Raz Degan

'Raz Degan' is an actor, director, and cinematographer, born in a Kibbutz of Sde Nehemia in Israel. At the age of 21, and after three years military service in the Israeli Army, he became a male model and began an itinerant lifestyle traveling around the world. Raz’s love for adventure has led him to travel to more than 100 countries in the past two decades. When not actively engaged in producing documentaries, Raz enjoys photography. This hobby has earned him several exhibitions throughout 2014-2016 in Italy, Israel, and Indonesia.

Degan was initially discovered in New York City as a male model and soon after made his way into the film industry. By the mid-1990s, Degan was based in Italy and starred in a series of Italian commercials; he also had roles in several television films and played minor parts in cinematographic films. In 1994 he had a cameo role in Robert Altman's 1994 film Pret-a-Porter. In 2004, he secured the role of Darius III in Oliver Stone's epic film Alexander. In 2005 Raz played the lead role in Ermanno Olmi's film "One hundred nails" which opened the Cannes film festival, In 2008-2009, Raz continued to star in various Italian film productions playing different roles ranging from hero to villain. In 2009 he co-starred in Barbarossa,starring Dutch actor Rutger Hauer in the title role. During 2010, Raz played in the French film Force Special alongside Diane Kruger and Djimon Hounsou. Once filming wrapped, Raz remained to undertake travels from Tajikistan to Afghanistan across the Pamir range, and then into Tibet and Nepal shooting short documentaries for Italian television. This same year Raz hosted "Mistero" on Italia1 for two seasons making several documentaries.

In 2013, Raz worked as the director of photography for the documentary "The Green Prince", which received several awards including the Audience Award for World Cinema – Documentary at the Sundance Festival. Raz was also nominated for several awards for his cinematography specifically. Raz made his directorial debut in 2016 after spending a few years travelling through the Peruvian Amazon working on an international feature documentary called The Last Shaman. The film will be released on Netflix in 2017.

• Pret-a-Porter, 1994
• Sorellina e il principe del sogno, television, 1996
• Squillo, 1996
• Uncut 1996
• Coppia omicida, 1998
• Le ragazze di piazza di Spagna, television miniseries 1998
• Titus, 1999
• Giravolte, 2001
• Alexander, 2004, in the role of Darius III
• Film privato, television, 2004
• Centochiodi, (one hundred nails) 2007
• Albakiara, 2008
• Barbarossa, 2009, in the role of Alberto da Giussano
• Deauville, 2010
• Omamamia 2011 as Silvio
• Forces spéciales, 2011 in the role of Ahmed Zaief
• The Green Prince, 2013 - director of cinematography
• The Last Shaman, 2016 - director, director of cinematography, writer, producer
• The Lost Sadhu, 2016-17 - director, DOP, writer, producer