Sigal Avin
Sigal Avin (also Segahl Avin) is an American-Israeli writer and director. She was born in Miami, Florida, and moved to Israel with her Israeli-Jewish parents when she was ten. At sixteen, her parents moved back to California, but Avin chose to stay in Israel to finish school. She studied acting at the Yoram Lowenstein acting studio.
Avin wrote and directed her first play, How to Make a Boy, in 1999 for Haifa’s International Children’s Theatre Festival. In 2000 she created Shmulik is a New Friend for the same festival and won several prizes, including best show and best director. The story follows three kids who kidnap a grandmother with a banana because they don’t have one. Her first play for adults, With a Gun and a Smile, a sad comedy about small people with small dreams, was selected by the Israeli culture department for an Australian festival.
In 2002 Avin created Freaks, a wordless show inspired by Tod Browning’s film. It was highly praised and invited to festivals around the world. In 2003 she created and led Game of Life, a telenovela. In 2004 she created and led Michaella, and in 2005 she created and led Telenovela Inc, which told her personal story about trying to write her first telenovela and the hectic, surreal life around the industry. The shows continued to air in Israel.
From 2005 to 2007 Avin was the Artistic Manager and director of Habima’s young company, where she created Taxi, a play about lonely people and nightlife, and directed Marivoux’s The Dispute as a modern reality TV show. In 2007 she created Mythological Ex for Keshet (Channel 2). CBS bought the format, and the American version, The Ex List, premiered in 2008 with Elizabeth Reaser in the lead.
In 2010 Avin wrote and directed a short film, You Shall Know No Grief, for the 48 Hour Film Project, winning first prize. In 2013 she co-created, wrote, and directed Bilti Hafich (Irreversible), a comedy about life after having a first child. It premiered on Channel 2 Reshet and became the number one comedy in Israel that year. ABC bought the format. She then teamed up with Peter Tolan and Sony to write and direct an American pilot, Irreversible, starring David Schwimmer.
In 2014 Variety listed her among “10 TV Scribes to Watch.” In 2016 the second season of Bilti Hafich aired in Israel. That December she launched Zematrid on Facebook in Israel, a project with five short films about sexual harassment that went viral quickly, featuring actors like Lior Ashkenazi and Hadas Yaron. In 2017 she released the American version of her harassment-focused films, titled #that’s harassment, produced by David Schwimmer and Mazdack Rassi. The films feature stars such as David Schwimmer, Cynthia Nixon, Emmy Rossum, Bobby Cannavale, and Michael Kelly.
Sigal Avin is married to Amit Mashiah, the CEO of McCann Tel Aviv. They have two daughters, and she lives in both Tel Aviv and New York.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 22:01 (CET).