Lebanese actor, writer and producer. Tony Eli was raised in Beirut. His
mother's name is Jeanette Hadchity. His father, Elias Kanaan, works as
a custom clearing agent at the port. He has a twin brother, Elie Kanaan
and a younger brother, George Kanaan. He graduated from Eastwood
College, and went on to the American University of Beirut to study
Psychology. He began screen writing and starring in short films and
music videos while at college.
Tony's first acting experience was in the 10th grade,playing King Frollo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The play was never produced.
In 11th grade, he directed two short horror films with his friends in school.They were screened in school having students laughing instead of screaming. Tony still has a hold of them to remember how a miserable failure his first movie work was.
He has a fraternal twin, Elie Kanaan.
He uses his middle name Eli instead of his family name, Kanaan, so he wouldn't be mistaken with the Brazilian race driver Tony Kanaan.
At one point, he used to watch 5 movies a day. By age 20, he had watched over a thousand movies.