Noa Tishby

Noa Tohar Tishby (; ; born May 1975 ) is an Israeli actress and activist. She appeared in a variety of American television shows and movies, including The Affair, The Island, Nip/Tuck, Big Love, NCIS, and others. She is the co-executive producer of the HBO series In Treatment, which is an adaptation of the Israeli series BeTipul. Her production company Noa's Arc was responsible for selling several other adaptations of Israeli programs to American networks.

Tishby focuses on Zionist activism, founding the advocacy organization Act for Israel in 2011. In 2021, she published her first book, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. She served as the Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel for one year, from 2022 to 2023.

Early life Noa Tishby was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in May 1975, The kibbutz her grandfather co-founded was among the first in Israel's history. As a teenager, she earned a drama scholarship from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and acted in several stage productions and television shows. She also served two and a half years in the Israel Defense Forces.

Career Tishby began to achieve fame in Israel in the 1990s, appearing on the Israeli television drama Ramat Aviv Gimmel She released an English language album (Nona)

By 2006, Tishby had appeared in a series of television roles on shows like Star Trek: Enterprise, Nip/Tuck, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, The 4400, and Charmed. She had a part in the 2005 film The Island. In 2008, Tishby sold the Israeli drama series BeTipul to HBO. It was the first Israeli format to become an American television show. The resultant American adaptation, In Treatment, premiered in 2008 with Tishby as co-executive producer along with Mark Wahlberg.

It ran for three seasons between 2008 and 2010, before returning for a fourth season in 2021 with Tishby still as co-executive producer. The show, which follows a series of fictional therapy sessions, won a Peabody Award in 2009. In the years during and after In Treatments first run, Tishby continued to play roles on TV shows like NCIS and Big Love.

Additionally, Tishby began pitching adaptations of other Israeli programs to American networks through her production company Noa's Arc. Tishby was responsible for the development of adaptations for A Touch Away, which was renamed Divorce: A Love Story for the American version.

In July 2017, Tishby served as the host of the opening ceremony of the 2017 Maccabiah Games.

Activism

Tishby has been an activist advocating for Israel since at least 2011.

In 2014, she founded Reality Israel, which holds a series of "leadership trips" for Jewish and non-Jewish people in Israel. In 2016 and 2018, she spoke before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City in support of Israel.

In April 2022, Tishby was appointed by then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid as Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism and the Delegitimization of Israel, the first person to serve in the newly created position. Her appointment to the position initially drew skepticism. She also registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). In April 2023, she was dismissed from the position after she spoke out against the judicial reform proposed by the new government of re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Act for Israel In 2011, Tishby founded Act for Israel, an online Zionist advocacy organization. Tishby created the group with a stated goal of correcting misinformation about Israel's history, culture, and governmental policies. In March 2011, Act for Israel arranged seven interviews of an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) delegation with American blogs and radio shows, including RedState. She has advocated for the return of hostages taken by Hamas, and criticized "so-called pro-Palestinian movements" in the United States. In January 2024, antisemitism scholar Anat Plocker, writing in The Nation, criticized Tishby for conflating criticism of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. Plocker also critiqued Tishby's claims that pro-Palestinian protesters are secretly serving foreign governments that have "sent their tentacles" and that critics of Israel were "planted" at American universities, stating that these accusations themselves relied on antisemitic tropes. That May, Tishby posted a photo of Nahla Al-Arian, wife of political activist Sami Al-Arian, at Columbia University and falsely claimed she had been "convicted with connections to terrorism financing".

In an October 2025 interview with the National Post, Tishby stated that Israel had lost its public relations war.

On October 22, 2025, Tishby was featured as a speaker at the convocation ceremony at Liberty University.

In 2025, The Jerusalem Post included Tishby on their list of "50 Most Influential Jews", ranking 45th in a group entry of seven pro-Israel influencers.

In January 2026, Tishby appeared as a guest on the PBS program Firing Line with Margaret Hoover.

Eighteen Tishby founded the nonprofit media organization Eighteen in 2024, of which she is the CEO, describing its mission as being "to empower Jews and allies to be proud advocates of Israel, the Jewish community and Western values. Its mission is to fight antisemitism, defend Israel and inspire Jewish pride." In December 2024, Eighteen began producing a video project of menorah lightings where Tishby appeared alongside a different celebrity figure for each night of Hanukkah, with the series from December 2024-January 2025 featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, Mila Kunis, Mayim Bialik, Iliza Shlesinger, Van Jones, Cindy Crawford, Tiffany Haddish, and Gal Gadot. In 2025, Eighteen launched the Voices of October 7 speaking tour, which was hosted at six campuses in the United States. In 2026, Eighteen produced a kindergarten-grade 12 curriculum on Judaism and Israel titled "What is". On April 21, 2026, the Los Angeles Unified School District unanimously passed a motion to recognize May as Jewish American Heritage Month and to encourage the use of the curriculum developed by Tishby and Eighteen.

Books In April 2021, Tishby released her first book, Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. The book discusses the history and culture of Israel with autobiographical details. In the book, Tishby takes a Zionist stance and criticizes the BDS movement as it pertains to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The book won the Education and Jewish identity Award at the 74th National Jewish Book Awards.

Personal life Tishby is the granddaughter of Fania Artzi, one of the founders of the kibbutz at Degania, Hanan Yavor, an Israeli diplomat, and Nachum Tisch, who was a founder of the Israeli Ministry of Industry and Trade. Her mother, Yael Tishby, served as head of the food department at the Israeli Export Centre.

Tishby was married to Australian television presenter Osher Günsberg from 2008 to 2011. She later had a relationship with financier Ross Hinkle, which produced a son, Ari, born in November 2015. Tishby and Hinkle are no longer together, and co-parent Ari. Tishby is on good terms with both Günsberg and Hinkle.

In 2022, Tishby became the 11,000th signer of the Jewish Future Pledge, a charitable campaign modeled after The Giving Pledge to encourage American Jews to designate at least 50% of their charitable giving to Jewish- or Israel-related causes.

Tishby was awarded an honorary doctorate by Reichman University on June 4, 2024, awarded for having "made exceptional contributions to the State of Israel since October 7."

Filmography

As actress

Film Year Title Role Notes 1997 Hercules Megara Voice; Hebrew dub 2003 Connecting Dots Carrie 2004 Skeleton Man Sgt. Davis 2005 Fatwa Spy 2005 The Island Community Announcer 2009 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Kiki 2025 October 8 Herself

Television

As producer