Shoshik Shani-Lavie is an Israeli actor, comedian, and singer. Already in her teens, Shani started appearing in a series of radio plays whilst training as an actor at the Cameri Theatre’s Acting Studio and cutting her stage teeth at the Bimatenu (‘our stage’) Children’s Theatre. She then spent her military service in the IDF’s Nahal Band (aka The Nachal Troupe). In 1957, Shani married singer and actor, Arik Lavie. After spending some years together in New York City where she studied acting under Uta Hagen, the couple returned to Israel. In 1963, they debuted their successful variety stage show, She and He, written especially for them by Ephraim Kishon. Eleven years later, in 1974, Lavie and Shani reunited with Kishon who had got them to star in his then latest play, Oh, Oh Juliet, which he both wrote and directed. The trio toured with the play to great success both in Israel and in Germany.
In theatre, Shani’s work has mostly been synonymous with the Cameri Theatre whose stages she has appeared on in countless productions including Rumpelstiltskin, The Good Person of Szechwan, He Walked Through the Fields, and The Master Builder. She has also recorded several children’s albums which included hits such as Michael and What Do the Trees Do (‘ma osim haetzim’) that have since become staples of Israeli culture.
Highlights of Shani’s film credits include Hole in the Moon (Uri Zohar, 1965), 999 Aliza: The Policeman (Menahem Golan, 1967), Lupo! (Menahem Golan, 1970), Operation Thunderbolt (Menahem Golan, 1977), The Fox in the Chicken Coop (Ephraim Kishon, 1978), Rocking Horse (Yaky Yosha, 1978), A Crazy Dad (Eli Sagi, 1981), Batito on Benefits (‘ha-muvtal Batito’) (Ze’ev Revach, 1987), Hunting Elephants (Reshef Levi, 2013), and Magic Men (Eerz Tadmor & Guy Nattiv, 2013).
