Yehzkel Lazarov is a multidisciplinary Israeli creator and performer with an extensive background in theater, dance, film, and artistic entrepreneurship. Lazarov is a director, actor, playwright, choreographer, set designer, dancer, movement director, curator, educator, and artistic director. Since June 2022, he has served as the head of the School of Performing Arts at Seminar Kibbutzim College.

Lazarov grew up in Tel Aviv in a traditional Jewish family with roots in Bukhara and Bulgaria. From the age of eight, he danced and performed as a tap dancer in musicals, TV shows, and in the 1985 Pessach Festival. In his youth, he was a member of a youth dance troupe, and after finishing his studies at the "Telma Yellin" high school, he joined the Israeli Air Force's dance troupe.

In 1993, Lazarov joined the Batsheva Dance Company, where he danced for four years and participated in works such as "Anaphaza", "Kir", "Mabool", "Zina", "The Sinking of the Titanic", "Perpetuum", "Dance Party" and many more.

 

In 2001, Lazarov traveled to London to attend theater workshops at the "Actors Centre", and upon his return, he joined the acting ensemble at the Gesher Theater, performing in a wide range of productions including "The Servant", "City", "Village", "Shusha", "In Two Voices", "The Good Person of Szechwan", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and "The Threepenny Opera". For his role in this production as Macheath, he won the Theater Prize for Promising Actor.

Lazarov also made a significant impact at the Cameri Theater, performing in plays such as "The Great Sea", "Was It or Wasn't It", "Stempenu", "Yentel", "The Aristocrats", and "The Chorus Line". In all the productions he performed in, Lazarov also created the choreography. He has won three Theater Prizes for Choreographer of the Year. Currently, he can be seen on stage playing the role of Michael Minty in the play "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" at the Habima Theater.

 

In August 2018, Lazarov appeared in the Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof" as Tevye the Milkman. He embarked on a tour across dozens of cities in the United States, finishing in 2022 after more than 600 performances.

Lazarov has appeared in about 40 roles in TV series and films. Selected series include "Florentin", "The Distance", "Mama's Angel", "Taagad", "Shemesh", "Pamata", "Five Men and a Wedding", "Emale", "Ananda", and more. In 2016, he appeared in two Russian TV series: the Russian version of "The Mentalist", where he played the lead role, and a Russian TV adaptation of the life story of "Mata Hari." In 2023, he played the lead role in the series "Aviram Katz", which aired on Channel 11, and was nominated for an acting award. His major breakthrough in public recognition occurred in 1997, when he starred in the film "Forbidden Love" (The Dybbuk), for which he was nominated for Best Actor at the Ophir Awards. Lazarov has also appeared in many feature films, including "The Debt", "Waltz with Bashir", "Three Mothers", "In the Fifth Heaven", "The World Is Funny", "The End of Innocence", "The Kindergarten Teacher", and more.

 

Lazarov is a renowned theater director and creator. For each production he directs, he is also the adapter, playwright, set designer, and movement director. 

Director and set designer: "Orpheus and Eurydice", Israeli Opera, 2024.

Founder, artistic director, adapter, and director: "Mitcha Figa - The Superfluous Man", an adaptation of Ivan Goncharov's novel "Oblomov", premiered at the Heichal Hatarbut (Culture Hall) in January 2022. This multidisciplinary cultural initiative was created in collaboration with Yu Productions, Mitya Figa, and the Heichal Hatarbut. In 2023, the production was presented at festivals in Kosovo and Shanghai.

Playwright, director, and set designer: "Any Hour On the Hour", Gesher Theater, 2021.

Adapter, director, and set designer: "Lolita Jeanne d'Arc", Gesher Theater, 2019.

Director, adapter, set designer, and movement director: "Fathers and Sons", based on Ivan Turgenev, Gesher Theater, 2018.

Director, adapter, set designer, and movement director: "The Picture of Dorian Gray", based on Oscar Wilde, Habima Theater, 2011.

Director, editor, and set designer: "Desire for the Evening", short silent scripts by Hanoch Levin, 2016.

Director and set designer: "Alice" (inspired by Lewis Carroll's books), written by Roy Chen, Gesher Theater, 2015.

Adapter, director, and set designer: "Falling Out Of  Time", based on David Grossman's novel, Gesher Theater, 2014.

Director and set designer: "The Orange Blossoms", written by Joshua Sobol, Tmuna Theater, * Fringe Prize for Stage Language, 2014.

Playwright, director, and set designer: "Igloo", premiered at the Israel Festival, translated into Polish, Prague Festival *Winner of the Fringe Prize for Direction, 2014.

Director: "Stempeniou" (co-directed with Edna Maziya), Cameri Theater, 2012.

Lazarov has also written and directed short films such as "Snow", "Beach Without a Lifeguard", and "Lashabiya", which have been presented in festivals in Israel and abroad.

Lazarov is also an active creator and initiator in the visual arts field, having exhibited his works as a photographer and video artist in several exhibitions in Israel. He curated multidisciplinary exhibitions such as "Boydem" (2011-12), "Conflict in Motion", "Art to Survive", "Demonstration", "Censorship", "Hope", and "Physical". In 2004, he served as the artistic director of "Intimadance".

 

In 2014, Lazarov co-founded and initiated the "Ankori Studio", a creative thinking and entrepreneurship school offering a culture of learning through art for children from grades 7 to 12. At Ankori Studio, he serves as the artistic director. The school provides students with the skills to develop creative thinking and encourages entrepreneurship through art. The curriculum integrates various media and disciplines, fostering interdisciplinary research-based thinking. Students work toward obtaining a full and high-quality high school diploma, including a unique 5-credit interdisciplinary arts diploma, developed by the founders Osnat Bar-Koton and Yehzkel Lazarov, in accordance with the educational philosophy of the school, and approved by the Ministry of Education.

 

Since June 2022, Lazarov is the head of the School of Performing Arts at Seminar Kibbutzim College, where he oversees four programs: a four-year Bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts for secondary education (B.Ed.F.A.), a teaching certificate, a three-year acting school diploma program, a two-year Bachelor’s program for actor-creators with teaching certification, and a preparatory program for the acting school.

Lazarov is married to Elin Lazarov and is the father of three daughters.