Esther served four months in the Israeli Army before she was discharged owing to her marriage to Abi.

[2] American director Otto Preminger cast Esther for a small role in the film Exodus (1960).

In 1961, she won first at Israel's first pop song festival in Tel Aviv, where she sang "Saëni Imchá Bemachol" (Take Me with You When You Dance) and "Naamah", written by Pnina and Tsvi Avni, accompanied by Kol Yisrael orchestra under Gary Bertini.

[3][4] In 1962, Esther released her self-titled debut solo album and was invited to join Frank Sinatra in his performances in Israel.

In a very close and controversial competition with the Danish duo Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann, her song placed second.

[6] In 1963, Esther had a starring role in the German film Es war mir ein Vergnügen.

[7] Speaking about a performance at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, Jim Albright, campus correspondent, stated: Everyone expected the Smother Brothers to be great, but Ester [sic] turned out to be fabulous...people were amazed with her singing and her looks.

On 25 February 1970, she co-starred in her own BBC television special The Young Generation Meet Esther Ofarim broadcast on BBC1.

[15] In 1982, she released the album Complicated Ladies on Mercury Records with Eberhard Schoener, Wolf Wondratschek, and Ulf Miehe.

[1][16] Esther later married assistant television director Philipp von Sell, who is 18 years her junior.