Neil Harris grew up in London and studied acting and educational theater before moving to Israel in 1979. He was a founding member, and three times General Secretary (Mazkir), of Kibbutz Tuval.

In 1981 Neil was enlisted into the IDF and spent two years as a medic in the first Lebanese War. Following the military, Neil spent two years working in Community Theater and on programs supporting youth-at-risk in Rehovot.

Returning to Tuval in 1985, Neil started to work in the field of Experiential Education for Social Change, and for the past 25 years has been facilitating programs on Jewish/Palestinian-Arab Dialogue, HIV and AIDS Prevention, Gay and Lesbian Youth, and Democratic Dilemmas in Israeli Society.

In addition to teaching in the Community Theater Department at the University of Haifa, Neil produced two documentaries on Israeli themes for British television. Art and activism continued to be a central theme when in November 2001, Neil completed a walk of over 500 miles from Metulla to Eilat, interviewing Jewish and Palestinian-Arab Israeli citizens on "The State of the Nation" one year into the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

In 2008 Neil collaborated on the dance performance project, Genesis 22, examining issues of personal sacrifice, the aggressor, and the victim in society. In 2011 he joined the summer faculty of The American Dance Festival School, where he taught a new class on Choreography and Performance as Activism, for performers interested in being agents of social change.

Neil is father to Dylan, and splits his time between living on Kibbutz Tuval and in south Tel Aviv.