Yaniv Rokah is an Israeli-American actor-

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

Early life

Yaniv Rokah grew up on the Mediterranean in

Netanya Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, Israel. As a young adult, he moved to New York to become an actor.

Career

Rokah moved to New York in 1999, and to Los Angeles in 2006. He attended New York's

Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, a ...

. Although Rokah landed some small acting roles, he first came to wider attention for his 2015 documentary film,

Queen Mimi ''Queen Mimi'' is a 2015 documentary film about the life of Marie Haist, an octogenarian homeless woman who lived in a Santa Monica laundromat for 18 years, directed by Yaniv Rokah and produced by Elliot V Kotek. Release The film was selected f ...

. The project was funded on

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

. The subject of the documentary, Marie 'Mimi' Haist, was a homeless woman living in a

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

frequented by young, unknown actors and helping them do their laundry. Rokah decided to make a film about her. The film garnered substantial publicity while still in production when actor

Zach Galifianakis Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in ''Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show ''Late World with Zach'' on VH1. Galifianakis has starred in films including ''Th ...

, who had since become successful with ''The Hangover'' series, arranged to give her an apartment, which

Renée Zellweger Renée Kathleen Zellweger (; born April 25, 1969) is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, she was one of the world's highest-paid ...

furnished.

Filmography

* ''

'' (documentary): "Forced onto the streets in her 50s, Marie “Mimi” Haist found “home” between two rows of washers at a Santa Monica laundromat. After taking shelter there for more than 20 years, 88-year-old Mimi gets her own apartment."

plays himself in the film. * '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' as a supporting actor. * '' The Beast'' as a supporting actor. * ''Kendra'' ( YouTube series). * ''

Dig Digging, also referred to as excavation, is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, manual tools or heavy equipment, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil, sand or rock (geology), rock on the surface of Earth. Di ...

'' (TV series)'' '' * ''

World War Z ''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' is a 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel written by American author Max Brooks. The novel is broken into eight chapters: “Warnings”, “Blame”, “The Great Panic”, “Turning the Ti ...

'' as a supporting actor.

References

External links

Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rokah, Yaniv Living people Year of birth missing (living people)