Aylam Orian

Aylam Orian (pronounced like the name of the letter A + lahm, Or-yahn) was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Israeli parents of Polish, Russian, and Romanian descent. Soon after his birth, the family moved back to Israel were he grew up as an artistic kid, trying out painting, photography, sculpting, writing, and playing the guitar. But it wasn't until after completing his military service and working as an usher at the Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, where he got to watch hundreds of classical films, that he decided to give art a serious try and enrolled in Tel Aviv University Film School. A short film he made there, Siyut Birkhov Bialik (1994) (a witty homage to the famous Russian film Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925)), won several prizes and critical praise. While acting in his own short films, to avoid the hassle of looking for actors, he caught the 'acting bug' and so in late 1999 he returned to the US to study acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and later The Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.While a student at the Strasberg Institute, he was hired by Anna Strasberg to organize and preserve her late husband's extensive collections of materials on acting, a position he held for the next 9 years. After graduating, he appeared in several short films and plays, before making his TV debut in the A&E mini-series Between the Lines (2004) hosted by Robert Downey Jr., where he joined the ranks of Hillary Clinton, John Goodman and Priscilla Presley in reading intriguing letters written by famous people - his was no other than a love letter written by a young Adolf Hitler. In 2006 he made another notable TV appearance as a dangerous Albanian fugitive in the popular Fox series America's Most Wanted (1988). That year he also wrote, produced and played the leading role in the movement-theatre show and film Beautiful World... (2006). Other film and TV roles followed, such as the voice of Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger in the TV film In God's Name (2007), a freedom fighter in the WWII independent film Color of Truth (2009), and the leading role of Ziya in the quirky independent film Joy Incorporated (2012).In 2010 Orian updated and re-released his film Siyut Birkhov Bialik (1994), which had its premiere at that year's Cannes Film Festival. He also started teaching acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, and in 2011 made The Magic Hour (2011) with his students. Back in front of the cameras, he shined as an angry Rabbi on the hit comedy series 30 Rock (2006), and the emotionally messed-up Frank in the independent film The Cold Winter (2016), before moving to Los Angeles at the end of 2012. There, he started lending his multiple languages and accents to various voice over projects, while kicking his on-screen career into high gear with moving appearances in the medical drama Code Black (2015), and the popular NCIS: Los Angeles (2009). Show less «