Arnon Milchan (Hebrew: ארנון מילצ'ן; December 6, 1944) is an Israeli billionaire businessman, film producer and former spy.

His mother was descended from European Jewish disciples of the rabbi Vilna Gaon who came to the region of Palestine in the early 19th century, and he is the eighth generation of his family in the country.

In 1981 he partnered with Sydney Pollack on the US miniseries Masada[11] 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.

Through his company Regency, in partnership with Warner Bros., and later with Rupert Murdoch at 20th Century Fox, and other business ventures, such as Puma AG, Milchan acquired a net worth estimated at $5.1 billion as of 2015[update].

Milchan has produced over 130 films, such as Noah (2014), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Once Upon a Time in America (1984) (in which he also makes a cameo appearance as the chauffeur), Brazil (1985), Pretty Woman (1990), JFK (1991), Under Siege (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), Boys on the Side (1995), Heat (1995), L.A.

This remained largely in the category of rumor until biographers Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman wrote a controversial unauthorized biography of Milchan that was published in July 2011.

The biography Confidential, which is largely sympathetic to 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 [Milchan] was a full-fledged operative for Israel's top-secret intelligence agency, Lekem.

(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 the Channel 2 documentary program Uvda, Milchan confirmed on camera the central claims in the book Confidential that had been released earlier.

Milchan acknowledged that he was a secret arms dealer for the Israeli government and claimed to have used his connections to promote the apartheid regime in South Africa in exchange for it helping Israel to acquire uranium for its nuclear program.

[13] In June 2023, Milchan provided some details about the friendship he developed with future Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his time as an intelligence officer, with the two having gone from being simple acquaintances to knowing each other "like brothers.