Misha Asherov was a stage and screen actor, and one of Israel’s Habima National Theatre’s most highly regarded actors of all time. Born 1924 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Asherov and his family moved to then-British Mandatory Palestine when he was nine. He was part of the inaugural class of Habima (National Theatre’s) Dramatic Arts Studio, headed by Menahem Gnessin. After graduating, he was cast in a range of minor roles, in several of the company’s productions.
From 1946-1948 Asherov was a member of Jewish paramilitary resistance organisation, the Palmach, and during Israel’s1948 War of Independence he served with the Israeli military’s National Musical Troupe. After completing his national service, Asherov had a brief stint with the Li-La-Lo Theatre company before rejoining Habima in 1955 where he then went on to play the prosecutor in the production of The Caine Mutiny. The following year, he became a member of the Habima Collective and in 1958, he was elected to serve a theatre board member. Asherov would spend the next three decades on the Habima stages before his eventual retirement from acting in 1989.
Highlights of his stage credits include Othello, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Visit, The Teahouse of the August Moon, A Doll’s House, The Father, Look Back in Anger, Miss Julie, Julius Caesar, and Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Highlights of his film credits include Impossible on Saturday (Alex Joffé, 1965), Is Tel Aviv Burning? (Kobi Jaeger, 1967), Three Days and a Child (Uri Zohar, 1967), and Kazablan (Menahem Golan, 1973).
Asherov was married three times. His second wife was actor Dalia Friedland. Together, they had a daughter – actor and musician, Ayala Asherov. His third wife was actor Bilha Moss, with whom he co-founded the Bimama Children’s theatre. Moss and Asherov also had a daughter together – actor Chen Asherov.
In 2000, Asherov was awarded the Israeli Theatre’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
