He’s been described as ‘a painter with payot who turns into a pin-up’. This with reference to his role as Akiva Shtisel, the sensitive lovelorn artist in a Charedi community in the Netflix break-out hit Shtisel. There’s more to Michael Aloni though than just a pretty face. Certainly, he’s Hollywood handsome, 5ft 11in with mesmerising green blue eyes. He’s charming as well as acutely intelligent and erudite, passionate about his work and his country.
Here he is then, in my kitchen. All right, not an actual physical presence but on my laptop on Zoom as is the way of things these days. I could have sold tickets to the number of girlfriends who just wanted to ‘pop round’, such is his heartthrob status. He is already taken though and has been dating neuroscience student Moriya Lombroso for the past three years. Together they have a Rottweiler puppy, Bruce, the other love of Aloni’s life.
“He’s a rescue dog. He had been abandoned at the age of three months. There’s a house in the south of Tel Aviv, where they breed Rottweilers for fights. They thought Bruce wasn’t good enough and threw him out. And he was found badly injured. We went to the shelter, and he jumped up right from the cage and looked me straight in the eyes. And I thought to myself, ‘whoa, that’s me and the dog!’ He’s just a little teddy bear, he’s a sweetheart,” Aloni tells me, his accent more American than Israeli.
He is the voice of Paddington in the Hebrew dubbed versions of the films; “I loved Paddington when I was a kid so to get the job was fantastic. But the best thing is, Bruce loves him too. We were given Paddington bears at the première in Israel and Bruce sleeps with our Paddington every night.”
He’s interrupting a short break in Greece to talk. The look, large brimmed black baseball cap emblazed with ‘Bee Someone’, cool white linen T shirt and blue tinted sun specs casually dangling from the neckline, couldn’t be further from Akiva Shtisel. Only the beard is similar.
Until 2018, Shtisel was a piece of work in Aloni’s past. It was hugely successful in Israel where the first two series aired in 2013. Netflix picked up the show in 2018 and it remarkably gathered a massive international following of both Jews and non-Jews. Several groups of fans were spawned on social media with tens of thousands of members, all demanding more. The cast reunited to make series three which landed on Netflix last April.
“To be honest, when I first read the scripts, I couldn’t see how anyone in Israel would watch it, let alone the rest of world” says Aloni, “It was so beautifully written though I just thought ‘let’s just make something wonderful, who cares if nobody sees it?’ I am amazed at its popularity. There’s no sex or violence or car chases. But there are beautiful stories though.”
He likens Shtisel to Mad Men the iconic series about a Madison Avenue advertising business in the 1960s. “I think it’s that same sort of culture shock! And of course, the smoking!” he laughs referring to the number of cigarettes the Shtisel characters consume. “It’s a story about humanity and about people. Akiva has a very poetic soul trying as an artist, he’s struggling to put his truth out there. He always sees the best in people and to be honest I think that’s a good thing. He has a certain naivety too but again that’s not so bad, better than being cynical.”
It’s brought Aloni international fame, and Hollywood beckons. He’s recently finished a series for the US broadcaster HBO and is in talks for other roles.
Aloni has been famous in Israel since 2005 when he was spotted by a casting agent and immediately given a role in a hit teen tv show, The Eight. Within months his life changed, and he was recognised all over the country.
“It seemed like it was a split second!” he tells me, adding that he doesn’t really mind the fame; “I think for me, to have the ability to connect and to kind of influence or touch someone is unique. And I feel very thankful and blessed for having the ability to do that and at least entertain people.”
He may appreciate that aspect but as his fame is now spreading internationally it’s also evident that he’s keen to protect his privacy. He answers personal questions guardedly, wanting always to get back to the safe ground of his work.
He grew up in Tel Aviv with an older sister; his mother is a lawyer and his father an accountant. As a youngster, Aloni excelled in maths and physics; “I was convinced I was going to change the world with some big scientific discovery” he says.
After his military service, he took a series of jobs to fund a planned trip to India. It was during one of these, handing out flyers in a shopping mall, that he was spotted. After the success of The Eight, he took time out to study drama at the acclaimed Nissan Nativ studio in Tel Aviv. “So yes, my life changed! I love acting but now I’m also very involved in the creative side of things; I wrote and directed a short film a few years ago and would like to do more of that.”
Aloni published a book of novellas nine years ago, and now the title story feels eerily predictive: “The title story is Love in the Time of Flu about a pandemic, it’s in the form of a flu! I was shocked to read back my own words. I’m describing how there’s lockdowns and how you have to study or work from home and the vaccine is on the way. I really honestly don’t know what made me write this!”
Talking of the pandemic, brings us to his latest hit in Israel, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem based on the bestselling epic novel by Sarit Yishai Levey focusing on the lives of a Sephardi family throughout the Turkish and British occupation up until the forming of the State of Israel. The 22-part series was filmed in Safed last year with all the cast quarantining together and forming a bubble. The series, produced by Yes Studios who produced Shtisel and the other mega Israeli hit Fauda, aired in Israel in June and has already taken the country by a storm. Talks are under way for the series to be taken up by international streamers.
Aloni plays Gavriel Ermosa, a character who has to age 50 years during the course of the series; “I cried on nearly every page!” says Aloni about reading the book initially; “It’s a unique story about the politics and complexities of the time. I think the makeup artists on the series did an amazing job with all of us. It takes a lot of time and dedication in the makeup room to sit down for like at least two or three hours, to change and you do it maybe once or twice a day, as the action moves between the times. Watching movies like Benjamin Button and all those like epic stories where as an actor, you have the chance to travel time, you have the strong sense of the growth of the character and this is the same.”
The cast became incredibly close says Aloni; “We were all quarantined together and suffered being away from our families for a long period of time, the crew and the cast, really bonded together. We can’t be separated even until today! There’s always something about getting together or another episode has aired! We just can’t get enough of one another!” he says, laughing.
About to be released in the UK is his most recent film, Plan A, set in Germany in 1945 centring on the true story of a group of Jewish vigilantes who develop a plan to take monstrous revenge against the German people for the Holocaust: by poisoning the water system in Germany, to kill six million Germans. The film is based on the book Nakam, meaning revenge, by Israeli historian Dina Porat.
“It’s an interesting premise ‘revenge’” says Aloni, “it’s all based on reality, so this is very fascinating. Doron and Yoav Paz who wrote and directed the film did interview real ‘avengers’. That time in Germany after the war was strange, they were trying to rebuild the country and there was still a lot of bigotry and suspicion.”
Another Netflix hit in which Aloni stars is When Heroes Fly, a drama about four members of a military unit, all suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Aloni is involved with Natal, a trauma and resiliency centre for veterans suffering with PTSD; “It’s what we call the transparent wound,” he says “When you come from the war, and you are injured, people see it. You have scars that are visible, but with PTSD, it’s something that stays there. Even for life, and no one can see it and on the surface you look like anyone else, but deep inside you’re broken and each and every character in the story of When Heroes Fly is haunted by the past.”
Aloni was a Gadna commander during his military service, preparing younger people for the armed forces.
“When the series came out here in Israel a few friends from my service days called me and confessed about everything that they were carrying. I was very moved, to be honest.” The format has been taken up by Apple TV who are making a US version of the drama.
On a much lighter note, Aloni has also been the host of the Israeli version of The Voice for the past six years. Visions of Shtisel the Musical suddenly come into my mind: “Ha ha, I don’t think you will ever see that,” he laughs, “I can sing but would never do so in public. I would be too embarrassed! The Voice is such a big show and a fun show. You know you get to hear so many talented voices there on the show, which is amazing.”
Excitement alert! Aloni reveals he’s in talks to appear in the West End! Having appeared in Israel in the play Bent, Martin Sherman’s play about the Nazi persecution of homosexuality, he’s keen to do more theatre; “I would love to come to the UK and perform in your beautiful West End theatres. I have been in touch with a producer there and we want to make something happen. There is an amazing play that we all read together and we’re just waiting to see if we can make it work. You know the whole thing of people coming back to the theatre after Covid, how is it all going to work?”
He has several projects in the pipeline, mainly now in the US and all very hush hush. As we wrap up, I ask him how he coped during the recent outbreak of violence again in Israel. “I was OK. I just thought that the future will be a smart one together if we could overcome those differences and to find a path for the other. To be able to just grow and have a peaceful quiet life in the Middle East, with more understanding and more love.”
Like his alter ego Akiva Shtisel, Michael Aloni sees the best in people and travels optimistically.
