Ten things to know about Eli Finish on his birthday

Eli Finish, one of the best-known stars of "Eretz Nehederet" and half of the beloved comedy duo "Eli and Mariano," is marking his birthday with a look at ten lesser-known facts about his life and career. Behind the jokes and impersonations, the article says, stands a difficult personal story and a career spanning three decades.

Finish lost his mother to cancer when he was nine, an event described as one of the hardest moments of his childhood. Long before he and Mariano Idelman became a famous duo, the two were classmates in high school in Netanya. His first major public breakthrough came in a stand-up segment on Dudu Topaz's show "The First in Entertainment," where the audience response was so strong the segment became a permanent fixture.

Since 2003, Finish has been a fixture on "Eretz Nehederet," one of Israeli television's most successful and influential programs. Over the years he has portrayed dozens of public figures, including Yair Lapid, Shimon Peres, Moshe Kahlon, Eli Yishai and Dudi Amsalem. Although he is best known as a comedian, he has also taken dramatic roles in film and television, including in Shmi Zarchin's film "The World Is Funny."

His voice work includes Horton in the Hebrew version of "Horton Hears a Who!" and Ernie in "Open Season," and for nearly a decade he voiced one of the most memorable pigeons in the Bezeq campaign for Bituach Yashir. In 2023, his Netanya home was completely destroyed in a fire. After decades on stage, he launched his first personal stand-up show only last year, at age 49.