Biography
Inspired by his experiences in the Israeli military, actor Lior Raz co-wrote, co-produced and starred in one of his homeland's biggest TV exports, the critically-acclaimed political thriller "Fauda" (Yes Oh, 2015-). Born in Ma'ale Adumim, Israel in 1971 to a MoD worker father and teacher mother, Raz spent his early adulthood as a member of the Israel Defense Forces' elite Duvdevan Unit. After leaving the military in 1993 he relocated to the US where he was hired as Arnold Schwarzenegger's bodyguard. Raz then decided to follow in the Austrian's acting footsteps after moving back to Israel, studying at Nissan Nativ Drama School in Tel Aviv and treading the boards in various productions. He made his screen debut playing a cave guard in action movie "Delta Force One: The Lost Patrol" (2000), and later appeared as a referee in teen football series "Reds" (yes, 2003-04), starred in short films "Chakalaka" (2006) and "Nachtgebet" (2008), and enjoyed minor roles in reality TV satire "Joy" (2005), decade-spanning drama "It All Begins at Sea" (2008) and father-and-son tale "Eli & Ben" (2008). Raz landed his first recurring role as Eran Atlas in legal drama "Gerushim Niflaim" (yes, 2008) before showing up in coming-of-age "The Flood" (2010), counter-terrorist tale "Policeman" (2011) and touching dramedy "The World Is Funny" (2012). Raz also bagged the recurring roles of Asael in political series "Prime Minister's Children" (Channel 2, 2011-12), Nissan Taytel in espionage thriller "The Gordin Cell" (yes, 2012) and Shmulik in gritty drama "Scarred" (HOT3, 2013-16), and played the titular character's husband in the heartwarming "The Kindergarten Teacher" (2014). Raz's international profile then grew considerably when he co-created "Fauda" (Yes Oh, 2015-18) alongside Avi Issacharoff, the Israeli journalist he'd been stationed with in the Israel Defense Forces. Raz also starred in the political thriller as leading man Doron Kavillio, a former IDF unit commander who comes out of retirement to track down the Hamas terrorist previously assumed dead. Depicting both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the show received plaudits across the world, with The New York Times hailing it as the best international show of 2017. During its run, Raz also played Amos in secret agent drama "Dumb" (HOT, 2016), Shaul in detective series "Landing on Their Feet" (Channel 2, 2017) and the Magdala Community Leader in biblical biopic "Mary Magdalene" (2018). Raz then starred alongside Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley as real-life Israeli spymaster Isser Harel in "Operation Finale" (2018), a historical thriller based on the quest to find Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.
