Eli Gorenstein (Hebrew: אלי גורנשטיין; born August 31, 1952) is an Israeli actor, voice actor, director, singer and cellist.
Gorenstein was born in Tel Aviv and was raised in Ramat Gan during his childhood. His maternal grandfather was philosopher Felix Weltsch. He went to New York City to study theatre and music and he even holds a master's degree at Tel Aviv University. He began his career sometime during the 1960s and as a theatre actor, he made frequent on-stage collaborations with Zachi Noy. He performed at many theatres across Israel such as the Habima Theatre and the Haifa Theatre. Gorenstein often starred in theatre adaptions of Shakespeare plays as well as the musical theatre.
Gorenstein appeared as a guest on children's shows such as Rechov Sumsum (the Israeli production of Sesame Street) and Parpar Nechmad. He also made appearances in movies, most notably the 2007 film Israeli Intelligence and he often appeared on Zehu Ze! and performed a song on that show alongside Shlomo Gronich.
Gorenstein has also had a successful career as a voice actor. He often performed the Hebrew voices of Disney villains in Disney Renaissance films such as Scar from The Lion King, Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Professor Ratigan from The Great Mouse Detective and Jafar from Aladdin. He has also voiced sidekicks and supporting characters such as Sebastian from The Little Mermaid, Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh franchise and Lumière from Beauty and the Beast.
Gorenstein is also a singer and musician. He plays the cello and often performs songs in the style of Frank Sinatra. He often performs as an opera singer at the New Israeli Opera and he performs jingles for the openings of television shows and commercials.
Gorenstein has one daughter named Roni, who is also an actress.
Source: Article "Eli Gorenstein" from Wikipedia in english, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
