Juliano Mer-Khamis

Juliano Mer-Khamis was born in 1958 in Nazareth

Mer-Khamis was born in Nazareth in 1958 to Arna Mer, a Jewish activist, and Saliba Khamis, an Arab Christian and a leader in the Israeli Communist Party. His maternal grandfather was the malaria researcher Gideon Mer. He went to school in Haifa.

In 1977 he joined the Paratroopers Brigade and later served in the Medical Corps. After his service he studied dance and mime in London, then returned to Israel to study acting at Beit Zvi.

His first film role came in 1984 in The Little Drummer Girl, and he went on to act in Israeli films such as Wedding in Galilee, Kippur and Kedma. He performed with Habima, Beit Lessin and the Haifa Theatre, and was nominated for an Ophir Award in 2002.

In 2003 he directed the documentary Arna's Children, about his mother's theater for children in Jenin. In 2006 he opened The Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp with Zakaria Zubeidi and others. He also taught acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv.

On 4 April 2011 a masked gunman shot him 5 times in his car in Jenin. He was buried at Kibbutz Ramot Menashe beside his mother. His wife Jenny Nyman later gave birth to twins.