Ami Mandelman

Ami Mandelman was born in 1950 in Haifa

Mandelman was born in Haifa in 1950 and grew up in the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood. His mother Esther was born in Stolin and came to the country in 1936. His father Meir was born in Stopnica, Poland, arrived in 1939, and served in the Irgun and later in the Givati Brigade.

His parents sent him to a private tutor to learn the accordion, and later he took up the guitar under the influence of The Beatles. As a teenager he formed a band called HaAtalefim with his brother Yanki.

In the army he served in a Hawk missile unit in Sinai during the War of Attrition, then joined the Artillery Corps band. There he formed the trio Af Ozen Garon with Yuval Dor and Kiki Rothstein, which released one album.

In 1975 the trio joined singer Shlomit Aharon in the show Hakol Over Habibi, which became a band active until 2002. Mandelman also dubbed Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z, Pumbaa in The Lion King and Mr. Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants, and voiced Goofy since 1989. He directed Hebrew dubbing for films such as Shrek and acted in shows such as Shemesh.

He is married with three children, Daniel, Yonatan and Roi, who also work in dubbing. He lives in Herzliya.