And Israeli-made films have also made a big splash in the last decade, the likes of The Band’s Visit, Waltz with Bashir, Beaufort and Ajami receiving critical acclaim and Oscar nominations.

Actress Ayelet Zurer is securing her position as the most successful Israeli actress in Hollywood.

She starred alongside Tom Hanks and Ewan McGregor in Angels & Demons.

The 41-year-old’s Hollywood breakthrough began in 2005 when she was cast in Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

And in 2008, she appeared in the thriller Vantage Point alongside Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver.

Last year, the Independent Film Critics Association crowned Zurer one of Hollywood’s most beautiful women.

Fans of American comedy Weeds won’t forget Meital Dohan’s role as Yael Hoffman, the naughty director of a rabbinical academy who ends up as a seductive dominatrix.

Following her stint on Weeds, Dohan starred as Aurora on Woke Up Dead, an online zombie comedy thriller.

Former Miss Israel Gal Gadot’s acting career took off in 2008 when she featured in the Israeli drama Bubot, which led to her being cast opposite action star Vin Diesel in his film Fast & Furious.

Last year, she appeared in episodes of American dramas Entourage and The Beautiful Life. This year she is back on the silver screen, playing the role of Netanya in the Steve Carrell/Tina Fey comedy Date Night.

Her next role is with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in the upcoming Knight and Day.

Gadot plays Naomi, one of the women Tom Cruise’s character encounters on his globe-encompassing assignment.

Veteran actor Aki Avni has enjoyed a diverse career in Israel and abroad.

In the early 1990s, he appeared in a string of films and stage shows and achieved critical acclaim for his 2002 performance in Time of Favor, Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar’s debut film.

The role led to a Hollywood career for Avni, including landing the role of Mohsen in 24. In 2006, he starred with Natalie Portman in Amos Gitai’s Israeli romance drama Free Zone.

Avni has completed filming in two upcoming films.

The Divided, in which an Iraq war hero matches wits with an anti-war radical over the heart of a woman, and the Israeli film Black Light – a psychological drama involving the second generation of a Holocaust survivor.

Only Ayelet Zurer is close to reaching the status that Mili Avital enjoys as the most famous Israeli in Hollywood.

Only a year after arriving in New York in 1993 to study acting the 39-year-old was cast as the female lead in the film Stargate.

This led to roles in Dead Man opposite Johnny Depp, Kissing a Fool, Polish Wedding, The Human Stain and When Do We Eat?

Her television work includes portraying Scheherazade in the Emmy-nominated Arabian Nights.

Last year Avital appeared in the FX TV series Damages, in a recurring role as the mistress to Patty Hewes’ (Glen Close) husband. She also starred in the Israeli prime-time drama Prisoners of War

Oren Peli was an unknown computer games programmer two years ago, but has become well-known thanks to the supernatural success of his film Paranormal Activity.

The “home made” film, made with an alleged budget of $15,000, earned more than $100 million in America alone.

Peli got the idea for the film when he moved into a new home and found the sudden quiet of suburbia disturbing.

He wrote a script with his friend, fellow Israeli Amir Zbedo, held a casting session in Hollywood, and shot the film in the house. He edited it on his own home PC and then submitted it to a boutique festival for cult horror in Los Angeles.

The cult film gathered buzz and was eventually acquired by Dreamworks for mass release.

Peli, 39, is currently working on another horror film, Area 51, which will be released before the end of the year.

Perhaps the most well-known Israeli Arab actor outside of Israel, Ali Suliman, has built a successful career branching out beyond the Hollywood stereotype of a Middle Eastern villain.

The 33-year-old native of Nazareth studied at the Yoram Levinstein Acting School in Tel Aviv, where he graduated in 2000.

His big break came in 2005 when he portrayed the lead character in the terrorist-themed drama Paradise Now, which won a Golden Globe award for best foreign film.

Two years later, he landed a role in counter-terrorism thriller The Kingdom alongside Jamie Foxx.

In addition to roles in Israeli films The Syrian Bride and The Lemon Tree, Suliman is set to appear in Ridley Scott’s upcoming political thriller Body of Lies.

Many Hollywood A-listers owe their appearance to Piny Benzaken, the Israeli-born hair stylist to the stars.

A former professional footballer in Israel, Benzaken moved to California in 1975 and launched a career at a salon in Beverly Hills, where his client list soon included the likes of Farrah Fawcett and Liberace.

His first job in a movie was to work on Tom Cruise’s hair for the film Rain Man.

Noa Tishby has become a mover and shaker in the American entertainment scene. An actress, producer, model and singer, the 34-year-old became a household name in Israel while still a teenager, due to her starring role in the TV drama Ramat Aviv Gimmel.

She also won praise for her stage role in the Hebrew production of West Side Story.

Tishby also appeared in The Island with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson and starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in The Ghost of Girlfriends Past.

As a producer, Tishby made history with the sale of B’Tipul, the first Israeli television show to become an American series.

Manager to the stars Guy Oseary got his start in Los Angeles at age 17, working in the music industry and launching his own label Maverick Records.

As a partner in the management firm Untitled Entertainment, Jerusalem native Oseary’s stable of film clients include Hilary Swank, David Caruso, Penelope Cruz, Naomi Watts, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, and Lucy Liu.

Both her business partner and manager, Oseary is also Madonna’s closest confidant.

And among the films Oseary has produced through Maverick Films is the huge Twilight series.