Rita Yahan-Farouz (;), also known mononymously as Rita (formerly Rita Kleinstein ), is an Israeli pop singer and actress. In 2011, she became popular in Iran after the release of various pop records which she sings in her native Persian language. In 2012, produced by Amer Payami, her album All My Joys, also sung in Persian, was popular in Israel and Iran, going gold in Israel after three weeks. She has since been referred to as a cultural ambassador between Israeli and Iranian citizens, and states she hopes to "puncture the wall of tension" between their countries. Early life Rita Yahan-Farouz was born in Tehran, Iran, to a Persian-Jewish family. At the age of eight, her family immigrated to Israel with her, and resided in the city of Ramat HaSharon, Israel, in 1970. Her niece is Israeli actress and singer Liraz Charhi. She began singing professionally as a military band member while serving in the Israel Defense Forces during the 1980s, and rose to stardom quickly. Rita was married to Israeli singer, composer, and keyboardist Rami Kleinstein, with whom she has two daughters, Meshi and Noam. The couple performed together in 2001. In 2007, they announced they were separating. Singing and acting career Rita began her career in 1980 as part of a musical troupe in the Israel Defense Forces. In 1982, she attended the "Beit Zvi" school of acting. Her first exposure to the general public in Israel was at the 1986 Pre-Eurovision Song Contest (known as the Kdam-Eurovision), which decided who would represent Israel in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Rita did not win, but her song, Shvil haBrichah garnered much interest. That same year, Rita starred in a production of My Fair Lady and released her self-titled debut album, Rita, which went triple platinum, selling over 120,000 copies. In 1987, she released the English language album Breaking Those Walls under the name of Rita Farouz. That album contained several English versions of her Hebrew songs from the first album as well as original material. Despite going gold (20,000 copies) in Israel, that album was not an international success. In 1988, Rita released her second album, Yemei Ha'Tom (The Days of Innocence), which was produced by her then husband, Rami Kleinstein, and which included a song by Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin. In 1988 and 1989 she was chosen as Singer of the Year by Israel's national radio station.