance in the film '' Free Zone''. She has also received four Ophir Award nominations.

Early and personal life

Laszlo was born in

Jaffa Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

to a family of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

descent. Her parents were

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally acce ...

who were born in Poland. In 1972–1973, she served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

Southern Command's musical troupe. Around those years she was in a relationship with Israeli pop-star Svika Pick. She met her first husband, Israeli media proprietor Aviv Giladi, on the set of Uri Zohar's ''Save The Lifeguard''. The two proceeded to work together on various stage productions and eventually got married in 1979. Laszlo has two sons from her first marriage – Ben and Ithamar. Her eldest, Ben Giladi, is a film and television producer. Her daughter-in-law is Israeli actress and filmmaker

Romi Aboulafia Romi Aboulafia ( he, רומי אבולעפיה) is an Israeli actress, screenwriter and filmmaker. Early life Aboulafia was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a Sephardic Jewish family. She started acting at the age of six and was cast for a lead rol ...

, with whom she frequently collaborates. Laszlo married and divorced businessman Benny Bloch.

Career

Laszlo rose to enormous success in the 1980s and 1990s in the wake of character-driven comedy routines. She created and portrayed some of the most iconic characters of that era – including such characters as 'Safta Zapta' and 'Clara the Cleaning Lady.' Through the 90s, Laszlo was the highest grossing female entertainer in Israel. However, due to financial and personal calamity, her career came to a halt in the beginning of the new millennium. After several silent years, Laszlo restarted building her career from the ground up. She was reintroduced to the public and younger crowd through her role as Naomi Shahar in the highly successful musical telenovela ''

HaShir Shelanu ''HaShir Shelanu'' ( he, השיר שלנו, lit. ''Our Song'') was an Israeli daily comical musical telenovela starring Ninet Tayeb that took place for four seasons on the yes-5 Israeli Movie Channel (Arutz Ha'kolnoa Hayisraeli) and repeating ...

''. In 2005 she won the Best Actress Award at the

2005 Cannes Film Festival The 58th Cannes Film Festival started on 11 May and ran until 22 May 2005. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on 21 May. The Palme d'Or went to the Belgian film '' L'Enfant'' by Dardenne brothers ...

for her role in '' Free Zone''. Laszlo stars in the film alongside

Natalie Portman Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...

. The

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

marked the pick of Laszlo's comeback. From 2002–2004, Laszlo was one of two presenters (the other being Pnina Dvorin) of the Israeli version of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

television game show ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

''. In 2010, she served as a judge with Claude Dadia and Eli Mizrachi on ''

Rokdim Im Kokhavim Rokdim Im Kokhavim ( he, רוקדים עם כוכבים, "Dancing with Stars") is the Israeli version of the popular British TV show ''Strictly Come Dancing''. The show features local celebrities partnered with professional ballroom dancers, com ...

'', the Israeli version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. Laszlo wrote, produced, financed and starred in more than a dozen one-woman shows since the 1980s. She spends a third of the year on stage with them. In 2019, she received an honorary PhD from

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academi ...

for contributions to the stage arts. She never had formal education but speaks and performs in six different languages – Hebrew, English, Yiddish, French, German and Dutch. Laszlo performed the voice of Nai Nai in the Hebrew-Language dub of the 2019 animated film '' Abominable''. She's destined to play Paulette in the Hebrew version of

Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Wit ...

Filmography

Awards and recognition

* Best Actress Award for '' Free Zone'' * Ophir Award for Best Actress for '' Free Zone'' (nomination) * Ophir Award for Best Supporting Actress for '' Alila'' (nomination)

References

External links