When both of your parents are stage icons Israel (Sasha) Demidov and Svetlana Demidov, and you've been breathing theater since infancy, your attraction to the stage world is likely to be deeply ingrained in DNA. Who finally listened to his heart and realized he could not really escape the family destiny.
A little surprising that you have been debating for so long.
"I was never a kid playing. The acting and the stage were in my heart, but I did nothing with it. At school I was the class' favorite clown, but I only started learning acting seriously and officially at the age of 24."
Although you sucked theater with breast milk.
"I was naturally exposed to the theater from a very young age. It was there all the time, and it was with everyone in our family. My older brother, Daniel (34), is an actor who plays today at the Meditech in Holon. My younger brother, Emanuel (26), has now been accepted for the musical On the roof of the Hebrew theater. "
And yet, until the age of 24 you did not even think of following your parents.
"In seventh grade I studied theater in Urban A, but I do not consider it too much. At the end of the year my parents saw my certificate, which said 'failed' in all subjects except theater. They did not like that I only invest in it, so "They took me out of the trend, so that I could start investing in other subjects as well. But I did not have good grades, so after ninth grade I moved to Tel Aviv High School and studied externally."
You said your parents wanted you to study a profession other than theater. Did they want to keep you and your brothers out of their world?
"They tried very hard and hoped that each of the boys would be an engineer, a computer man, a lawyer, a doctor - just not an actor. As you can see, they did not succeed at all ... As children we had conversations at home with the parents, who told us how difficult this profession is. And pointed to themselves as the perfect example of the matter.While they have been the big stars of Bridge Theater all these years, but the stars hold short, she is not what holds you in. She only produces a larger space, because after every achievement, when a show goes down or when a role ends, emptiness".
• • •
In the army, the young Demidov served as a soldier in the Nahal, until he was punished for refusing an order - something he said he had to do due to a leg injury.
There I fell in love with cooking and learned to be responsible for others as well.
It is important for me to note that I made sure to maintain my high profile, so that I could return to being a fighter in the reserve. "
Just before the outbreak of the corona epidemic, he finished his acting studies at Yoram Levinstein's studio, and now, at the age of 29, he is coming to the Habima National Theater for the first time, for the play "Intel," which will air tomorrow.
This is a stage adaptation of a story by Yitzhak Bashevis Singer (Hebrew version: Dan Almagor and Moshe Kaftan), directed by Rafi Niv.
Alongside Demidov, Roni Dalumi, Dov Reiser, Alex Carroll, Oded Leopold, Hila Shalev and more also play.
For the benefit of those who have not seen Barbara Streisand in the immortal role in the 1983 film, we will mention that "Intel" is about a girl, the only daughter of a respected rabbi in a typical Jewish town in Poland, who rebels against the permanent destiny of women in the traditional community.
She wants to study, and goes out to fulfill her dream while disguised as a young man named Anshel.
She becomes a yeshiva "student" and falls in love with a young and handsome student named Avigdor.
From there, of course, the plot gets complicated.
"This is my first play in the repertory theater in general, and this is the stage I always wanted to be on," Demidov enthusiastically said.
Is there excitement?
"The truth is that right now, at the rehearsal stage, I'm not excited, but the excitement always arises in me a second before I go on stage, when I start to feel the audience, when the passion and tension come. For me it's a good tension."
In "Intel", Demidov plays several characters, the most prominent of whom is the tailor (a role he shares with Eliad Sudai).
"There's a funny scene in the show where the two tailors, Dov Reiser and I, try to design Lintel, who they do not know is a woman, a groom's outfit. Besides the tailor I play Avigdor's boyfriend, Intel's favorite (Alex Carroll), and the bookseller."
When did you realize that despite the difficulties of the profession, as your parents tried to convey to you, this is what you are going to do in life?
"I always knew that someday I would be an actor. As a child I mistakenly thought that acting does not need a matriculation certificate, enough that you have talent. So I did not invest in studies. But the truth is I did not know I had talent. After the army I went on a trip to India. That I'm not an actor, so what's left for me? I've relied on it my whole life.
"When I came back I signed up for Yoram Levinstein, and there I developed very quickly, because when I enter the frame I commit suicide on it. I like to promote myself, and there I realized what I feel and what I want. I went for it Paul Power."
By this point the parents already realized that their war was lost?
"I think from the beginning they knew it was a lost war. On the one hand the parents took care to convey to us the negative sides of the profession, on the other hand my mother took us to auditions and put us in the agency. In retrospect, it confused us as children, something today as an adult I can say.
"There was confusion, because as children we are told 'no, it's hard, stay away', but then we see the happiness in their eyes and the satisfaction from the applause. "Our parents asked. We were in a lot of rehearsal rooms, we saw the world of theater from every possible angle, the theater was our babysitter."
• • •
He soars to a height of 1.92 m, with an unmistakable presence, a caressing voice and a charisma that does not fall short of the one so identified with his father, the so-called "Peter Pan of Bridge Theater".
Despite the pedigree, and perhaps precisely because of it, he says he tries to stay away a bit and not consult, get help, or share with parents anything related to his professional field.
"I do not use them, I rebel, I must succeed on my own. Do not forget that I am also a sandwich child ... I admit that before studying acting, my last name was a burden to me, because I did not yet understand what a good and amazing thing I have in my hands. "I learned to appreciate and admire my parents more and more. I have a good and warm family that contains and embraces me, gives me a place to express myself. They really wanted to help me, but also respected the fact that I told them 'no', that I owe it to myself."
Do you need to prove yourself more with your last name?
"Sure, there's an expectation from me, and I feel it. Sometimes there are veteran players who suddenly want to teach me or help me, because they love my dad. I like to absorb from people, but overall I got the niche that is mine. After I established myself as a guy, and not As a 'son of', I learned not to deal with it anymore. "
The parents, Sasha and Svetlana Demidov.
"I do not use them, I rebel", Photo: From the private album
You are five players who grew up in one house. How It Works?
"I now live at home in Tel Aviv with my parents and my brother Emanuel, but we are all very busy and less seen. There are no real mutual consultations about roles, and before auditions I do not go over the text with my parents or my brother. I think physically I can not - I'm afraid not I will be able to play against them. "
Do you feel a kind of covert competition?
"As children we had a competition, regardless of the game. I talked about it with Emanuel a few days ago. I told him I got a gift, because the fact that I went through the competition with my brothers all my life brought me to such a complete and peaceful place today. I have already accumulated all the difficulty and frustration. "I'm not like them, and today I know I should not be better than them. Today I am in my own name."
Your father is very involved in the world of Jewish Kabbalah. How much is it part of your world?
"I'm also very connected to it. I talk to our father almost every day, but my perception is a little different. Kabbalah is a tool and not the center of my life, and there are things I do not agree with. Over the years I would come with Dad many times to night classes, and I would get Answers.Today, because of the corona, there are zoom classes.
"I participate less in it, but my dad gave me books, and after I read we sit and talk about deep things. He is the deep spiritual aspect of the family. If I need advice on anything to do with emotion, mind or soul - it's straight to him."
You're a bit of a "builder family" of the theater world. Quite asked to ask about future collaboration on the stages.
"There's a lot of thought about it. My brother Emanuel studied film, and he also creates, alongside being an actor. We all really like to write and direct, so I believe it sure will happen. I believe it would be better to do a family project only after everyone earns their place in their own name.
"I'm very wary of all kinds of talk about protections, terribly afraid that sometime in the future someone will say 'he succeeded because they helped him'. I want to earn it myself, thanks to me, so we'll wait. At some point we will all connect together."
• • •
Apart from the family name and the talent he passed on in the gardens, it is difficult to identify in Demidov Jr. a connection to his father.
"I'm more of a mom," he laughs.
"I have something more Soviet on my face. Dad has a more Jewish look, and mom more Soviet, a rounder face. As a kid I was not like any of them, and that bothered me a lot. I was sure I was adopted, and then I got fat and I was the only one in the family.
"In fifth grade I started gaining weight and in ninth grade it took up volume because I was too tall, so I was big like that. There the look bothered me a lot, and I experienced frustration of 'why I'm not like any of my parents.' "In the army, until I got fat again when I was in the kitchen. Only when I went to India did I really lose weight. Now I live a different life, eat less nonsense."
Are you kicking your locks today?
"Even today I do not like the way I look. I do not think I am beautiful and I do not have self-confidence in everything related to appearance. Because of all those years, when I look in the mirror I see things I do not like. I have a very complex ego."
Are you interested in playing TV and movies?
"Most interesting. I played in the second season of 'Kingdom', a really fun and funny series. I had a little character there, who I hope will develop next season, if there is one. "I play Bad Guy there. In the meantime, in the theater, after 'Intel', I will work with Rafi Niv on 'The Cat in Boots' at Meditech. I go after Rafi wherever he says. I will play the cat, and it will be interesting to see a giant cat on stage."
We are conducting the interview in the midst of the war between Russia and Ukraine. How close is it to you on a personal-family level?
"I'm less connected, and Russia has never attracted me. I was born in the country and never visited there, I felt a little distant from the places my parents came from. As someone who is connected to my Jewish side, I feel like they did something bad to me there throughout history. Dad recently returned from a business trip in Russia, and he really felt that the industry people there were starting to leave, not wanting to stay in Russia.
"This is a shocking thing, what is happening in Ukraine. We, as Israelis, are in a problematic position to express a position or opinion. I wish we were Switzerland. In the meantime we depend on far too many factors. It is complex, politics, and very sad that people die there. On a personal level I have friends who have "They have families in Ukraine, and I hear from them worry and pressure. They can not go out and that is a serious problem."
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