Dvir Benedek

Dvir Benedek was born in 1969 in Kiryat Chaim

Benedek was born on 29 December 1969 and grew up in Kiryat Chaim. He attended Rodman High School in Kiryat Yam and was a member of the HaMahanot HaOlim youth movement.

He served in the IDF in the Nahal during the First Intifada in the Gaza Strip. After his release he traveled the world and drove a taxi in Australia. Back in Israel he studied theater and finished at Tel Aviv University in 1997.

He worked at the Tzavta club as an actor, stagehand, lighting man and technical manager. He acted with Habima, Haifa Theatre, Gesher and the Cameri, and played Shrek in the Israeli production of the musical in 2010. On screen he appeared in series such as HaMisrad and films such as The Attack, and voiced Po in Kung Fu Panda.

For 5 years until October 2012 he chaired the board of Shaham, the Israeli actors union. In March 2016 he resigned as head of the fringe section of the Israel Council for Culture and Art in protest of Culture Minister Miri Regev's policy. He lives in Givatayim with his wife, actress Irit Natan Benedek, and their daughter.