‘Yaacobi & Leidental’
Artists’ Bios

Yonatan Esterkin (Director) is a theater director, writer, speaker and teacher based in Tel Aviv, Israel. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from the Open University, as well as an MFA in theater directing and an MA in theater research, both from Tel Aviv University. He is the recipient of the “Sharet” scholarship from the AICF, and two scholarships from the Goethe institute for theater experts in Berlin. After years of working as a journalist for leading publications in Israel, Esterkin transitioned to directing and teaching both acting and theater history in prominent Israeli acting schools. He has directed productions at Haifa Theater, where he also headed the International Relations division; The Cameri theater of Tel Aviv; the Habima Theatre, which is the national theater of Israel; and Yiddish theater. Esterkin gives lecturers and courses about Israeli theater and film from a social and political perspectives for institutions such as Israel’s Teachers Association and the Media-Tech Center in Holon, and was recently invited to speak about the Holocaust at New York’s 92nd Street Y. He has directed Israeli plays in several public theaters in Slovenia, including the National Theater. Two of the award-winning one-man-shows he recently directed in Slovenia were selected to participate in the United Solo Festivals in New York and London.

Ilia Volok (Yaacobi) was born in Kiev, Ukraine where he lived for the first half of his life. He is a graduate of Moscow Art Theatre School and a Lifetime Member of The Actors Studio. In Hollywood, Ilia has appeared in over 170 films and television shows, including two films currently in pre-production: The Palace, directed by Roman Polanski, and Paramount’s Self-Reliance, a film by Jake Johnson. Recent television credits include a five-episode arc in the new HBO miniseries Full Circle, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and recurring roles on Apple TV’s The Morning Show and BET’s Diarra from Detroit. Last October, Ilia received the NOHO Cinefest “Best Actor” award for his portrayal of Dark in the independent feature Balloon Animal. Theater credits include The Orchard at the Baryshnikov Art Center opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jessica Hecht, and The Revisionist by Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, opposite Tony award winner Deanna Dunagan. Ilia’s one-man show Diary of a Madman won the LA Weekly Theater Award for Best Solo Performance. In New York, Diary of a Madman had two successful back-to-back off-Broadway runs, and has since been presented in Dubai, Paris, Kiev, Zurich and London. Other film credits include Gemini Man opposite Will Smith, directed by Ang Lee; Air Force One; Oliver Stone’s U-Turn; Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones 4; David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Soloist; Water for Elephants; Mission Impossible; Ghost Protocol; Abduction; GI JOE 2; The Immigrant, opposite Yakim Phoenix and Marion Cotillard; Pawn Sacrifice; and Hunter Killer, opposite Gerard Butler and Gary Oldman. Other TV credits include HBO’s Minx; CBS’ Magnum PI; FX’s Oh Jerome No; CBS’ MacGyver; Marvel/Netflix’s The Punisher; Swedish Dicks; Counterpart; Stitchers; Criminal Minds; Baskets; Shameless; The Americans; NCIS; NCIS New Orleans; Hawaii 5.0; Two Broke Girls; and Clipped, as well as recurring roles on Scandal and the Michael Bay series The Last Ship.

Michael Redfield (Leidental) has spent his life in Los Angeles theater. He made his Odyssey debut in 2007 with Craig Lucas’ Small Tragedy, and works regularly at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice and Rogue Machine Theatre, where he is a founding member. He’s received multiple Ovation, LA Weekly and LADCC nominations for roles in Small Tragedy, When They Speak of Rita and Happy End. He starred in Small Engine Repair at Rogue Machine, which swept the 2013 LA theater awards for production and ensemble, with Variety asserting, “Redfield walks off with the evening…there’s no end of joy in his irrepressible love of life.” As a pianist and composer, he’s worked at 24th Street Theatre for over a decade, accompanying their flagship educational show, Enter Stage Right, which serves 10,000 LAUSD schoolchildren every year, and he won an Ovation award for his original live score for 24th Street’s Walking the Tightrope, which subsequently enjoyed a two-year U.S. tour. He’s scored several films, including the feature Chasing Home, which he starred in, and Hero by Proxy, which he directed. He earned his SAG/AFTRA card in 1986, at the tender age of seven, with a recurring run on Days of Our Lives. He dedicates this role to his recently late father, Dennis, a presence in Los Angeles theater since the early 1960s, who helped launch L.A.’s 99-seat theater agreement and set the stage for the thriving network of theater artists who entertain and enrich Los Angeles to this day. He lives in Jefferson Park with his wife, actress Tracie Lockwood, and their three children.

Sera Heywood-Rakhimova (Ruth Shahash) is a Canadian-American international performer and graduate of the Ilkhom Theatre of Mark Weil School of Drama Studio 7, a Russian theater conservatory in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Sera performed in five mainstage shows in the Ilkhom Theatre’s repertory, in English, Russian and Uzbek, and won first place in the Tashkent singing competition “Songs for Actors.” Sera also holds a BA in Drama with a minor in Slavic languages and literatures from the University of Washington. Sera graced Broadway her first year in New York City with her self-devised one-woman show The Point and the Universe at the United Solo Theatre Festival. She has worked in an array of experimental theater and bi-lingual films across NYC, and now in Los Angeles. Sera is also a published writer, a certified Reiki and EFT Tapping practitioner, and creator of the brand and ensemble-based company Actor to Artist. Sera is thrilled to be making her Los Angeles stage debut in Yaacobi & Leidental, continuing her passion for international artistic collaboration.

Nisha Sujatha Arunasalam (Musical Director/Pianist) is a multi-instrumentalist/composer/educator from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She began music lessons at the age of four, and plays the piano, organ, violin, steel pans and gamelan. Nisha is a graduate of Berklee College of Music, where she double majored in film scoring, and contemporary writing and production. She also holds diplomas in piano performance from Trinity College London, the Australian Music Examination Board, and University College Sedaya International. Nisha has performed all over the world, including opening for artists like Al Jarreau, and she toured with the Three Irish Tenors for five years. She has also done composing/orchestrating/arranging and session work for the major recording studios in Los Angeles, working with artists such as Korn, Richard Page, Eisley, Vinnie Colaiuta, Luis Conte, Miles Mosley, Joe Sumner, Ozomatli and Mystic Marley. In addition to performing and composing, Nisha has taught music for over 25 years. She is the co-founder of Happy Human Music Project, a Los Angeles-based music education organization aimed at providing music lessons for students of all ages and abilities.