Lior Raz: The Life Story Behind Israel's Fauda Star

Lior Raz is not a movie star in the usual sense. He is a big, quiet man with a soldier’s bearing and an actor’s face, and he became famous around the world for playing Doron Kavillio, the tough, troubled commander at the centre of Fauda, the Israeli television drama about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Fauda is not a gentle show. It is tense, violent, and full of moral questions, and Raz is at its heart, playing a man who does hard things and lives with what they cost him.

He was born on 24 November 1971 in Jerusalem, and his life before acting was the life of a soldier. He served in the Israel Defense Forces in a special forces unit, and he learned the skills that would later make his acting so convincing: how to move, how to watch, how to stay calm under pressure, and how to work as part of a team. When he left the army, he worked for a time as a bodyguard in the United States, guarding famous people, before he came home and decided to become an actor.

That is an unusual path to fame, and it is one that gives his work its weight. Raz does not play a soldier as an actor who has read about soldiers. He plays a soldier as a man who was one, and the difference shows in the smallest details: the way he holds a weapon, the way he enters a room, the way he looks at a person he does not trust. Audiences in many countries have felt that difference, even if they could not name it.

This is the story of a man who went from the army to a bodyguard’s job to a stage, and then to a television show that the whole world watched. It is a story about a late start, about a friendship that became a creative partnership, and about a drama that asked hard questions and refused to give easy answers.

A Jerusalem Childhood and the Road to the Army

Jerusalem in the 1970s and 1980s was a city of stone, of hills, and of history, and Lior Raz grew up there in a home where the city’s tensions were part of everyday life. He was a boy who played in the streets, went to school, and lived with the knowledge that his country was a place of conflict. That knowledge is not something a child chooses. It is something a child absorbs, and it stays with them. For Raz, it would later become the material of his work, but as a boy, it was simply the world he lived in.

He was not a child who dreamed of acting from an early age. He was a strong, physical boy, and he was drawn to sport and to the outdoors. He learned to be tough, to be disciplined, and to work with others, and those qualities would serve him well in the army. School was ordinary, and he did not stand out as a performer. He stood out as a boy who was steady, reliable, and unafraid of hard work.

As he grew older, the question of army service came closer, as it does for every young Israeli. He knew he would serve, and he knew he wanted to serve in a unit that demanded the most from him. He joined the Israel Defense Forces and was placed in Duvdevan, a special forces unit known for its difficult work. The training was hard, the missions were dangerous, and the life was one of discipline and secrecy. Raz learned to live with pressure, to make decisions quickly, and to trust the men beside him.

The army years were formative in a way that few other experiences are. A soldier in a special unit learns to see the world in a particular way: to notice details, to read a room, to understand that a small mistake can have large consequences. He also learns to live with the weight of what he has done, and to carry it quietly. Raz carried that weight, and he carried it into his later work, where it gave his acting a depth that few actors can fake.

When his service ended, he did not go straight to acting school. He went to the United States, where he worked as a bodyguard, guarding famous people, including the actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to reports. A bodyguard’s work is quiet and watchful, and it is about protecting someone else rather than being seen. Raz did that work, and he learned from it, but he also began to feel that he wanted a different life. He wanted to tell stories, not only to guard them.

Bodyguard Years and the Decision to Act

Working as a bodyguard in the United States was a strange life for a young Israeli soldier. He was far from home, living in a country where he was a stranger, and his job was to stand near famous people and keep them safe. The work paid well, and it was interesting, but it was also lonely. A bodyguard is always watching, always ready, and always in the background. Raz was good at it, because the army had taught him to watch and to wait, but he began to wonder if there was more to life than standing in the background.

He also began to think about acting, and about the stories he had lived. He had seen things in the army that few people see, and he had lived a life that few actors understand. He began to feel that those experiences were worth telling, and that he was the person to tell them. That is a big decision for a man in his twenties, and it is one that many people would have called foolish. He had a good job, he had a steady income, and he was living in America. To give that up for acting school was a risk, and Raz took it.

He returned to Israel and began to study acting. Acting school is a different world from the army, and it asks for different skills: to open up, to feel, to show emotion, and to be vulnerable in front of others. For a soldier who had learned to be closed and careful, that was hard. Raz struggled at first, but he kept going, because he believed that the stories he wanted to tell were worth the struggle. He learned to act, and he learned to use his army experience not as a burden, but as a source of truth.

The early years of his acting career were slow. He took small roles, he worked in theatre and in television, and he learned his craft one job at a time. He was not a young star. He was a man in his thirties, starting a new career, and he had to be patient. That patience is a quality that the army had taught him, and it served him well. He did not expect fame at once. He expected to work, and he worked.

He also began to think about writing, and about the kind of stories he wanted to tell. He had a friend, the journalist Avi Issacharoff, who had covered the conflict as a reporter, and the two men began to talk about making a show that would tell the truth about the lives of people on both sides of the conflict. Those talks would become Fauda, but they began as conversations between two men who had seen the conflict up close and who wanted to show it honestly.

Meeting Avi Issacharoff and the Idea for Fauda

Avi Issacharoff was a journalist who had spent years reporting on Palestinian affairs, and he knew the world of the conflict from the inside. Raz knew it from the army, and the two men shared a view that the stories they had seen were not being told on television. The shows about the conflict were often simple, with good people on one side and bad people on the other, and Raz and Issacharoff knew that the truth was more complicated. They wanted to make a show that showed the complications, and that asked the audience to think.

The idea for Fauda grew slowly. Raz and Issacharoff talked about the characters, about the missions, and about the lives of the people who carried them out. They talked about Doron, the commander who leaves retirement to return to the field, and about the team around him. They talked about the Palestinian characters too, and about giving them lives, families, and reasons, rather than making them into simple villains. That was a brave choice, and it was one that made the show different from anything else on Israeli television.

They wrote the show together, and they fought for it. A show about the conflict is not an easy sell, and many people in the television world thought it would be too tense, too political, or too hard for audiences. Raz and Issacharoff believed in it, and they kept working on it. They wrote, they rewrote, and they found a way to make the story work as a drama, not only as a lesson. The result was a show that was thrilling, tense, and full of human moments.

When Fauda premiered on the Israeli channel Yes in 2015, it was a success. Israeli audiences watched it, and they talked about it. The show was in Hebrew and in Arabic, with subtitles, and it asked viewers to listen to both languages. That was unusual, and it was part of what made the show feel real. The actors spoke the languages of the people they played, and the audience heard the conflict in the words themselves.

Raz played Doron, and his performance was the centre of the show. He was tough, he was tired, he was loyal to his team, and he was haunted by what he had done. Audiences believed him, because Raz had lived a version of that life. He was not pretending to be a soldier. He was remembering what it felt like to be one, and that memory gave his acting its power.

Fauda on Netflix and a World That Started Watching

Fauda’s success in Israel was only the beginning. When the show was picked up by Netflix, it reached audiences in many countries, and it became one of the most watched Israeli shows in the world. People in the United States, in Europe, and in other places began to watch it, and they were drawn in by its tension, its characters, and its honesty. A show about a conflict that many viewers knew only from the news became a drama that they followed week after week.

The Netflix audience saw a side of Israel that they had not seen before. They saw the streets, the homes, and the lives of people on both sides of the conflict, and they saw a show that did not give easy answers. Raz’s Doron was not a hero in the simple sense. He was a man who did hard things, who made mistakes, and who lived with the consequences. That complexity is what made the show work for a global audience, because it treated its viewers as adults.

Raz became famous in a way he had never expected. He was recognised on the street, he was interviewed by journalists in many countries, and he was asked about the conflict, about his army service, and about his acting. He answered those questions with care, and he spoke about the show as a drama, not as a political statement. He said that Fauda was about people, and that its job was to show their lives, not to tell the audience what to think. That is a wise answer, and it is one that kept the show’s focus on its characters.

The show ran for several seasons, and each season added new characters, new missions, and new questions. Raz stayed at its centre, and his performance grew deeper with each season. Doron aged, he tired, and he faced new losses, and Raz played those changes with a quiet honesty. The audience watched a man grow older and wearier, and they stayed with him because they believed him.

Fauda also opened doors for Raz as an actor and as a creator. He was invited to work on other projects, and he became known as a writer and producer as well as an actor. That is a rare combination, and it is one that gives him control over the stories he tells. He does not have to wait for someone to give him a role. He can create the role himself, and that is a powerful position for an artist.

Hit & Run, New Roles, and a Career Beyond Fauda

After Fauda, Raz co-created and starred in Hit & Run, a Netflix thriller series released in 2021, in which he played a man searching for the truth about his wife’s death. The show was different from Fauda: it was set in Tel Aviv and in New York, and it was a story about a personal quest rather than about a military unit. But it carried Raz’s mark: a tough, determined man, a tense plot, and a performance that felt real because the actor had lived a life of pressure.

Hit & Run showed that Raz could carry a show that was not about the army, and that his acting worked in other kinds of stories. He played a husband, a father, and a man in grief, and he brought the same quiet intensity to those roles that he had brought to Doron. The show was watched by audiences in many countries, and it confirmed that Raz was not a one-show actor. He was a creator and a performer with a range of stories to tell.

He has also taken roles in other films and television shows, and he has worked as a producer and writer on projects that interest him. He does not take every offer. He chooses work that fits his interests, and he is careful about the stories he tells. That care is part of why his work is trusted. When Lior Raz is involved in a project, audiences know that it will be serious, tense, and honest, and that it will not offer easy answers.

His career beyond Fauda is still growing, and it is likely to include more writing, more producing, and more acting. He is a man who found his calling late, and he is making up for lost time. He works hard, he works carefully, and he works on stories that matter to him. That is a good way to build a career, and it is one that has served him well.

He has also become a public figure in Israel, and he is asked to speak about the conflict, about the army, and about his work. He answers those questions with the same care that he brings to his acting, and he does not pretend to have simple answers. He knows that the conflict is complicated, and he says so. That honesty is rare in public life, and it is one of the reasons people listen to him.

The Weight of Playing Doron and the Questions It Raises

Playing Doron Kavillio for many seasons is not an easy job, and Raz has spoken about the weight of it. Doron is a man who does violent things, who loses people he loves, and who lives with guilt. An actor who plays such a man for years must carry some of that weight himself, and Raz has said that the role stays with him. He does not treat it lightly, and he does not play it for thrills. He plays it as a man who understands the cost of violence, and that understanding gives the show its moral centre.

The show has also raised questions, and Raz has heard them. Some people say that Fauda is too sympathetic to one side, and others say that it is too sympathetic to the other. Raz has answered by saying that the show is a drama, and that its job is to show people, not to take sides. He has also said that he wanted to show the human cost of the conflict, and that the cost is paid by people on both sides. That is a serious answer, and it is one that has kept the show’s reputation as a thoughtful drama.

He has also faced the pressure of being a public figure in a country where the conflict is not an abstract topic. It is a part of everyday life, and a show about it touches real wounds. Raz understands that, and he treats his work with respect. He does not make jokes about the conflict, and he does not use it for cheap thrills. He treats it as a serious subject, and his audience respects him for that.

The role has also changed Raz himself. He has said that playing Doron has made him think more about the choices he made in the army, and about the lives of the people he met there. An actor who brings his own life to a role will always be changed by it, and Raz has been changed by Doron. That change is part of why his performance is so convincing. He is not only acting. He is remembering, and he is asking questions about what he remembers.

In the end, the weight of the role is also its value. A show that asks hard questions, and that refuses to give easy answers, is worth more than a show that only entertains. Fauda does both: it entertains, and it asks questions. Raz is at the centre of both, and he carries the weight with care.

Later Work, Family, and a Legacy of Honest Drama

In recent years, Raz has continued to work as an actor, writer, and producer, and he has taken on projects that reflect his interests in tense, human stories. He lives in Israel, and he works in both Hebrew and English, reaching audiences in many countries. His career is no longer only about Fauda, but Fauda remains the work that defines him, and it is the work that most people think of when they hear his name.

He has also kept his private life out of the public eye, and he is careful about what he shares about his family. That is a wise choice for a man whose work is so public, and it is one that many actors make. A family deserves a life that is not lived in front of cameras, and Raz has given his family that space. His fans understand, and they respect him for it.

His legacy is already clear. He helped to create a show that changed how Israeli television was seen around the world, and he showed that a drama about a difficult subject could be both popular and serious. He also showed that a man can start a new career in his thirties, and that a soldier can become an actor, a writer, and a creator. That is a hopeful story, and it is one that gives courage to people who want to change their lives.

Today, Raz is still working, still writing, and still acting. He is no longer a young soldier, and he is no longer a bodyguard. He is a creator whose work is watched by millions of people, and whose stories ask questions that stay with the audience long after the episode ends. The boy from Jerusalem who served in a special unit has become one of the most important figures in Israeli television, and his story is still being written.

My Take:

When I watch Lior Raz, the first thing I notice is how still he is. He does not act with big gestures or loud speeches. He stands, he watches, and he lets his face do the work. That stillness is powerful, because it feels real. A soldier does not wave his arms when he is in danger. He stays calm, he looks, and he decides. Raz brings that calm to his acting, and it makes his performances feel true in a way that many actors cannot match. I have seen many action heroes who shout and run, and I have seen Raz, who whispers and waits, and I believe Raz more.

I admire the fact that he started late. He was a soldier, then a bodyguard, and only then an actor, and he was in his thirties when he began to study acting. That is a brave path, because most actors start young, and most people would have told him he was too old. He did not listen to them. He went to acting school, he took small roles, and he worked his way up. I think that takes a special kind of courage, and it is a lesson for anyone who thinks they have missed their chance. Raz did not miss his chance. He made a new one, and he made it with work.

The story of Fauda stays with me because it is not a simple story. It does not tell the audience who is good and who is bad. It shows people on both sides, with families, with fears, and with reasons, and it asks the audience to think. That is a brave thing to do on television, where simple stories are easier to sell. Raz and his partner Avi Issacharoff chose the hard path, and they made a show that is tense, thrilling, and thoughtful at the same time. I respect that choice, because it treats the audience as adults.

I think about the friendship between Raz and Issacharoff, and about how it made the show possible. A soldier and a journalist, two men who had seen the conflict from different sides, came together to tell a story that neither could have told alone. That is a model for how good work is made: by people who bring different knowledge to the same table, and who listen to each other. I think that is a lesson for anyone who wants to make something real. Find a partner who knows what you do not know, and work together.

What moves me most about Raz is the honesty in his acting. He does not play Doron as a hero. He plays him as a man who is tired, who has lost people, and who keeps going because he does not know how to stop. That is a sad and human portrait, and it is one that stays with me long after an episode ends. I have watched Doron make choices that I disagreed with, and I have still felt for him, because Raz makes me understand why he made them. That is the mark of a great actor: he makes you feel for a person you might not like.

I also think about the weight of playing such a role for many years. An actor who plays a violent man must carry some of that violence with him, and Raz has said that the role stays with him. I respect him for saying that, because it shows that he takes his work seriously. He does not treat violence as entertainment. He treats it as a cost, and he shows that cost on his face. That is a moral choice, and it is one that makes Fauda more than a thriller. It makes it a drama about what violence does to people.

I do not love everything about Fauda, and I want to say that plainly. Some episodes are very violent, and I sometimes wish the show would slow down and let its characters breathe. A tense scene is powerful, but a quiet scene can be powerful too, and Fauda does not always give its characters that quiet. I also think the show sometimes relies too much on the next mission, and not enough on the lives of the people between missions. That is not a harsh criticism. It is a wish from a viewer who loves the characters and wants to know them better.

I also wonder about the questions the show raises and does not answer. Fauda shows the conflict, but it does not solve it, and I do not think it should try. A television show cannot solve a conflict that has lasted for decades. What it can do is show the human cost, and Fauda does that well. I respect Raz for not pretending that his show has answers. He has said that it is a drama, not a statement, and I believe him. That honesty is worth more than a grand claim.

What I learn from Raz’s life is that experience is a kind of education. He did not go to acting school as a teenager. He went to the army, he worked as a bodyguard, and he lived a life that gave him something to act about. When he finally studied acting, he had a depth that younger actors did not have. That is a lesson for anyone who thinks that a late start is a disadvantage. A late start can be an advantage, if the years before it were lived fully. Raz lived his years fully, and his acting shows it.

I think about the young people who watch Fauda and dream of acting. They see a man who was a soldier, and they think that acting is only for people who have lived an exciting life. I would tell them that acting is for anyone who is willing to work, to learn, and to be honest. Raz’s life is exciting, but his acting is not exciting because of his life. It is exciting because he works hard, because he listens, and because he tells the truth about his characters. That is a lesson for any young actor, whatever their background.

His quiet manner in interviews also stays with me. He does not talk about himself in grand terms, and he does not try to be a celebrity. He talks about his work, about his partner, and about the stories he wants to tell. In a time when many famous people talk mostly about themselves, that quietness feels like a relief. It tells me that he knows what his work is, and that he does not need to dress it up. I trust actors who talk about the work more than they talk about themselves, and Raz is one of them.

I have also thought about what Fauda means for Israeli television. Before Fauda, Israeli shows were not widely watched around the world. After Fauda, they were, and other Israeli shows followed. Raz helped to open a door, and he did it by making a show that was honest, tense, and human. That is a legacy that goes beyond his own career. He changed how the world sees Israeli television, and he did it by telling a story that was true to his own experience.

In the end, I will remember Lior Raz as a man who went from the army to a bodyguard’s job to a stage, and who became a creator whose work is watched by millions. He is a soldier, an actor, a writer, and a man who asks hard questions. That is a hopeful story, and it is one that stays with me. It says that a life can change direction, that a late start is not a lost start, and that a story told honestly can reach the whole world. I hope he keeps telling stories, and I hope he keeps asking the questions that his work asks so well.

I also think about the viewers in other countries who watched Fauda and learned something about Israel that they had not known before. A television show can teach in a way that the news cannot, because it shows people living their lives, not only headlines. Raz’s work taught many viewers that the conflict is not simple, and that the people in it are not simple either. That is a valuable lesson, and it is one that a drama can give better than a speech.

His work also reminds me that a story does not need to be loud to be powerful. Fauda is tense, but its most powerful moments are often quiet: a look, a silence, a decision made without words. Raz understands that, and his acting is full of those quiet moments. I think that is why his performances stay with me. They do not shout. They whisper, and the whisper is louder than a shout.

I think about the young actors who watch Raz and dream of following him. They see a man who started late, who worked hard, and who became a creator. I would tell them that they can do the same, if they are willing to live fully, to learn, and to work. Acting is not only about talent. It is about life, and Raz’s life gave him a great deal to act about. A young actor who lives fully will have more to bring to a role, and that is a lesson worth remembering.

I have also thought about what his story says about Israel itself. His work is Israeli, it is in Hebrew and Arabic, and it is about a conflict that is part of everyday life. Yet it is watched by people all over the world, because its questions are human questions: about loyalty, about loss, and about what a person will do for the people they love. That is why Fauda travels. It is local and it is universal at once, and Raz is at the centre of both.

There is one more thing I want to say about Raz, and it is about the way he writes. A man who has lived the life he writes about does not need to invent drama. He only needs to remember it honestly, and to leave out what is not true. Raz does that, and it shows in the quiet scenes of Fauda, where a look or a pause says more than a speech. I have seen writers who fill a script with noise, and I have seen Raz, who fills a script with silence, and I trust the silence more. A writer who can trust silence is a writer who trusts his audience, and that trust is the reason his stories last. I hope he keeps writing, because his pen is as strong as his acting.

I also think about the actors who play beside Raz, and about how he lifts them. A strong lead actor can make the whole cast better, because the other actors must rise to his level. Raz does that, and the actors in Fauda give strong performances beside him. That is a generous kind of acting, and it is one that a creator understands. He is not only playing his own role. He is building a world where other actors can shine, and that world is better because of it.

His story also reminds me that a career does not need to start early to be great. Raz started in his thirties, and he is still growing. A person who starts late brings a life to their work, and that life is a gift. I hope young people who feel they are too old to start something new hear his story and take courage from it. It is never too late to begin, if you are willing to work.

In the end, I will keep returning to the image of a quiet man who stands still while others rush around him, and who tells a story with his eyes. That is Lior Raz, and that is why his work stays with me long after the episode ends. He is a soldier, an actor, a writer, and a man who asks hard questions, and I hope he keeps asking them for many years.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Lior Raz become famous around the world?

Lior Raz became famous as the co-creator and star of Fauda, playing Doron Kavillio, the commander at the centre of the Israeli drama. The show premiered in Israel in 2015 and reached a global audience through Netflix.

Where was Lior Raz born and what did he do before acting?

He was born in Jerusalem on 24 November 1971, and he served in the Israel Defense Forces in the Duvdevan special forces unit. After the army, he worked as a bodyguard in the United States before returning to Israel to study acting.

Who created Fauda with Lior Raz?

Raz created Fauda with the journalist Avi Issacharoff, who had reported on Palestinian affairs for many years. The two men wanted to make a drama that showed the conflict honestly, with characters on both sides who had families and reasons.

What is Fauda about?

Fauda is a tense Israeli drama about an undercover unit and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, told in Hebrew and Arabic. It follows Doron and his team on missions, and it shows the personal cost of their work on both sides.

What other series did Lior Raz co-create?

After Fauda, Raz co-created and starred in Hit & Run, a Netflix thriller released in 2021, in which he played a man searching for the truth about his wife’s death. The show was set in Tel Aviv and New York.

Is Lior Raz still acting and writing?

Yes, he continues to work as an actor, writer, and producer in Israel and abroad, taking on tense, human stories. Fauda remains the work most people associate with his name, and he is still involved in new projects.