Yoni Chen (; 10 August 1953 – 27 June 1995) was an Israeli actor, voice actor, director and puppeteer.

Biography

Chen was born in Israel to a Syrian Jewish family. When he was two years old, he and his family had lived in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

for five years. After reaching adolescence, Chen attended the Thelma Yellin High School in Givatayim to study drama, then he worked for the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

. He began his career in 1978 performing on stage at the Cameri Theatre and the Orna Porat Children's Theatre. That same year, he made his debut film appearance in ''

The Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

'' and appeared in other films over the next several years such as '' Dizengoff 99''. Among Chen's most popular roles was on the children's puppet show '' Parpar Nechmad'', in which he performed the character Batz the Turtle. As a voice actor, Chen was heavily involved in the Hebrew language dubbing of ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

''. He performed the Hebrew voices of

Sylvester Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...

, The Tasmanian Devil and

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

. Other roles Chen performed included Morten, Gusta and Gorgo in ''

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', Tin Man in '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', Yogi Bear in '' The Yogi Bear Show'', all characters in '' Tip en Tap'', several characters in ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (; ) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was created and introduced as a series of comic characters by ...

'' and many more. Chen also founded a dubbing company which was then later acquired by Elrom Studios after his death.

Personal life

Chen was openly gay. His partner, Ari worked for Israeli Educational Television.

Death

On 27 June 1995, Chen died after suffering from

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

for some time. He was nearing his 42nd birthday. ''Parpar Nechmad'' underwent a hiatus for a while and eventually, the role of Batz was passed on to Ami Weinberg.5 מפורסמים שמתו מאיידס
(in Hebrew)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yoni 1953 births 1995 deaths Male actors from Tel Aviv Thelma Yellin High School of Arts alumni Israeli people of Syrian-Jewish descent Israeli male film actors Israeli male stage actors Israeli male television actors Israeli male voice actors category:Israeli puppeteers Israeli voice directors Israeli gay actors Jewish Israeli male actors LGBTQ puppeteers Gay Jews AIDS-related deaths in Israel 20th-century Israeli male actors 20th-century Israeli LGBTQ people 20th-century Israeli Jews