Noa Tishby

Noa Tohar Tishby is an Israeli actress, producer, author and activist whose career has moved between American entertainment and international public advocacy. She has acted in Israeli and American film and television, but her most distinctive contribution extends beyond the screen: as a producer, she helped bring the Israeli format BeTipul to American audiences; as an advocate, she became one of the most recognisable public voices for Israel, Jewish identity and the fight against antisemitism.

Tishby was born in Tel Aviv in May 1975 into a Jewish family connected with the founding of Israel. Her grandfather co-founded one of the country’s early kibbutzim. She began appearing in commercials as a child and, as a teenager, received a drama scholarship from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Alongside her early stage and television work, she served for two and a half years in the Israel Defense Forces.

From the Israeli stage to American screens

Tishby became known in Israel during the 1990s, notably through the television drama Ramat Aviv Gimmel and her performance as Anita in a production of West Side Story at Habima Theatre. She also recorded an English-language album, Nona, and worked as a model, appearing on magazine covers and billboards. In the early 2000s she moved to Los Angeles, an ambition she had held since childhood.

In the United States she built a career through a succession of television roles. Her credits included Star Trek: Enterprise, Nip/Tuck, CSI, The 4400, Charmed, Big Love, NCIS, Leverage, Valentine, Dig and The Affair. Her film work included The Island, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Fatwa; she also provided the Hebrew voice of Megara in Hercules.

Taking Israeli storytelling to the world

Tishby’s most significant professional achievement as a producer was selling the Israeli drama series BeTipul to HBO. The American adaptation, In Treatment, which premiered in 2008, was the first Israeli television format to become an American television series. Tishby served as co-executive producer alongside Mark Wahlberg and was involved in the production of 106 episodes across three seasons broadcast from 2008 to 2010. The series returned for a fourth season in 2021, with Tishby again serving as co-executive producer.

In Treatment brought a drama built around fictional psychotherapy sessions to an international audience and won a Peabody Award in 2009. Its importance reached beyond its artistic success: it demonstrated that a story developed for Israeli television could become a major American production without losing its human depth. Through her production company, Noa’s Arc, Tishby went on to develop and sell adaptations of other Israeli programmes, including A Touch Away and Life Isn’t Everything, which became the American television film Divorce: A Love Story.

Advocacy for Israel and Jewish pride

From 2011 onwards, advocacy for Israel became a central part of Tishby’s public work. She founded Act for Israel, an online Zionist advocacy organisation whose stated purpose was to address misinformation about Israel’s history, culture and government policies. In March 2011, the organisation helped arrange seven interviews between an Israel Defense Forces delegation and American blogs and radio programmes.

In 2014 she founded Reality Israel, which organises leadership trips in Israel for Jewish and non-Jewish participants. The initiative sought to connect visitors with the country through direct encounters with Israeli society and the issues shaping it. Tishby also addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2016 and 2018, and in 2021 joined the Black–Jewish Entertainment Alliance, a framework linking Jewish and African-American communities in the entertainment world.

In July 2017, Tishby hosted the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games, a major event in international Jewish sporting life. In April 2022, Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid appointed her Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel. She was the first person to hold the newly created position, serving until April 2023.

Writing, education and public conversation

In 2021 Tishby published her first book, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth, with Simon & Schuster. Combining Israeli history and culture with autobiographical material, the book presents a clear Zionist perspective and was designed to give readers without specialist knowledge a basic framework for understanding Israel, its society and the arguments surrounding it.

In 2024 Simon & Schuster published her second book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew, co-written with African-American activist Emmanuel Acho. The book addresses antisemitism and Jewish identity and received the Education and Jewish Identity Award at the National Jewish Book Awards.

That year Tishby founded Eighteen, a non-profit media organisation of which she is chief executive. Its stated mission is to empower Jews and allies to be proud advocates for Israel, the Jewish community and Western values, while fighting antisemitism and inspiring Jewish pride. During Hanukkah 2024, Eighteen produced a series of menorah-lighting videos in which Tishby appeared with a different well-known figure each night, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Mila Kunis, Mayim Bialik, Iliza Shlesinger, Van Jones, Cindy Crawford, Tiffany Haddish and Gal Gadot.

In 2025 Eighteen launched the Voices of October 7 speaking tour, hosted at six American campuses. In 2026 the organisation produced a kindergarten-to-Year-12 curriculum about Judaism and Israel, titled What is. In April 2026, the Los Angeles Unified School District unanimously passed a motion recognising May as Jewish American Heritage Month and encouraging the use of the curriculum.

The significance of her work

Tishby’s career spans entertainment, production, writing, education and public advocacy, yet these strands are closely connected. As a producer, she opened a route for Israeli television into the American market. As an author, she set out accessible explanations of Israel, antisemitism and Jewish identity for readers who may not come from Jewish backgrounds. As an advocate, she made Israeli and Jewish identity a visible part of public and entertainment culture.

In 2022 Tishby became the 11,000th signatory of the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign encouraging American Jews to designate at least half of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes. In 2024 Reichman University awarded her an honorary doctorate in recognition of her contribution to the State of Israel since 7 October.

Why Noa Tishby merits inclusion in the Moreshet archive

Noa Tishby merits inclusion in the Moreshet archive because her work connects three influential spheres: Israeli culture, Israel’s international representation and Jewish life in the Diaspora. Her role in transforming BeTipul into In Treatment helped establish Israeli television as a source of ideas with global reach. Through organisations, books and educational initiatives, she has also worked to strengthen Jewish knowledge, Jewish pride and the ability to confront antisemitism.

Her story reflects the movement of Israelis and Jews between local cultural stages and international public life, and shows how creative success can become a platform for civic engagement. Because her work has shaped how Israel, Judaism and Jewish identity are presented to broad audiences, Tishby’s place in Moreshet helps document an important chapter in contemporary Israeli culture and Jewish life. On Moreshet.com, she represents the connection between artistic achievement, advocacy, education and public leadership.