- published: 06 Sep 2014
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Avinoam "Avi" Lerner (born 13 October 1947) is an Israeli-born film producer, primarily of American action movies.
Avi Lerner was born in Haifa in 1947 and grew up on Hatzionut Boulevard. He joined the army in 1966 and served in the Six-Day War and in the Paratroopers Brigade. In an interview with Pnai Plus Lerner said he took part in the battle for the town of Rafah before penetrating as far as the Suez Canal. He served in the 1973 Yom Kippur War as a reservist.
Lerner originally worked in movie theaters in Tel Aviv but later relocated to South Africa, where he produced several films and also owned a chain of movie theaters until relocating once again to Los Angeles in the early 1990s. In 1991, he served as President of the independent production/distribution company, Global Pictures.
Lerner founded two production companies, Nu Image and Millennium Films, with Trevor Short, Danny Dimbort and Danny Lerner. The companies have a varied output, though the vast majority are action films. Most of the action films Avi produces are filmed in Bulgaria, where he owns a studio.
Dolph Lundgren (born Hans Lundgren; 3 November 1957) is a Swedish actor, director, and martial artist. He belongs to a generation of film actors who epitomise the movie action hero stereotype including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme.
A graduate in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia in 1982, Lundgren holds a rank of 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin Karate and was European champion in 1980 and 1981. While in Sydney, he became a bodyguard for Jamaican singer Grace Jones and began a relationship with her. They moved together to New York City, where after a short stint as a model and bouncer at the Manhattan nightclub 'The Limelight', Jones got him a small debut role in the James Bond film A View to a Kill as a KGB henchman.
José Antonio Domínguez Banderas (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer. He began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar and then appeared in high-profile Hollywood films, especially in the 1990s, including Assassins, Evita, Interview with the Vampire, Philadelphia, Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, Spy Kids, the Shrek sequels and Puss in Boots.
Banderas was born in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain, in 1960, to Ana Banderas, a school teacher, and José Domínguez, a police officer in the Guardia Civil. He has a younger brother, Javier. Although the family name is Domínguez, he took his mother's surname as his stage name. As a child, he wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of fifteen. He went on to enroll in some drama classes, eventually joining a theater troupe that toured all over Spain. His work in the theater, and his performances on the streets, eventually landed him a spot with the National Theatre of Spain.