Born in Haifa, Israel, Yaniv is a graduate student from the MFA program at the Film and Television Department, Tel-Aviv University.

His short film EVEN KIDS STARTED SMALL (2006), about school children taking over the school, was official selection of the CINÉFONDATION, Cannes Film Festival.

He filmed for six years a documentary about a military company of reserve soldiers in the IDF, which was made into the award-winning documentary THE ALPHA DIARIES (2007).

His narrative feature film LAND OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE (2016) deals with the traumatic process of becoming a child-soldier in a violent militaristic society.

In July 2021 he published the thriller novel SPINNING TOPS.

Yaniv is also a producer and director of commercials at White Bird Films. He lives in Israel with his wife and two daughters.