Meital Dohan isn’t shy, whether she’s shooting bad-girl roles or a bare-it-all music video. No wonder we can’t get enough of the sexy Israeli import.
Yummy Girl Meital Dohan
Chances are you’ve seen Meital Dohan somewhere recently. The 32-year-old actress was the object of Chris Messina’s obsession in the voyeuristic drama Monogamy. She was the girl sporting a strap-on during a memorable sex scene in Weeds. She popped up alongside Jon Heder in the online zombie-fest Woke Up Dead. And, most recently, she’s the viral-video vixen who racked up more than a million views for her debut single, “Yummy” — maybe because she’s wearing nothing but boots and pink boxing gloves in the video.
But while she’s a rising star stateside, she’s a veritable powerhouse in her native Israel. She’s won the Israeli equivalent of a Tony and an Emmy, and been nominated for an Israeli Oscar. What else could she do but move to Los Angeles and start over? Dohan says she was drawn to “the power of Hollywood. There are a lot of artists coming from all over the world, but they still want to make it in America.”
We caught up with the power-hungry pop star to get details on her racy on-screen roles and the unusual inspiration for her music career.
Have you been surprised by all the attention your video has gotten?
I’m excited, you know? My team and I thought the video was crazy and funny. I’m happy to see other people think so.
Who chose your wardrobe?
My stylist! We needed to choose from this type of outfit or that type of outfit-and we decided to go with no outfit. Why debate when you can make your life easier?
The shoot must have turned a few heads.
We shot all over L.A., and, funny enough, I think it looked pretty normal to people. They were like, Oh, okay, another naked person running out in the street. Cool. There’s one shot where I’m running on a bridge in Santa Monica or Venice, and people were just going by on bicycles. They didn’t even look.
What was the concept behind the video?
It’s just a secret fantasy of people who need to behave themselves. Have you seen the movie with Michael Douglas where he goes out in traffic and starts shouting at people?
Falling Down.
Yes! I wanted to do something like that. And on another layer, I’m talking about gender switch-women need to wear so many hats, and are expected to be sex objects and superheroes.
“We needed to choose from this type of outfit or that type of outfit, and we decided to go with no outfit. Why debate when you can make your life easier?”
Let’s talk about your guest spot on Weeds. What did you think when you saw the script?
When I signed up to do it, I knew it was a risque role. I knew it was provocative. But I didn’t know what was going to happen in the seventh episode! Then [costar] Justin Kirk is telling me, “Guess what? You’re going to put on a gigantic black dildo.” I was like, “Ha-ha.” And that’s exactly what happened. It was hysterical. Believe it or not, they wanted me to do that scene naked. I said, “Look, guys, I have nothing against nudity-but in this case, it might be pushing the envelope a little too far. People might think they got on the wrong channel, you know?” I think they got the idea, because they let me wear a bra and underwear.
That wound up being a breakout role for you in the U.S., but you were already a huge star in Israel. How was that transition?
I never felt so Israeli before I moved away from Israel. There are so many barriers as an immigrant-it’s still something I feel on a daily basis. But I definitely feel that the U.S. is my second home.
Do you have the same crazy paparazzi culture over there?
I don’t think celebrities in Israel get to have the same status as they get to have in America. In Israel, you go out in the street and they’re like, “Meital, come over here and sit with us” — like we’re old friends. That’s the mentality with celebrities in Israel.
You’ve been compared to everyone from Madonna to Katy Perry to Kylie Minogue. Are you flattered or annoyed by all the comparisons?
I’m flattered! Those are all great women. I love Madonna-I think she influenced a whole generation and did a tremendous job as a messenger for women. I think Katy Perry is very talented, and Kylie Minogue as well. It’s all good.
Tell us about your new album.
It’s called I’m in Hate With Love. It’s electropop, a combination of dance tracks like “Yummy” and some more mellow songs.
You’re working with some pretty big names — LMFAO producer Rami Afuni, hip-hop producer Che Pope. How’d you get connected with them?
I have a great healer in Israel, a very smart woman who is my spiritual guide. She said, “You have to leave Israel immediately and go back [to the States] and do music.” I thought that was crazy. But because she’s been amazing in the past, I decided to give it a shot. I came back, and we made three phone calls, and the third person I called was Che Pope. We hit it off immediately, and he took a risk and started working with me. After that, everyone kind of came on board.
What’s your inspiration when writing songs?
A lot of heartbreak and frustration!
Will Meital Dohan keep acting, or focus on music?
I’m going to go with whatever happens! If I need to become a guru or a secretary all of a sudden, I would just follow that.
Seeing as how this was only ten years ago, you might think it fairly easy to find out what Meital Dohan seems to be up to these days. Naturally she has the Instagrm Thing, and even a fairly robust IMDB page for one so relatively young. Her YouTube channel tralier is great fun, but you don’t see much of Meital over the past couple of years. Hopefully she has been stockpiling energy over the pandemic so she can blast out again. We find truly fun people altogether too rare in life. Y’know? … Maybe she became a guru or a secretary. That would be sad.
