Topol (Chaim Topol)

Topol (Chaim Topol) — actor (fiddler) with roots in the Israel

Chaim Topol was an Israeli actor, producer, and author best known internationally for playing Tevye the Dairyman in the film Fiddler on the Roof (1971) — a role for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He performed the role of Tevye over 3,500 times on stage across the world.

Tracing the roots — Israel

Born in Tel Aviv in 1935 to parents who had emigrated from Poland and Russia (Russian Empire), Topol grew up in the Israeli state built by Russian-Jewish immigrants. His Tevye — the quintessential Russian-Jewish shtetl figure — was a homecoming to his parents' world. He performed the role more times than any other actor in history.

A career defined by ambition