Shirly Brener

Shirly Brener (born September 24 1978 in Israel) is an Actress, Producer, Model, Show Host and Writer. (Pronounced Sheer- Lee) is a well-known celebrity in her homeland.

Raised in London and Los Angeles, her breakthrough role was in 1997 opposite Henry Thomas in the comedy Highjacking Hollywood. Moving then her career to Israel she went on to star as one of the series leads in the nations highest rated prime time drama Ramat Aviv Gimmel. She quickly became a household name and landed recurring roles on shows such as the prime time drama Deadly Fortune and the sitcom Fisfusim- with Dr. Margoa. Recruited by MTV to host the popular teen dating show singled Out, as well as the CO-Host for Love Story, Brener was one of the few talents with 3 successful shows that ran concurrently. She then went on to play one of the leads in the 2 time Israeli Academy Award winner- Mr. Baum, directed by Asi Dayan.

Back in the US since 2001, She has completed dozens of projects such as alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Righteous Kill directed by Jon Avnet for Overture, Sharon Stone and Val Kilmer in Streets of Blood, directed by Charles Winkler and produced by Irwin Winkler, Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook in Employee of the Month, for LionsGate, John Cusack and Hillary Duff in War Inc., Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba in Meet Bill, Steven Segal in Mercenary For Justice, Armand Assante in The [...] Grounds for the Weinstein Co., and James Spader in Shadow of Fear and Harvey Keitel and Mira Sorvino in the The Gray Zone directed by Tim Blake Nelson. On TV she has appeared with Lindsay Lohan in the ABC Family Film Labor Pains and Dean Stockwell in the H.P Lovecraft adapted for TV novel- The Dunwich Horror. She has landed leading role in the films such as the dramedy Letting Go( with Bokeem Woodbine and Christopher Knight ), the human drama Touched (with Shalim Ortiz and Aloma Wright) and the romantic dark comedy Hit List (with John Savage and Joey Lawrence) and National Lampoon’s Cheerleaders Must Die! (With Lochlyn Munro and Danielle Harris).

As a producer, she has completed the psychological suspense thriller film directed by award winning Haim Bouzaglo titled Session, starring Bar Refaeli and Steven Bauer. And the documentary Danny the Golden Fish. Other films on her slate are the thriller -Unraveled, the romantic comedy – Wisdom of the Pretzel (adapted from the very successful Israeli version) and Doves in a Blizzard (written by Rob Weiss and Bruce Rubenstein) to be directed by George Gallo.

Shirly graduated with honors (on the Dean’s List) from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and film Critical Studies. She is currently enrolled in the Masters of Business Administration program at Pepperdine University. She had written and published various catalogues for artist Bruce Rubenstein. And produced art shows in Los Angeles. .

On the stage she recently starred in the production of Eccentric in NoHo, named by LA Weekly as pick of the week and getting rave reviews. Also to her credit are “The Heidi Chronicles” , “It Had to be you” and “The life and adventures of Nickolas Nickleby”

She is a member of the master and alumni program of the prestigious Beverly Hills Playhouse, alongside Dorris Roberts and Burt Raynolds founded by acclaimed acting teacher and director Milton Katselas (past members- George Clooney, Alec Baldwin, Joel Schumacher.)

Her writing can be read in a BI column in Shavua Israeli (Israeli Week) in LA titled “Café Late with Shirly Brener.”

On the humanitarian side, she works and lends her support to Narconon, Gan Hayeled, and Reading Writing its Exciting.

Born to Danny Brener- Israeli record holder and gold winner in 100m and 200 m freestyle, Smadar Brener- a famous film and theater actress. Grandfather Mila Brener, a shipping Tycoon owner of Maritime Shipping Company and is one of the ancestors to Haim Weitzman (the first president of Israel)

Brener is married to screenwriter, artist and designer Bruce Rubenstein and is the mother of daughter Mila Rubenstein.

Movies

  • Unraveled
  • Kavod
  • Session
  • Hit List
  • Touched
  • Movin' In
  • Letting Go
  • The Dunwich Horror
  • Streets Of Blood
  • Autodoc
  • Quantum Apocalypse
  • Labor Pains
  • Girls Gone Dead
  • What Goes Around
  • Righteous Kill
  • War, Inc.
  • Blonde Ambition
  • Bill
  • The Death and Life of Bobby Z
  • Employee of the Month
  • Petrified
  • Mercenary for Justice
  • Children of Wax
  • Shadow of Fear
  • Blind Horizon
  • Connecting Dots
  • Diary Of A [...] Addict
  • The Grey Zone
  • Tail Sting
  • Chatunat Hashanah
  • Four Men Entered the Grove
  • Hijacking Hollywood
  • Mar Baum