Ariel Mortman – Life Story of American Actress

Ariel Mortman is an Israeli-American actress who gained international exposure for playing the main role of Hayley Woods in the Netflix original series Greenhouse Academy. The series ran successfully for four seasons before it was announced in July 2020 that it would not be renewed for a fifth season. She previously played the lead role in the Israeli Disney teen series Northern Star and appeared in a couple of Israeli short films. Recently, she co-produced and acted in the American short film Ghosted and is scheduled to appear in the drama film Sometimes I Dream of Wandering. Through her social media profiles, she has endorsed various brands like Warby Parker Eyeglasses, Byrdie Beauty, Realisation Par, Petit Pois Lingerie, and Cafe Kitsune.

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She Grew Up in Israel

Ariel Mortman was born on February 6, 1994 in New York City, New York, United States to Steve Mortman and Hila Arnon. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Tel Aviv, Israel, where she grew up with her brother Daniel “Volde” Mortman and her sister Edan Mortman. Her sister is a traveler and social worker. Ariel sometimes posts pictures with her siblings on her Instagram. She was an athletic child growing up and used to play tennis when she was younger. As a child, she split her time between Tel Aviv and New York City. However, she is currently based in Los Angeles, California. After completing high school in Israel, she served in the Israel Defense Forces.

She Acted in a Popular Israeli Disney Series

Ariel Mortman’s earliest memory of acting on stage was in the 7th grade when she participated in a theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof, in which she played one of the sisters. She did not have to audition for the role as the cast was randomly selected. She mentioned in an interview that she became interested in acting following that performance. She later took acting lessons at the Cameri and Nissan Nativ Acting Studios, a renowned studio that holds classes in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. As an adult, she acted in a couple of Israeli short films, such as Keep It Cool in 2014 and Dreaming to Fly the next year. Also in 2014, she was cast in the lead role of Maya in Disney’s popular teen series Northern Star. She played the role in all the 99 episodes of the series throughout its two seasons until 2016.

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She Didn’t Expect to Get the Role of Hayley Woods

During her appearance on the ‘BUILD Series’ YouTube channel for a discussion of the second season of Greenhouse Academy on its launch day, Ariel revealed Mortman the funny story behind her audition for the role of Hayley Woods. When she received the audition tapes for the role from her agent, she was backpacking in Japan and was surrounded by “loud Australians”. She self-taped her audition on an iPhone with someone in her hostel reading the script, and was convinced that she would not get the role. However, to her surprise, she got a call from the makers of the series the very next day. When she reached the studio, she realized that a handful of the participants were called back for the final set of auditions and were hopeful that each of them was selected for a character. Eventually, they were called into a room, apparently for “height measurement”, where they stood in front of 12 executives, wondering what’s coming next. When the executives started clapping their hands, they looked back and saw the huge sign behind them that read “Welcome to the Greenhouse Academy”.

She Went Back to Tel Aviv to Film Greenhouse Academy

Even though Ariel primarily lived in Tel Aviv, she had not watched the original Israeli series, The Greenhouse, from which the Netflix show was adapted. However, she made sure to watch the original after being selected to play the role of Hayley. In spite of the fact that the show is set in California, she and the rest of the cast shot for two and a half months in Tel Aviv, filming for both season 1 and 2 back-to-back. Ariel, who also grew up in the East Coast apart from Tel Aviv and New York City, thought that her English was good enough, but was given a dialect coach during the filming of the show to make her sound more Californian. She told ‘BUILD Series’ that the hardest scene for her to film was a drowning sequence, for which she had to spend eight hours in the water, surrounded by lifeguards. She further mentioned that the scene could not be faked for it to be convincing.

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She Appeared in Dallas Hart’s Music Video

Dallas Hart, Ariel’s co-star from Greenhouse Academy who played the role of her character’s love interest Leo Cruz, is a real-life musician known as “HÆRT” who sang the show’s main theme song “Alive”. In 2018, when he released the single “Just for the Weekend”, he chose Ariel to star opposite him in its official music video. Incidentally, the two of them, who played onscreen couples on Greenhouse Academy, have also been linked romantically off the screen. When a click-bait YouTube video talked about a love triangle between Dallas, Ariel and Chris O’Neal, who played Daniel Hayward on the show, Dallas commented on it, “Wow i had no idea we even dated! I’m learning so much.” Fans of the show further revealed that Chris had mentioned previously that he and Ariel were really good friends, and were not dating.