Samy Molcho

Samy Molcho (born 24 May 1936) is an Israeli mime and an expert in body language communication. He was professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts and at Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, Austria until 2004.

He studied dance and mime in Israel. From 1952 he was a dancer at the city theatre of Jerusalem. In 1956 he became a solo dancer (modern dance) in Tel Aviv. In 1960 his first mime performance took place, doing his last tour as a mime in 1987. Since then he has been concentrating on body language communication, publishing several books and has held many workshops. He is a practitioner and exponent of the Barrault-Marceau classical style of mime.He is now a citizen of Austria. He has been married since 1978 and has four sons. Samy Molcho, born 1936 in Tel Aviv, has added purely psychological and dramatic elements to the art of mime. As a delegate in the frame of cultural exchange, he successfully represented Austria in many countries. Since 1978 he has been married to German-born Haya Heinrich. He has four sons, Nuriel, Elior, Ilan and Nadiv. Since 1980 Samy Molcho has been teaching at the International Summer Academy for Mime and well as the techniques of mime in Israel. He graduated from an actor's school as well as from a seminar for directors and drama and was – from 1952 – dancer at the Jerusalem Dance Theatre of Rina Nikowa. From 1956 he was solo dancer for modern dance in Tel Aviv.

He worked as an actor at the Cameri Theatre and at the Israeli National Theatre Habimah. 1960 he had his first one-man mime performance in Tel Aviv.

Samy Molcho has performed in theatres all over the world, including the Piccolo Teatro in Milano, Akademietheater in Vienna, Royal Opera in Stockholm, Schiller Theater in Berlin, Royal Court in London, Royal Schouwburg in Amsterdam, Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico, Queen Elizabeth Playhouse in Vancouver and the Schauspielhaus in Zurich.

Since that time he has performed in over 50 countries on four continents. He was invited to perform at festivals like the Holland-Festival, Viennese Festival, Spoleto, the festival weeks of Zurich, the Israel Festival for Music and Drama and others.

Samy Molcho created the first Mimo-vision for the Austrian TV, which was awarded with the first prize at the International TV Festival in Prague (1964).