By day, Noa Mazar works at the offices of the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles. She is also a content creator and producer on the show “Explore Israel” which airs once per month on the cable network Jewish Life Television (JLTV). As a host and reporter, Mazar conducts interviews and presents segments introducing Israel to English-speaking audiences.
As a host and reporter on “Explore Israel,” Mazar conducts interviews and presents segments introducing Israel to English-speaking audiences.
Mazar is also an accomplished actress, singer/songwriter—she was in the Jaden Smith music video “Summer” and released her own first single “WITHOUT U” in 2022. Mazar has also been lauded for her acting and musical talents, as she played guitar and sang in the award-winning film, “Al Culana.”
She has no problem oscillating between dressing up for work for the Israeli government, and buckling down to make her own creations. After a long day at the Consulate, she showed up to the interview with the Journal in a black AC/DC shirt.
It comes as no surprise that Mazar splits her time between foreign affairs and the arts. It’s a playbook her father, Dr. Ofer Mazar, has followed for his whole life, as well. A senior diplomat at the Embassy of Israel in Paris, because of his job, Dr. Mazar and his family (Noa, her mother and two brothers) quite a bit over the years. But Dr. Mazar is also a musician who balanced his life between diplomacy, family and music. He plays the guitar, piano, and sings and has recorded two full-length albums with his band Musrara. He’s even written several romance novels. Music and diplomacy seem to be hereditary traits for the Mazar family. “I remember in sixth grade, I was so fortunate to have parents who were like, ‘You wanna act? Let’s take you to an acting class!’” Mazar told the Journal. “There was never pressure on me to do what’s practical.”
Born in Norway in 1998, Mazar spent a large part of her childhood in Rome, Italy. In whichever city the family called home at the time, the rooms were filled with the music of Queen, Supertramp, R.E.O. Speedwagon and Van Halen. She picked up the guitar before she was a teenager; her father taught her “Hotel California,” the first song she ever played.
While living in Italy, Mazar excelled at dancing, even playing the dance-heavy role of Chacha di Gregorio in the American School of Rome production of “Grease.”
After three years in Italy, Mazar and her family uprooted yet again and took residence in Los Angeles. Noa remembers being 12 years old, holding her mom’s hand walking into Beverly Vista Middle School as a first time resident of the United States.
Their home in Los Angeles was no different from the home in Rome—rock music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s blazed from the home stereo. At school, Mazar made great friends and took advantage of the diversity of arts opportunities in town. But in 2014, when Noa Mazar finished her sophomore year at Beverly Hills High School, she found out she and her family would be moving to Jerusalem, where her parents were born. “I’ll be back,” Mazar recalled saying to her friends. Those three years in Los Angeles made a massive impression; she was 16 and performing was all she wanted to do.
The family relocated to Israel when Operation Protective Edge was raging—air raid sirens screamed throughout their first night in Jerusalem. Soon, Mazar would attend the first day of her junior year of high school. “I remember before walking in [to school], my dad was coming out of the car with me and I said to him, ‘what are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m coming inside, you don’t know anyone.’ And I told him to stay in the car, I’ll be fine. And I walked in and he just stayed there in the car.’”
That was a pivotal moment for Mazar. Life in Los Angeles gave her confidence that she carried into her new life in Israel. After high school in 2016, Mazar entered the Israeli Defense Forces. In her most authentic fashion, she melded her love of the performing with what she did by day—she became a fitness instructor in the IDF.
“I always knew that I wanted to do something that I could walk away from and feel like I made a difference,” Mazar said. Mazar loved what she was doing in the IDF but after her requisite duty ended in November 2018, Mazar told her father that she would be moving back to Los Angeles within a year. “When it came to this dream that I have he supported me all the way, even though it hurt him a bit to see me go,” she said.
Mazar, then aged 21, boarded a plane with two suitcases and a dream, knowing that there are no shortcuts to success in Hollywood. Being reunited with her old high school friends gave Mazar a boost—describing them as “talented, hard-working and inspiring.” She continued acting classes and songwriting, and was hired for a day job in the Consulate. Soon thereafter, she started producing the show “Explore Israel.” So just like her father, she was making art and working in diplomacy for her home country.
“I consider Israel my home, it’s always in my heart,” Mazar said. Her love and pride in her homeland combined with her talents in the arts were an ideal fit. Now, she gets to be in front of a camera and share stories about her homeland to an English-speaking audience on “Explore Israel.” They often dive deep into all the reasons a tourist should come to a particular Israeli city—showcasing the beauty, culture and history. They encourage tourism and frequently shed light on Israeli technology, innovations and medical breakthroughs. “I feel safer when I’m in Israel,” she said. “It’s the vibe, the people, the love.”
Her parents and one of her brothers now live in Paris. Another brother lives in Israel. She’s a quarter Italian and has “amore” tattooed on her arm in honor of her great-grandmother who passed away in 2021. She has another tattoo, on her right foot reading “Tamid Beregel Yamin” meaning “always on the right foot.” Indeed, she feels like she is: Mazar is still writing music, with her own influences now added to the mix—among them, Ed Sheeran, Paramore, Idan Raichel, Julia Michaels, Jhene Aiko and Fletcher. The sounds from her childhood homes around the world—the various genres and eras of music—all continue to influence each day for Mazar. She’s making big moves and has some big music announcements coming in 2023. And it’s not just a hobby, or a side project. The arts she loves are very much intertwined with the mission of her day job.
We feel pain, we feel happiness, we feel sadness. Everybody in the world wants to be happy. But we tend to forget that today. We forget it on all platforms except for art.
“There’s one universal language and it’s literally art,” Mazar said. “If I like a certain song and some girl on the other side of the planet likes a different song we are binded in a way. We feel pain, we feel happiness, we feel sadness. Everybody in the world wants to be happy. But we tend to forget that today. We forget it on all platforms except for art. Then we show up to the same concert, we play the same song or look at the same art piece…and feel different things.”
Noa Mazar’s music can be found on all major platforms— Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube.
You can follow her on Instagram at www.instagram.com/noa_mazar
To listen to Dr. Ofer Mazar’s band, visit their website: https://www.mazarsband.com
Check with your cable television provider to get JLTV: https://www.jltv.tv/about
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