Yali Topol Margalith longed for her grandfather, Chaim Topol, to praise her role in the newly released series The Tattooist of Auschwitz. After all, his dream was for her to become an actress, just like him.
"I'm sad he won't see all that I'm doing and will do," she says. "Grandpa was the first person in the world to take me seriously as an actress. He watched all my performances and told me, 'Sweetheart, you're an actress. This is your calling.' To him, I was the most talented. I really wanted to show him that I am fulfilling our dreams, but I didn’t get the chance. However, I know he would be very proud of me."
What did you learn from him?
"I received a lot of advice from Grandpa that I still use today. First and foremost, I learned from him to be a good person. I also inherited his drive. The idea that something I want won’t happen – that’s not an option for me. When I really want to do something and I believe in it, I do it. At least I try. Grandpa would sit and write notes on scripts, and I’m the same way. I have to write down every thought, every change. Overall, Grandpa was one of the best people in the world."
Chaim Topol passed away on March 9, 2023, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. "Even when he could no longer recognize people because of the illness, he hugged and kissed me. On March 15, my birthday, just as we concluded the shiva, I received a message from my agent that I got the role in The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Since then, I've filmed two more series. Maybe he had a hand in this good karma."
Coming full circle
Chaim Topol was one of Israel's greatest and most respected actors, with iconic roles in the film Sallah Shabati and the musical Fiddler on the Roof. He earned Oscar and Tony nominations, won two Golden Globe Awards, and received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement. But to Yali, he was foremost a warm and loving grandfather.
When did you realize what a great actor he was?
"Only after he passed away. To me, he was always just Grandpa, not an actor. I felt like he wasn’t just my Grandpa, but the world's Grandpa because everyone always approached him. During the shiva, our house was full of people. More than two hundred people came every hour, from morning until night, including people who didn't really know him. It was important for them to be with us, to say what a wonderful actor and person he was. Messages poured in from around the world. They even talked about him at the Oscars."
How did you cope with his final years of illness?
"I try not to think about it too much," she says, wiping away tears. "He was such a strong, warm, intelligent and funny person, and then suddenly he would ask me again and again what I was doing at school. 'I’m an actress, Grandpa, I’m studying acting,' I told him, and he would get excited every time. What he never lost during all seven years of the illness was his sense of humor. It’s unbelievable. He was barely himself, yet he was still so funny. The last thing he said to me was when we were sitting in the kitchen talking. He looked at me and said, 'Because we’re friends.' I cried and cried, and he looked at me, not understanding why I was crying. He didn’t always recognize us, but he knew he loved us. Every time we visited him, even when he was scared and angry, he was always warm and loving, hugging and kissing us."
Yali, 24, a charming and lively young woman, is the daughter of Adi Topol, who retired from acting long ago and now works as a kindergarten teacher, and musician Dror Margalith. When she was 12, her family moved to London. Her older brother Guy, 28, did not go into acting, but her younger sister Darya, 18, is continuing the legacy with a role in a London production of Fiddler on the Roof.
"Darya is incredibly talented, more than anyone else in the family," she says. "The show was staged at the last theater Grandpa performed in. I went to an audition there, while auditioning for three other roles, and I told them, 'I don’t know if you’re looking for people, but I have a little sister who is very talented. She’s the best singer you’ll hear, an amazing actress, and she’s beautiful.' She came, did one audition, and got the part. Grandpa would have been very proud of her."
When did you know you wanted to become an actress?
"As a child, I really wanted to be an actress, but my mother didn’t want me to be on television. The idea always scared her. She didn’t want to have a child known to the whole country and drive her crazy, so the only thing she allowed me to do was voice dubbing. I dubbed a lot of movies. I would go to school, then to ballet, chess club or dubbing sessions."
What kind of child were you?
"Temperamental, verbal. When I was little, I was a leader, and people would say I was bossy. There’s some truth to that, of course, but if I were a boy, they wouldn’t call me bossy; they’d say I was a leader. My mother remembers me going to every store with a mirror, sitting in front of it and laughing, which would then turn into crying, like someone in a horror movie. I would do this everywhere, and my mother would say, 'Oh no, she’s going to be an actress. She won’t have money or work.' I would busk in the street, standing with a hat and performing, not for money, but just to perform. There was never any question about what I would do when I grew up. It was written in the stars."
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Chaim Topol as Tevye the dairyman in Fiddler on the Roof
(Photo: United Artists, Getty Images)
Did anyone try to tell you, 'enough, one actor in the family is enough,' especially since that actor was Chaim Topol?
"My parents are very supportive of whatever I want to do. Not just me, all their children. It was a very special home to grow up in and to fulfill dreams. I wanted to play the violin, so they sent me to learn violin. I wanted to play the flute, so I got flute lessons. Of course, my parents explained that it doesn’t always work out, and that acting is a very cruel, scary, frustrating and humiliating business, but they let me do what I wanted."
How did you feel about publicity?
"The idea scares me a little because of my grandfather. I talked to him about it too. He always had to be ready for someone to interrupt him, talk to him, ask for an autograph. People really invaded his privacy. We would be sitting in restaurants, and people would approach us while we were eating or celebrating something. I want to work all the time, but it scares me that people will know who I am."
In London, Topol Margalith attended the Brit School for Performing Arts and later Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts ("the best school for musicals, and in general"). One of her first roles was in the play The Band's Visit in London, alongside Miri Mesika and Alon Aboutboul. She played Anna ("who is the funny, streetwise one").
"Miri and I connected so well," she says. "She is a wonderful person. Although she is 20 years older than me, I was like Miri's mom. The antics she pulls, it's just unbelievable. She has a show, and she arrives five minutes before we go on stage, after everyone is hysterically asking where Miri is. This astronaut was just looking at the leaves of a tree in the park. She is a magical actress in my eyes, not just a great singer. She was simply born for theater. The audience in London just fell in love with her because there’s no one like her."
Dealing with antisemitism
In times when antisemitism is on the rise in London, it’s not easy being Jewish and Israeli there. "I get all kinds of messages on Instagram," she says. "They called me a 'Jewish pig.' They wrote that Jews should die."
How do they know you're Jewish?
"Everyone asks me where I'm from. I don’t look British. Usually, I say I'm from Tel Aviv or that I'm Polish. People don’t know that Tel Aviv is in Israel. I don't care if people don't like me because I'm Jewish. It says a lot more about them than it does about me.
"Most of my Instagram followers are kids, so I don't post political things on my Instagram. I really don't want to influence children politically. I'm a comedic actress, and my job is to promote myself as an actress on Instagram. I'm not these kids' mother, and I don't want to tell them what to do either.
"The thought that my children will be on Instagram and people will tell them what to say and what to think stresses me out so much that I treat the kids who call me a pig as if they were my own kids. If it wasn't a child responding, but an adult behind that profile, I would say they are not sane. A person who writes to a young actress that she is a pig has probably experienced insane things in their life. I would pity them."
What do your parents say about the rising antisemitism?
"It doesn't surprise them. We watch the news and see the information presented in British news broadcasts. My parents and I have friends who post incorrect, unfounded things. My parents know that this doesn't really come from a place of hating Jews. It comes from a world that feeds you misleading and unnuanced information. When people are willing, I sit with them over coffee and explain where they are wrong."
Do you often sit with friends to explain their mistakes?
"Yes, I listen to them, and they listen to me. There's a lot of love between us, and sometimes we end the conversation without agreeing, but that's okay. The important thing is to talk about it. When Hamas sent a missile that landed on the Shifa Hospital in Gaza, London reported as if Israel did it, and people posted that information online and didn't take it down."
Have people cut ties with you?
"Yes, and it's funny and ridiculous. I'm constantly traveling for shoots and talking to people through Instagram, and when people unfollow me, it's like cutting ties. People in London don't even know there are hostages. Some didn't know about October 7 and what happened on that day. They thought there was a protest. That's what they are fed. On the other hand, there are also many Jews here who don't really know what's happening in Gaza.
"I think the situation in Israel is terrible. Enough already, the war should end, and the hostages should be returned. How is it possible that a solution hasn't been found for this conflict yet? It's like it's not a problem that has existed for decades."
Tough on set
The mini-series The Tattooist of Auschwitz (aired on streaming service Peacock), in which she stars, is based on a successful play and book series by author Heather Morris. It tells the story of her good friend Lale (Lali) Sokolov, who tattooed the prisoner numbers on the hands of Auschwitz inmates. Harvey Keitel plays the older Sokolov and Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid) plays the younger version. Topol Margalith plays Cilka (Cecília Kovachová), a frightened 16-year-old girl and camp inmate.
"It was very tough to be on set," she says. "I read a lot about this story and the Holocaust to prepare for filming. I had to wear the gown and have the number on my hand. I didn't sleep enough, didn't eat much, and couldn't stop vomiting. I have a grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor, so I know what it's like. I also went to a Jewish religious school where they talked a lot about the Holocaust so that we wouldknow."
How was it to act alongside such stars?
"I didn’t have any scenes with Harvey Keitel, but I heard from others that he’s a funny guy and an amazing actor. Jonah Hauer-King is incredible. He really calmed me down and helped me a lot. Tali Shalom-Ezer, the director, also helped me immensely."
Topol Margalith's next role is in the series A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, set to premiere in July. "I played the funny character, as usual," she smiles. "Besides having short, curly red hair, it was perfect."
What about roles in Israeli films?
"In Israel, I get fewer auditions than in London, but I’d love to act and film in Israel. I love Israeli cinema very much. It’s on a different level. There are amazing writers and directors. I also have actor friends in Israel – Bar Miniali is one of my best friends, and Neta Roth, who moved to London a few months ago. She got an amazing agent here, and she’s incredibly talented. I met Neta, who reminds me a bit of Miri, five years ago when I came to visit Israel. I remember looking at her and thinking she was a very strange girl. She gave me a monologue in Russian, English and Hebrew, each with a perfect accent. She didn’t even say 'Hi, how are you?' I love her very much."
For the past five years, she has been head over heels in love with Austrian actor Timo Tetzber. "We met at drama school, and the moment I saw him, I fell head over heels in love with him," she enthuses. "I had a boyfriend for two years, and I broke up with him a week after I met Timo. For three months, I pursued him, and he didn’t pay attention to me until I told him, 'I think we should be together. I’m in love with you.' We’ve been together ever since.
"He's a very special guy. First of all, he has a gap between his teeth, like my grandfather, and he's shy. He’s a very talented actor and very smart. He’s currently performing in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar in England. He also has an Israeli, Tel Aviv vibe. During the pandemic, he moved in with my family. He cooks, he cleans. Everyone fell in love with him. I’m very lucky. We talk about having children and getting married."
Did he meet your grandfather?
"He’s been to Israel many times. He met my grandfather, but after he had started to fade away from us. Not my original, charming and wise grandfather. My grandfather met my ex, a wonderful guy, but they didn’t really connect. When he met Timo, he hugged him right away. Maybe he thought he was family because of the gap between his front teeth. He looks Jewish, even though he’s not.
"Timo has been reading and writing in English since he was ten, although he grew up in Austria. Two years ago, he decided to learn Hebrew, and now he speaks and writes Hebrew. In the morning, he writes to me, 'boker tov, yafa sheli' (good morning, my beautiful). When he speaks Hebrew, he has a perfect accent. He immediately became friends with my grandmother, and they would sit and solve crossword puzzles together."
What do you dream of acting in?
"I haven't done enough to say. Right now, everything that comes my way feels like a wonderful dream. I just started acting, and I want to do everything. The first series I did was a Holocaust drama. The second was a comedy for young people. Now I'm doing something different from the previous two roles. A kind of 'bad' character. It’s just a shame I never got to act with my grandfather. A huge loss."