Early life

Milchan was born in Rehovot, Israel, in 1944. His family is Jewish. His father owned a fertilizer company, which Milchan inherited at the age of 21 upon his father's sudden death. Over the years, Milchan turned the company into a successful chemical business. He also earned a degree from the London School of Economics, before he and his company (Milchan Brothers Ltd.) were recruited to LAKAM, a top secret Israeli intelligence organization responsible for obtaining technology and material for Israel's nuclear program, and other highly secretive programs.

Film industry, and other businesses

Arnon Milchan became involved in the American movie business in 1977, after an introduction to American producer Elliot Kastner. Most notable among Milchan's film collaborations was his early work with Martin Scorsese. He developed close friendships with Robert De Niro, and directors Roman Polanski, Sergio Leone, Terry Gilliam and Oliver Stone. Milchan started his own production company in 1991 called New Regency Productions. Through his company Regency, in partnership with Warner Brothers, and later with Rupert Murdoch at 20th Century Fox, and other business ventures, such as Puma AG, Milchan acquired a net worth estimated at about $5.1 billion as of 2015.

Arnon Milchan has produced over 130 films and is recognized as one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood history, with films such as Noah, 12 Years a Slave, Once Upon a Time in America (1984) (in which he also makes a cameo appearance as the chauffeur), Brazil (1985), Pretty Woman (1990), Under Siege (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Unfaithful (2002), and Knight and Day (2010), among others, to his credit. He was a producer on the two most recent Oscar-winners for Best Motion Picture, 12 Years a Slave in 2014 and Birdman in 2015.

Milchan is also the owner of the WTA broadcasting rights. He was married to model Brigitte Genmaire. He is now married to former South African tennis professional Amanda Coetzer. He is owner of the network which transmits Israeli television programming to the United States and Canada. He is also a part owner of Israel's TV Channel 10, and a former owner of Puma, the international sportswear line.

Intelligence operative

Speculation about Milchan's involvement in arms dealing and intelligence activities was sparked after the indictment in 1985 of Dr. Richard Kelly Smyth, an aerospace executive and scientist who had made illegal shipments of Krytrons (nuclear triggers) through one of Milchan's companies. This remained largely in the category of rumor until biographers Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman wrote a controversial unauthorized biography of Mr. Milchan that was published in July 2011. The biography Confidential, which is largely sympathetic to Mr. Milchan, revealed in detail how he involved himself in espionage, big-ticket arms-dealing, and obtaining sensitive technology and materials for Israel's nuclear weapons program. The research in Confidential - The Life Of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon established that "at least through the mid-1980s was a full-fledged operative for Israel’s top-secret intelligence agency, Lakam. His activities included "buying components to build and maintain Israel’s nuclear arsenal" and supervising "government-backed accounts and front companies that financed the special needs of the entirety of Israel’s intelligence operations outside the country". Interviewed regarding Milchan's intelligence activities, Israeli President Shimon Peres stated:

"Arnon is a special man. It was I who recruited him.... When I was at the Ministry of Defense, Arnon was involved in numerous defense-related procurement activities and intelligence operations. His strength is in making connections at the highest levels.... His activities gave us a huge advantage, strategically, diplomatically and technologically." (interview dated February 8, 2010, documented in Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman's "Confidential: Secret Agent turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan" p. xi).

Two years later, on November 25, 2013, on Israel's channel 2 documentary program Uvda, Mr. Milchan confirmed on camera the central claims in the book Confidential that had been released earlier. The announcement caused international interest in the story and was covered widely.

Milchan claimed to have used connections to promote the apartheid regime in South Africa in exchange for it helping Israel acquire uranium for its nuclear program.

Art collection

Milchan is a leading art collector, and in April 2015, CNBC ranked him at #3 in their list of "Hollywood's top 10 art collectors" with a collection valued at $600 million, equal with George Lucas, ranked #2, but some way behind David Geffen at #1, with a collection valued at $2.3 billion.

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
1977	The Accuser	co-producer
	Black Joy	producer
1978	The Medusa Touch	executive producer
1979	Dizengoff 99	producer
1983	The King of Comedy	producer
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	producer
1985	Brazil	producer
	Legend	producer
1986	Stripper	executive producer
1987	Man on Fire	producer
1989	Who's Harry Crumb?	producer
	Big Man on Campus	producer
	The War of the Roses	producer
1990	Pretty Woman	producer
	Q&A	producer
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	producer
	Switch	executive producer
	JFK	executive producer
1992	The Mambo Kings	producer
	Memoirs of an Invisible Man	executive producer
	The Power of One	producer
	Under Siege	producer
1993	Sommersby	producer
	Falling Down	executive producer
	Made in America	producer
	Free Willy	executive producer
	That Night	producer
	Striking Distance	producer
	The Nutcracker	executive producer
	Six Degrees of Separation	producer
	Heaven & Earth	producer
1994	The Client	producer
	Natural Born Killers	executive producer
	The New Age	executive producer
	Second Best	executive producer
	Cobb	executive producer
1995	Boys on the Side	producer
	Under Siege 2: Dark Territory	producer
	Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home	executive producer
	Empire Records	producer
	Copycat	producer
	Heat	executive producer
1996	A Time to Kill	producer
	Tin Cup	executive producer
	Carpool	producer
	Bogus	producer
	Sunchaser	producer
	The Mirror Has Two Faces	producer
1997	Murder at 1600	producer
	Free Willy 3: The Rescue	executive producer
	L.A. Confidential	producer
	Breaking Up	executive producer
	The Devil's Advocate	producer
	The Man Who Knew Too Little	producer
1998	Dangerous Beauty	producer
	City of Angels	executive producer
	The Negotiator	producer
1999	Simply Irresistible	executive producer
	Goodbye Lover	executive producer
	Entrapment	executive producer
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	executive producer
	Fight Club	executive producer
2000	Up at the Villa	executive producer
	Big Momma's House	executive producer
	Tigerland	producer
2001	Freddy Got Fingered	executive producer
	Don't Say a Word	producer
	Joy Ride	executive producer
	Black Knight	producer
	Joe Somebody	executive producer
2002	High Crimes	producer
	Life or Something Like It	producer
	Unfaithful	producer
2003	Daredevil	producer
	Down with Love	executive producer
	Runaway Jury	producer
2004	The Girl Next Door	executive producer
	Man on Fire	producer
	First Daughter	producer
2005	Elektra	producer
	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	producer
	Stay	producer
	Bee Season	executive producer
2006	Big Momma's House 2	executive producer
	Date Movie	executive producer
	The Sentinel	producer
	Just My Luck	producer
	My Super Ex-Girlfriend	producer
	The Fountain	producer
	Deck the Halls	producer
2007	Epic Movie	executive producer
	Alvin and the Chipmunks	executive producer
2008	Meet the Spartans	executive producer
	Jumper	producer
	Shutter	executive producer
	Street Kings	executive producer
	What Happens in Vegas	executive producer
	Meet Dave	executive producer
	Mirrors	executive producer
	Marley & Me	executive producer
2009	Bride Wars	executive producer
	Aliens in the Attic	executive producer
	Fantastic Mr. Fox	executive producer
	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel	executive producer
2010	Marmaduke	executive producer
	Knight and Day	executive producer
	Vampires Suck	executive producer
	Mirrors 2	executive producer
	Love and Other Drugs	executive producer
2011	Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son	executive producer
	Marley & Me: The Puppy Years	executive producer
	Monte Carlo	producer
	What's Your Number?	executive producer
	In Time	executive producer
	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	executive producer
	The Darkest Hour	executive producer
2013	Broken City	producer
	The Internship	executive producer
	12 Years a Slave	producer
	Runner Runner	producer
2014	Noah	producer
	Joy Ride 3	executive producer
	Gone Girl	producer
	Birdman	producer
2015	True Story	executive producer
	Unfinished Business	producer
	The Big Short	producer
	The Revenant	producer
	Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip	executive producer
2016	Assassin's Creed	producer

[ Source: Wikipedia ]