Or Nili Azulay was born in Israel and graduated the prestigious Tichon Hadash, specializing in sciences and humanities. After studying drama in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, she served in the Israeli Navy. She also studied literature and philosophy at Tel-Aviv University. Azulay has written poetry from a young age, winning numerous prizes, including the Ron Adler Poetry award of Haifa University in 1993. Her 1994 book, To Worship God, To Worship Man, was awarded the Rachel Award for Hebrew poetry.

Azulay is the most outstanding student of Sylvia Duran, the renowned teacher of classical Spanish dance and flamenco. In 1993-94 she danced as a guest artist in the show of guitarist Baldi Olier. Her studies continued in Spain in 1995-96 under such eminent teachers as: Thomas De Madrid (who chose her to perform his Beauty and the Wind); Maria Magdalena (the famous teacher from the film Carmen by Carlos Saura and Antonio Gades); Paco Fernandez; Victoria Eugenia (former artistic director of the Spanish National Ballet); La Tati, and El Guito. Azulay was invited by Antonio Canales, one of the most renowned and influential flamenco dancers/choreographers of the last decade, to take part in a special process of developing and advancing his modernist style.

In October 1997, Azulay premiered The Flame and The Frost: A Dialogue For a Dancer and an Orchestra, a solo performance she created and choreographed, in which she portrays several female characters from Ibsen's Peer Gynt, set to the music of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, performed by a full symphony orchestra. Azulay has performed this work with great success with different orchestras in Israel and abroad.

In 1999, she performed and created a work for the Accre Theatre Festival, collaborating with the controversial director Honi Hamaagel. In the same year, she starred in the festival Dance On Fire in Tel-Aviv, performing with much success the role of Carmen, accompanied by 20 dancers.

In July 2000, she performed in the legendary Teatro Municipal in Rio De Janeiro as a guest star of OSB, Brazil’s philharmonic orchestra. In November, she presented a unique work, Habima, in Israel’s national theatre, offering an Israeli/Palestinian interpretation of a Lorca piece. In it, Azulay was translator, director, choreographer, dancer, and actress. The work was acclaimed internationally.

She gave a one-woman show in the July 2001 Carmiel Dance Festival; her show was the festival’s best-selling event. Between December 2001 and February 2002, she was a featured performer in several Israeli poetry festivals, in which she presented a dancing/acting interpretation of her own poems.

Azulay has performed in various music videos, including the one for David Broza’s Isadora, in which she portrayed the legendary dancer Isadora Duncan. She has also appeared in numerous TV ads, and was recently chosen to portray the young Sophia Loren to promote Mercedes-Benz cars.