Ohad (Odi) Ashkenazi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 22, 1971 Kireon, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
Ohad (Odi) Ashkenazi (born December 22, 1971) is an Israeli TV and Theater director, comedy and entertainment creator, producer and writer.
Ohad (Odi) Ashkenazi | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | December 22, 1971 Kireon, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
Ohad (Odi) Ashkenazi (born December 22, 1971) is an Israeli TV and Theater director, comedy and entertainment creator, producer and writer.
Ashkenazi was born in the city of Kireon, Israel to Orina Raanan and Professor Israel Ashkenazi. His maternal grandfather was Mordechai Raanan; the former Irgun district commander in Jerusalem and his paternal grandfather was Shlomo Pinchas Ashkenazi; author and researcher of Judaism. [1]
Growing up, Ashkenazi was a member of the Israeli National theater group, "Habima Teen", and also a part of "Friends of the Habima" a society of theater professionals engaging the Habima Theater resources with special theater projects throughout the community.
Ashkenazi served in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) as a paramedic. In 1993, Ashkenazi attended the Beit Zvi School of Performing Arts; a leading arts academy in Israel. In 1994, he was awarded with a scholarship from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and relocated to the United Kingdom, where he achieved his director diploma at the Drama Studio London. [2]
In 1999, while he was already part of the Beit Lessin Theater team in Tel Aviv, Ashkenazi was chosen to direct the Israeli Theater Academy Award ceremony. The success of this event led Ashkenazi to direct the next two consecutive annual ceremonies. In 2000, he directed the annual Golden Heart Fundraiser event: "Variety Children Organization" produced by the Reshet Broadcasting Company. In 2001, he returned once again to direct the Annual Golden Heart ceremony as well as the Israeli film Academy Award. That same year, Ashkenazi directed the Keshet Broadcast Company "People of the Year Awards". In 2002, he directed the "Sports People of the Year Awards" for the Israeli Sports Channel as well as the talent show "Bravo", produced by the Children's Network Channel and the Telad Broadcasting Company.
During the 2002–2003 TV season, Ashkenazi began his role as the editor for the entertainment talk show "Erev Adir", hosted by Adir Miller for Reshet. He proceeded to work with Miller to develop the hit comedy sitcom, "Ramzor".
Between the years 2004–2006, [3] Ashkenazi served as Head Manager of the Israeli Comedy Channel "Bip (channel)", owned by Keshet Broadcast Company and Hot, an Israeli cable communication group. During that time, he created the successful satire show, "The Strip [4] " (HaRetsua in Hebrew), hosted by Uri Gottlieb. The show lasted 4 years and 189 episodes.
Between the years 2005–2006, Ashkenazi created the Ali G inspired comedy show "Pascal's World". During this time, as Bip Channel Head Manager, he also contributed to the following successful comedy shows: "The Maestro", a reality TV show that followed the life of legendary Israeli Pop icon, Tzvika Pik; "Double Date", a wacky dating show; "Fight for Your Rights", Israel's first ever wrestling show, and "Yom Tov", a stand-up comedy and sketch marathon, starring top Israeli stand-up comedians.
Between the years 2006–2007, Ashkenazi was part of the Keshet Broadcast Company team developing [5] original comedy, entertainment, and talk shows. In 2008, Ashkenazi once again joined forces with the Reshet Broadcasting Company and co-created with Yoav Gross the hit show "Comedians at Work". The successful show was placed on prime time television for seven consecutive seasons. The format was sold and later produced in Russia, France and Germany. In 2008, Ashkenazi continued to create and edit another hit comedy show, "Shavua Sof". Other successful shows Ashkenazi created for the Reshet Broadcasting Company include: "Oblivious", a game show, "Family Business" and "Power of 10". In August 2010, Ashkenazi was appointed Head Manager of the Israeli division of Viacom's Comedy Central Channel. He was in charge of the successful launch of the channel in Israel in 2011, and continued to develop more original comedy shows for the channel including: "Comeback", "The Wedding Seasons", the TV sitcom "Red Band"(Season 2) and a comedy strip called, "The Comedy Central University". Ashkenazi played a pivotal role in the acquisition of future, English-speaking Comedy Central shows.
In 2012, under Ashkenazi's management, the Comedy Central Channel aired two more original comedy shows: "Outlawed", a stand-up comedy show with Roei Levi and Lucy Aharish, and "Singles", a humoristic dating show. That same year, Ashkenazi co-developed the innovative sketch show "The Green Project" alongside acclaimed animator Eyal Be. The show format was later sold to Lithuania, Uruguay, China and other countries throughout the world. It was also in this year that Ashkenazi was invited to join the International Development Team of Comedy Central, [6] led by Jill Offman, [7] the International Head of the Comedy Central brand.
In 2013, Ashkenazi developed the reality sitcom "The Life of Avi The Singer", [8] and the talk show, "Creatures of the Night". In 2014, Ashkenazi began collaborating with internet celebrities and produced the comedy project, "Zero Movie", by internet comedians Or Paz and Tom Treger. That year, Ashkenazi also produced the dating game show, "Babe Magnet".
Ashkenazi took his first steps in theater in 1994, as an Assistant Director of the musical "Grease", starring Aki Avni, Zvika Hadar and others. He continued as an Assistant Director of the play, "The Importance of Being Earnest", starring Hanna Maron. Upon his return to Israel following his studies in England, Ashkenazi became one of the youngest in Israel to achieve a Director's role in a repertory theater. His choice of plays often touched controversial subjects. He directed the play "Burning Blue" by D.M.W. Greer. The play, starring Lior Ashkenazi, and produced by Beit Lessin Theater, dealt with the delicate subject of homosexuality in the American Navy.
In 1998, Ashkenazi translated and directed the musical, "Assassins", by Stephen Sondheim. The extravagant production was also launched at the Beit Lessin Theater. Later that year, the show won the Israeli Theater Academy Award for Best Musical. That same year, Ashkenazi wrote "Kaytek the Wizard", an adaptation of Janusz Korczak book of the same name. In 2000, Ashkenazi directed the Pulitzer Prize winning play, "Dinner with Friends" by Donald Margulies, The play was nominated for Best Comedy Award. In 2002, Ashkenazi directed the Be'er Sheva Theater production "Boy Gets Girl" by Rebecca Gilman.
In 2014, Ashkenazi directed a concert version of the musical "Damascus Square" in New York City. The play, [9] written by Sarah Hirsch and Shai Baitel, starred Broadway actors Richard Blake and Tovah Feldush. The musical was displayed on stages at the famous Waldorf Astoria and the Broadway cabaret club "54 Below"
In 1997, Ashkenazi wrote the musical "Hugo", which was produced by the Tevet Production Company. The same year, he also directed the "Oleg Popov Circus" Israel tour, hosted by stars of the Israeli Children's Channel and produced by Talit Productions. In 1999, he translated and directed the musical "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", a musical comedy with lyrics by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts; produced by the Yochelman-Asher Production Company.
Ashkenazi met his wife, actress Maria Cregeen when she played the main role in the play "Games in the Backyard", which he directed as part of his final project for The Drama Studio London. Maria Cregeen is the daughter of Peter Cregeen; A British Television executive. The couple have been married since 1998 and have three children together.
Lior Ashkenazi is an Israeli actor, voice actor, comedian and television presenter.
Channel 10, formerly known as Israel 10, was an Israeli free-to-air television channel. Operating under the auspices of The Second Authority for Television and Radio, Channel 10 was one of three commercial television channels in Israel, enjoying an average audience rating of 6.5% in 2011 within its main news program.
Channel 2, also called "The Second Channel" was an Israeli commercial television channel. It started doing experimental broadcasts funded by the television tax. The channel started commercial broadcasting on 4 November 1993 regulated and managed by The Second Authority for Television and Radio. In its first years, the channel was operated by three broadcasters, and in 2005 only two broadcasters were left while "Telad" stopped broadcasting due to its loss in the Second Authority's auction.
Gabriel "Gabi" Ashkenazi is an Israeli politician and former military leader. He previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was the Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 2007 to 2011. He was the fourth Mizrahi Jew to become Chief of Staff of the IDF.
Keshet Media Group, also known as the Keshet company, is a private Israeli mass media company, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv. Its media and online news outlet Mako is one of the major Israeli ones.
Shlomo "Moni" Moshonov is an Israeli actor, comedian, and theater director.
Sigal Avin is an American-Israeli writer and director.
Dorit Bar Or is an Israeli actress and fashion designer.
Lilith "Lilit" Naggar, also known as Layla Najar, is an Israeli Arabic-language television host, actress, and singer.
Hevrat HaHadashot is one of the three major brands of Israeli television news programmes. Produced for Keshet 12 by Keshet Media Group subsidiary Israel Television News Company, a.k.a.HaHadashot 12. Its flagship evening news bulletin is broadcast at 8:00 p.m. IST, and anchored primarily by Yonit Levi and Danny Kushmaro. The company, originally the news department of Channel 2 – where its bulletins were known as HaHadashot 2 ) – was funded by Keshet Media Group and Reshet; Telad also funded the company until it lost time slots on Channel 2 in 2005.
Adi Ashkenazi is an Israeli actress, comedian and television host.
Micah Lewensohn (Hebrew: מיכה לבינסון, was an Israeli theater director and actor.
Samuel "Shmulik" Vilozny is an Israeli comedian, actor and director as well as a political activist.
Guy Yaakov Zu-Aretz is an Israeli television host, actor, musician, and director.
Ania Bukstein is an Israeli actress, singer and pianist, performing in Hebrew, Russian, French and English.
Channel 13, formally known as Reshet 13, is an Israeli free-to-air television channel owned by RGE Media Group and Reshet. It was launched on 1 November 2017 as one of two replacements of the outgoing Channel 2. Channel 13 also known as Nana 13 and Reshet 13 and broadcasting in Hebrew.
Yuval Segal is an Israeli actor.
Sandra Sade-Moshonov is an Israeli film, television and theater actress.
Moshe Alafi is an Israeli producer, director, and creator.
Tzedi Tzarfati, Tsadi Tsarfati, or Tsedi Sarfati is an Israeli television presenter, director, and former actor.