Ilanit Ben-Yaakov

Ilanit Ben-Yaakov was born in 1973 in Beersheba

Ilanit Ben-Yaakov was born on March 20, 1973, in Beersheba. As a teenager she moved to Lehavim.

In 1997 she began studying at the School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem. Her final project was an adult adaptation of the children's story Hanale and the Sabbath Dress. It was staged at the Acco Festival, around Israel and at puppet theater festivals in Europe.

Her first lead role was in the 2002 film Was Great. She went on to play supporting roles in films and television series, and in 2008 and 2009 she appeared in the daily drama Exposed. In 2012 she won the acting award at the Jerusalem Film Festival for the lead role in the film Alice.

In 2019 the series Fifty premiered with her in the lead role, which earned her a Television Academy award for comic actress. She later appeared in The Heiress, the fourth season of The Vanished and the second season of The Well. She is also on the staff of the local magazine Kvish Arbaim and has published poems in it.

In January 2008 she married journalist and social activist Maoz Dagani, and they have a daughter and a son. Her brother Lior was killed fighting militants during the October 7 attack.