Film and televisionשמואל וילוז'ני

Shmuel Vilozny

Shmuel "Shmulik" Vilozny is an Israeli actor, stand-up comedian and theater director, known as one of the founders of stand-up comedy in Israel.

born 1954Pioneering Israeli stand-up comedyFounding the Camel Comedy ClubStage roles at Habima and Cameri

Born: 10 January 1954, Ramat Gan
Occupation: theatre director, actor, stand-up comedian, stage actor
Education: Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts

Shmuel Vilozny was born in 1954 in Ramat Gan

Vilozny was born in Ramat Gan in 1954. His father Mordecai was a Holocaust survivor and worked as a youth counselor at the Hadassim children's village, where Vilozny grew up after Sde Yaakov. He finished high school at Thelma Yellin and studied dance as a young man.

In 1973 he served in the Northern Command performing troupe. He graduated from the Beit Zvi acting school in 1979.

After seeing a comic street show abroad, he began performing stand-up in Israel, a new style there at the time. He founded the Camel Comedy Club in Tel Aviv, where young comedians emerged. He later performed less stand-up and turned to theater and screen acting.

He acted at Habima, the Library Theater and the Beer Sheva Theatre, and directed plays for Habima in the 1990s. In 2003 he moved to the Cameri Theater after 9 years at Habima. His films, mostly from the 1980s, include The Dormitory and Tel Aviv-Berlin.

In 1995 he produced a documentary about his relationship with his father and their journey to Auschwitz. He was also elected to the Tel Aviv-Yafo city council.