Noa Tishby

Noa Tohar Tishby (; born May 22, 1975) is an Israeli actress, writer, producer and activist.
Early life.
Noa Tishby was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (of Russian-Jewish, Polish-Jewish, and Austrian-Jewish descent). As an adult, Tishby was told by a Kabbalah Rabbi that she should have a middle name, subsequently she has chosen "Tohar" that means purity in Hebrew.
Tishby served for two years in the Israel Defense Forces as a singer in a military band.
Career.
Tishby received a drama scholarship to the Tel Aviv National Museum of Arts and went on to play the lead in the Israel's soap opera "Ramat Aviv Gimmel". Tishby also appeared in "Five Minutes Walking" and the drama "2.3 Times a Week" playing a singer called Ella. Her album "Nona" was the first full English-speaking album released by an Israeli artist. "Nona" was also released in Japan by Virgin Records.
In the United States, Tishby appeared in Michael Bay's "The Island" with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. She also was cast in leading roles in the indie films "Fatwa" and "Connecting Dots" – the latter film winning first prize at the NY and LA Independent Film Festival. Tishby's television credits include "NCIS", "Leverage", "CSI: Miami", "CSI: NY", "Nip/Tuck", "The 4400", "Las Vegas", and "Star Trek: Enterprise".
She recently appeared in the Showtime drama "The Affair", and completed shooting the third season of her talk show "Life By Noa Tishby".
As producer.
As a producer, Tishby made history with the sale of "In Treatment" to HBO: the first Israeli television show to become an American series. She co-produced the 12 Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated, and Peabody Award-winning "In Treatment" alongside Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson. With that first sale, Tishby created a market that did not exist before: the sale of Israeli TV formats in the U.S.
Following "In Treatment", Tishby formed and headed a joint venture between ITV Studios US and Israel's major network, Reshet, to develop, create and produce TV content made in Israel for the international market. The company was the first to bring a U.S. production to film in Israel with a game show for CBS. Tishby sold numerous TV projects to major TV networks in the US among them HBO, Showtime, ABC, CBS, Comedy Central and MTV.
In 2008, Tishby's production company, "Noa’s Arc", signed deals on three potential television projects, none of which went into US production, based on existing Israeli series: "Screenz" and "A Touch Away" with HBO and a comedy with MTV.
In October 2020, it was announced that HBO ordered a fourth season of Tishby's Emmy-winning drama "In Treatment". Uzo Aduba has been set to topline the series, which will debut on HBO Max in 2021.
As author.
After years of publicly speaking and writing about Israel, Tishby has written a book intended to explain Israel in a clear and relatable way. This first book "Israel: a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth", was published on April 6, 2021 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Politics.
Following the 2010 MV "Mavi Marmara" flotilla incident, Tishby took to Twitter to defend Israel's actions, and founded the first Israel-focused online advocacy and rapid response organization, Act For Israel, becoming a powerful voice for Israel and the Middle East. In 2014 Tishby initiated a partnership between The Schusterman Foundation and Summit Series and co-created Reality Israel, a series of leadership trips to Israel for Jews and non-Jews alike. Reality is now responsible for bringing over 1500 professionals in tech, music, food, sports and the arts and sciences to Israel. She was recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Jews in the World and was on "Hollywood Reporter"'s Women in Power list of international executives.
Presently, Tishby is a keynote speaker and panelist at events around the world and has appeared in such venues as the United Nations General Assembly, raising awareness against BDS in 2016, and the UN Salutes Israeli Innovation event in 2019. She is a contributor to publications such as "The Huffington Post", "Jerusalem Post", "The Jewish Journal", "Tablet" and Ynet, where she writes about policy, culture and international relations.
Personal life.
Tishby was married to Australian media personality, Andrew Günsberg from 2008 to 2011.
In November 2015, she welcomed the birth of her first child with her American partner Ross Hinkle, a son named Ari Ford Tishby Hinkle. They resided in the U.S.