Joy Rieger

Joy Rieger
ג'וי ריגר
Rieger in 2017
Born (1994-03-03) 3 March 1994
Herzliya, Israel
OccupationActress
Years active2005–present

Joy Rieger (Hebrew: ג'וי ריגר; born 3 March 1994) is an Israeli actress. She is a winner of the Tribeca Film Festival Award for Best Actress in international film, and of the Israeli Television Academy Award.

Early life

Rieger was born in Herzliya to parents who immigrated from Belgium. Her father is Ilan Steve Rieger, and her mother is Evelyn Scheiner-Rieger.[1]

In her youth, she studied at the Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts, majoring in theater, from which she graduated in 2012.[1] She did her military service as a video editor in Unit 8200 of the Intelligence Corps.[2]

Career

Rieger started her acting career as a child in several children plays (the musicals The Jungle Book and The Sound of Music) and in children's roles is TV and films.

From 2012 to 2016, she played a central role for three seasons in the Israeli Nickelodeon youth series The Greenhouse, where she played Dina Navon, a young delinquent who arrives at a high school for leadership.

In 2016 She also played a leading role in Avi Nesher's film Past Life, alongside Nelly Tagar, where the two play a pair of careerist sisters who try to uncover a terrible secret related to their father and the Holocaust.

In December of that year, she played a leading role in the Yes youth series Oboy, in which she played a girl named Alma who pretends to be a man named Ben and tries to get accepted into a boy band to cover her mother's debts. This role won her the Israeli Television Academy Award for best actress in a youth series on 2017.[3]

In 2017 she also played the lead role in the French-Israeli film Virgins. For this role, she won the Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2018. The award was presented to her by actor Ray Liotta.[4]

In 2018 she played the lead role in the film The Other Story by Avi Nesher.

In 2019 she played in the TV miniseries Valley of Tears about Yom Kippur War, that was later licensed by HBO Max.

In 2020 she participated in Avi Nesher's film Image of Victory, in the role of Mira Ben-Ari.

In 2021 she played in the Cypriot-Israeli film Patchwork.

In 2023 she played in the French horror film Killer Influence, which won her the best actress award in Festival International du Film Fantastique de Menton.[5]

In 2024 she won honorable mention in Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival for the short film I'm not Okay which she wrote, directed and had the main role in, playing a fictional version of herself.[6]

Personal life

In 2017, she came out of the closet and revealed her relationship with actress Moran Rosenblatt. In 2018, they separated after 4 years of being together.[7]

In 2020, she had a relationship with actress Carmel Bean.[8] The two separated after about three years.[9]

Although she has had relationships with men in the past, since coming out, Rieger identifies as a lesbian, and speaks openly about her sexual orientation.[10]

As of 2023, she lives in Tel Aviv with her partner, chef Shirel Berger.[11]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Role Comments
2005 Live and Become Tali French Israeli movie
2012 Sex Doll Tamar short movie[12]
2016 Valley Linoy main role
Past Life Sephi Milch
2018 Outdoors Yaeli
Pilgrim Anat
The Other Story Anat Abadi main role
Virgins Lena
2020 Image of Victory Mira Ben Ari
2021 Patchwork Melina Cypriot-Israeli film
2022 Greener Pastures Dana Levin
2022 June Zero Ada
2023 Arugam Bay Kim
2024 I'm not Okay herself short movie (writer, director, main role)
Killer Influence Alex French movie
The Ring Alma [13]
2025 Chicken Master voice

Television

Year Title Role
2005 Free Lesson Anna
2012–2016 The Greenhouse Dina Navon
2013 Popular Mika
2014 Noy and Hadar herself
2015 Johnny and the Knights of Galilee Cheli
2016 Oboy Alma
2018 Make me a sub
2019 True Hero Emma
Daddy Cool Dana
2020 Valley of Tears Lt. Daphna
Menagen VeShar Tchelet
2023 Aviram Katz Avital
2024 Milano High School Aya
Who is it?

Theatre

Year Play Role Theatre
2002–2004 The Jungle Book Bana/Zaba
2004 Mikveh Elisheva Beit Lessin Theater
2005 Sound of Music
2014 The Greenhouse Live herself
2016 The Pillars of Society Cameri Theatre
2017 The Crucible
2018 God of Vengeance
2020 The Intouchables
The End Lili
2021 The Seagull Nina Gesher Theater

Awards

Year Title Prize Category Result
2017 Oboy Israeli Television Academy Award Best actress in youth series Won
2018 Virgins Tribeca Film Festival Award Best actress in foreign language film Won
Montenegro Film Festival Best actress Won[14]
2023 Killer Influence Festival International du Film Fantastique de Menton Best actress Won
2024 I'm not Okay (writer, director, main role) TLVfest - Tel Aviv International LGBTQ+ Film Festival Israeli short film competition Honorable mention Won

References

  1. ^ a b "מסקרן: ג'וי ריגר לוהקה לסרט אימה צרפתי". ישראל היום. 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  2. ^ "הפּי הפּי ג'וי ג'וי: ג'וי ריגר הדבר הגדול הבא". NRG (in Hebrew). 2017-02-16. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  3. ^ "Awards of the Israeli Television Academy (2018)". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-05-31.
  4. ^ "Israeli wins best actress award at Tribeca". The Jerusalem Post. 2018-04-27. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
  5. ^ Killer Influence (2024) - Awards. Retrieved 2025-05-28 – via IMDb.
  6. ^ "TLVFest - The Tel Aviv International LGBT Film Festival (2024)". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
  7. ^ ""הוא שאל, 'מה, את לסבית?'. עניתי כן והוא אמר לי איכס"". tvbee. 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  8. ^ חלוץ, דינה (2021-04-23). "כרמל בין ("המפקדת"): "עד שהכרתי את ג'וי ריגר, לא ידעתי שאני אוהבת נשים"". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  9. ^ "ג'וי ריגר: "כילדה הייתי מבקשת מאלוהים שיעשה אותי סטרייטית. היום אני יודעת שזה החוזק שלי"". pplus (in Hebrew). 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  10. ^ ""הכי מעליב ומגעיל אותי שאומרים 'איזה בזבוז שאת לסבית'" - וואלה תרבות". וואלה (in Hebrew). 2020-07-02. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  11. ^ "השפית שיראל ברגר: "בישול זה תהליך נפשי עבורי" | כלכליסט". calcalist (in Hebrew). 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2025-05-25.
  12. ^ "בלעדי: הצצה לסרט הפרובוקטיבי "סקס דול" - וואלה תרבות". וואלה (in Hebrew). 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
  13. ^ אוטין, פבלו. ""הטבעת" מבקש למצוא אנושיות בעולם אכזרי, אך סובל מעודף בדיחות קרש". Haaretz הארץ (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2024-12-20. Retrieved 2025-05-28.
  14. ^ "Filmski Festival Herceg Novi - Montenegro Film Festival (2018)". IMDb. Retrieved 2025-05-28.

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