Alon Aboutboul (1965-2025) was one of Israeli film’s most beloved, popular actors. His film career began in the early 1980s when he landed parts in films such as Hapnimiyah (‘the boarding school’) (Yeud Levanon, 1983), and Bar 51 (Amos Guttman, 1986). Aboutboul’s professional turning point also came in 1986. That was when his career truly took off after he was cast in the role of Georgie in Eli Cohen’s Ricochets; a part for which he won Best Actor at the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 1995, Aboutboul starred in Gur Bentwich’s Planet Blue, for which he also has Producer credit. In 1998, he appeared in Dover Kosashvili’s short, Im Hukim (‘with rules’) which won multiple awards, including the Jury Award at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools, the runner-up award at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinéfondation competition, and the Wolgin Prize for Best Israeli Short Film. Aboutboul’s performance in Savi Gabizon’s Nina’s Tragedies (2003) won him an Ophir Award in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Highlights of his other film credits include Battle of the Chairmanship (Avi Cohen, 1986), Photo Roman (Tal Ron, 1987), Streets of Yesterday (Judd Ne’eman, 1989), One of Us (Uri Barabash, 1989), Leylasede (Shemi Zarhin, 1995), Love at Second Sight (Michal Bat-Adam, 1998), Mars Turkey (Oded Davidoff, 2001), Noodle (Ayelet Menahemi, 2007), 7 Days (Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz, 2008), Body of Lies (Ridley Scott 2008), The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012), London has Fallen (Babak Najafi, 2016), Peaches and Cream (Gur Bentwich, 2019), and Forgiveness (Guy Amir and Hanan Savyon, 2019).
When he’s not in front of a camera, Aboutboul was a regular on the stages of Israel’s top theatres including Habima, the Haifa Theatre, and the Beersheba Theatre. He had also starred in a string of highly-successful, critically-acclaimed Israeli TV series. His role on Shabatot VeHagim (‘weekends and holidays’) won him a Television Academy Award for Best Lead Actor. Highlights of his other TV credits include Melanoma My Love, Ima’lle (‘mummy’), Lost and Found, and Harem.
