Raz Degan is an actor, director, and cinematographer, born in a

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Sde Nehemia Sde Nehemia ( he, שְׂדֵה נְחֶמְיָה, ''lit.'' Nehemia's Field) (Sde Nehemya) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to Ilan and Adina Degan; he has two brothers who also live and work abroad. At the age of 21, and after three years military service in the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branch ...

, he became a

male model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though ...

and began traveling. He has had exhibitions throughout 2014–2016 in Italy, Israel, and Indonesia.

Career

Degan was initially discovered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

as a male model, and subsequently worked in the film industry. By the mid-1990s, Degan was based in Italy and starred in a series of Italian commercials; he also had roles in several television films and played minor parts in cinematographic films. In 1994 he had a cameo role in

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New ...

's 1994 film '' Prêt-à-Porter''. In 2004, he secured the role of Darius III in

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

's film ''

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

''. In 2005 Degan played the lead role in

Ermanno Olmi Ermanno Olmi (24 July 1931 – 7 May 2018)Lane, John Francis (May 7, 2018).Ermanno Olmi obituary. ''The Guardian''. theguardian.com. Retrieved 11 May 2018. was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Biography Olmi was born to a Catholic ...

's film '' One Hundred Nails'' which opened the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival ran from 16 to 27 May 2007. The President of the Jury was British director Stephen Frears. Twenty two films from twelve countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 26 May. '' 4 ...

. In 2008-2009, he continued to star in various Italian film productions playing different roles including hero and villain. In 2009 he co-starred in ''

Barbarossa Barbarossa, a name meaning "red beard" in Italian, primarily refers to: * Frederick Barbarossa (1122–1190), Holy Roman Emperor * Hayreddin Barbarossa (c. 1478–1546), Ottoman admiral * Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Uni ...

'', starring Dutch actor Rutger Hauer in the title role. During 2010, Degan played in the French film ''

Forces spéciales ''Forces spéciales'' ( en, Special Forces) is a 2011 French war adventure film directed by Stéphane Rybojad and starring Diane Kruger, Djimon Hounsou, Denis Ménochet, Benoît Magimel, Mehdi Nebbou, and Tchéky Karyo. Filmed on location in Fra ...

'' alongside

Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( Heidkrüger; ; born 15 July 1976) is a German and American actress. Early in her career, Kruger gained worldwide recognition and received the Trophée Chopard from the Cannes Film Festival. Kruger became known for her roles in ...

and

Djimon Hounsou Djimon Gaston Hounsou (; ; born April 24, 1964) is a Beninese-American actor and model. He began his career appearing in music videos. He made his film debut in '' Without You I'm Nothing'' (1990) and earned widespread recognition for his role as ...

. After filming was completed, Degan continued travelling in Tajikistan and Afghanistan across the

Pamir Mountains The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the wor ...

range, and then into Tibet and Nepal shooting short documentaries for Italian television. Also in 2010 Degan hosted "Mistero" on Italia1 for two seasons, making several documentaries. In 2013, Degan worked as the director of photography for the documentary '' The Green Prince'', which received several awards including the Audience Award for World Cinema – Documentary at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

. He was also nominated for several awards for his cinematography. Degan made his directorial debut in 2016 after spending a few years travelling through the Peruvian Amazon working on an international feature documentary called ''The Last Shaman''. The film was executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and was released in 2017.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

*
Interview on Italian television program Verissimo on Canale5
{{DEFAULTSORT:Degan, Raz 1968 births Living people Israeli expatriates in Italy Israeli male film actors Israeli male models Israeli male television actors Jewish male models