Hani Furstenberg
Hani Furstenberg
Although born and raised in New York, until recently Hani Furstenberg has focused most of her acting career in Israel, where she is an award-winning actress on both the stage and the big screen. She moved with her family to Tel Aviv after studying at New York’s Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art & Performing Arts.
Hani first gained attention for her role on the popular satire television series The Bourgeoisie, for which she also recorded two hit songs. She starred in Yossi and Jagger, directed by Eytan Fox (Walk On Water, The Bubble) and Campfire by Joseph Cedar (Footnote, Beaufort).
Hani won the Israeli Oscar for her role in Campfire, and the film won the Don Quixote Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Hani was a regular cast member in Israel’s most prestigious theatre, The Cameri. Her roles have included Ophelia in Hamlet, Constanze in Amadeus, and Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof. She received the Israeli Tony Award in 2010 for her amazingly physical portrayal of a ventriloquist’s puppeteer “dummy” in Joshua Sobol’s Ghetto. She also received the Outstanding Actress award in The Cameri and the Most Promising Young Actress award, given by the city of Tel Aviv.
In 2011 Hani has opened a new chapter in her career; she has moved back to the United States and is starring in her first American leading role, opposite Gael Garcia Bernal, in The Loneliest Planet by Julia Loktev (Day Night Day Night). The film will premiere in competition in Locarno and will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.