Gal Gadot

Gal Gadot was born on April 30, 1985, in Rosh HaAyin, a city in central Israel.[1] Her mother, Irit Weiss, is a teacher, and her father, Michael Gadot, is an engineer; both parents were born in Israel.[1] The family surname was originally Greenstein, which her parents Hebraized to Gadot. In Hebrew, Gal means "wave" and Gadot means "riverbanks."[1]

Gadot was raised in what she has described as a "very Jewish, Israeli family environment."[1] Her maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors.[1] She has spoken at length about her maternal grandfather, Abraham Weiss, who was born in what was then Czechoslovakia and was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. His father died fighting for the Czech army when the Nazis invaded, while his mother and brother were murdered at Auschwitz.[6] Gadot has said he came to Israel with nothing and taught her that "you don't win anything with anger and hate."[6] On her father's side, Gadot has said she is the eighth generation of her family to be born in the Land of Israel, and that one ancestor served as the first chemist at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem.[6]

At eighteen, Gadot won the 2004 Miss Israel competition and went on to represent her country at the 2004 Miss Universe pageant held in Ecuador.[7] An Israeli Embassy profile describes her comportment at the international competition as deliberately low-key—she reportedly arrived late to events, wore the wrong evening dress, and pretended not to speak English, seemingly trying to avoid drawing attention.[8]

Following the pageant, Gadot completed two years of mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a fitness and combat-readiness instructor.[1] She has reflected openly on what the experience meant to her: "You've got to give back to the state. You give two or three years, and it's not about you. You give your freedom away. You learn discipline and respect."[7] She has also credited military service with helping prepare her for the physical and professional demands of an acting career.[1] In 2007, before her Hollywood breakthrough, she was among four female IDF soldiers featured in a Maxim magazine "Women of the Israeli Army" photo shoot—an appearance that the Jerusalem Post described as part of a national conversation in Israel.[7]

After completing her service, Gadot pursued academic study in law and international relations at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.[1]

Gadot's path into Hollywood began with an audition for the role of a Bond girl in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace—a part she ultimately lost to Olga Kurylenko.[1] Despite not winning the role, the audition led to an Israeli television role, and the same casting director later hired her for the Fast & Furious franchise.[1]

She made her franchise debut as Gisele Yashar in the fourth Fast & Furious film in 2009 and reprised the role in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6.[1] Her initial part was small but helped establish her within the franchise.[7] Director Justin Lin was reportedly drawn to her military background and knowledge of weapons, and the character of Gisele was given a Mossad-agent backstory in part because of Gadot's combative persona.[8] Gadot performed her own stunts in the films.[1] She also owns a black 2006 Ducati Monster S2R motorcycle.[8]

Gadot first appeared as Diana Prince—Wonder Woman—in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016.[1] The Jerusalem Post characterized her casting as a considerable gamble because she had relatively few film credits and Wonder Woman had never previously headlined a standalone feature film.[7] When her casting was announced, it drew criticism from some fans who considered her too thin for the physically imposing character. Before filming, she added seventeen pounds of muscle.[7] Her performance was hailed as one of the film's best parts.[1]

She went on to lead the standalone Wonder Woman in 2017, described as the first superhero film in a decade to center a woman in the lead role.[8] The production was demanding: during a reshoot, Gadot was five months pregnant, and visual effects were used to conceal her abdomen.[8] To prepare for the role physically, she trained in swordsmanship, Kung Fu kickboxing, capoeira, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.[1] Wonder Woman earned more than $200 million during its opening weekend, and before the film's Israeli premiere on June 1, 2017, the Azrieli Center towers in Tel Aviv displayed the message: "We are proud of you, Gal Gadot, our Wonder Woman."[8]

Gadot reprised the role in Justice League in 2017 and Wonder Woman 1984 in 2020, later making cameo appearances in Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash—bringing her total Wonder Woman appearances to six films.[2] In October 2016, she appeared at the United Nations alongside actress Lynda Carter, DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson, director Patty Jenkins, and Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach for an event marking Wonder Woman's 75th anniversary and the character's designation as the UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls.[1]

A third standalone Wonder Woman film was in development but was ultimately canceled following a leadership change at DC Studios under James Gunn and Peter Safran.[2] As of August 2026, Gadot confirmed she had not discussed a return to the role with Gunn, stating that she was grateful for the opportunity and wished the next actress well.[2]

In October 2019, Gadot and her husband, Yaron Varsano, founded the production company Pilot Wave.[1] The company was described as aiming to create projects that encourage belief in individuals and communities.[9] Their first jointly developed and produced project was Heart of Stone (2023), in which Gadot played intelligence agent Rachel Stone, a member of a peacekeeping organization called the Charter.[10] Gadot described the project as taking five or six years from the initial idea to completion, and called the producing experience both empowering and educational.[10]

Pilot Wave has been associated with several other planned projects, including an adaptation of Dorit Rabinyan's Hebrew novel Borderlife, co-produced with Keshet International. The story concerns a relationship between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man and was controversially excluded from Israel's mandatory high-school reading lists in 2015 by then-Education Minister Naftali Bennett.[9] Gadot was also attached to portray Polish Holocaust rescuer Irena Sendler in a feature film; that project's premise centers on Sendler's rescue of 2,500 Jewish children.[9] Additional planned projects included films about Hedy Lamarr and a story titled My Dearest Fidel.[9]

Beyond her flagship franchise, Gadot appeared in Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) as a government spy and in the film In the Hand of Dante.[9][11] She portrays Maya, a London lawyer, in the thriller The Runner.[11] She also appeared in an El Al airline safety video alongside Fauda actor Lior Raz, NBA player Deni Avdija, and Israeli actress Rotem Sela.[11] Together with Varsano, she co-founded the Goodles macaroni-and-cheese brand, which was later sold to the global pasta company Barilla.[11]

Gadot married Israeli businessman and real-estate developer Yaron Varsano on September 28, 2008.[3] The couple has four daughters: Alma, Maya, Daniella, and Ori.[3] At her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in March 2025, Gadot described Varsano as "my rock, my compass, my firefighter" and called being her daughters' mother the greatest privilege of her life.[3]

She identifies herself as Israeli and Jewish and has spoken publicly about raising her daughters within that identity.[6] In April 2023, Gadot hosted an intimate Yom HaShoah gathering at her Los Angeles home with Holocaust survivor Celina Biniaz, organized as a Zikaron BaSalon event—a model of small, living-room-scale Holocaust remembrance conversations.[12] Approximately fifty people attended, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher, Harvey Keitel, and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins.[12] The USC Shoah Foundation helped connect Gadot with Biniaz, who was the youngest woman on Oskar Schindler's list.[12] Biniaz told Gadot, "Life is just like what you said in your Wonder Woman movie—only love can save the world," and Gadot wrote that the moment would stay with her forever.[12]

Gadot has used her international platform to speak out against antisemitism and in support of Israel and the Jewish people. She publicly supported Israeli soldiers during the 2014 Gaza war, and in a 2019 interview with the Israeli outlet Walla she said that Israel was very important to her and that she considered it her duty as a public figure to speak out on the country's behalf.[9]

In the wake of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel, Gadot intensified her advocacy. She organized a private screening of footage from the attacks and amplified the voices of survivors and hostages, making direct appeals to international leaders and women's-rights organizations.[4] At the Anti-Defamation League's Never Is Now Summit in New York City in March 2025, she received the ADL's International Leadership Award.[4] In her keynote address, she described October 7 as a wake-up call and said she could no longer ignore what she called a worldwide "explosion of Jew-hatred."[6] She called for the release of every hostage and closed her remarks with the declaration: "My name is Gal, and I'm Jewish. Am Yisrael Chai."[4]

In November 2025, the Genesis Prize Foundation named Gadot its 2026 laureate, citing her advocacy for Israel, her defense of hostages, and her empathy for civilians harmed by the war.[5] She announced she would donate the $1 million prize to Israeli nongovernmental organizations working to heal physical and psychological wounds and rebuild families and communities.[5] A related matching-gifts initiative launched with the Jewish Funders Network supports Israelis coping with trauma and displacement after October 7.[11]

In March 2025, Gadot received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the first Israeli actor to receive the honor.[3] At the ceremony, she told the crowd: "I'm just a girl from a town in Israel. To all the young people, especially the young girls, if a girl from Rosh HaAyin can get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, anything is possible."[3] Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had earlier recognized her cultural significance when he met Gadot at the Justice League premiere in 2017 and called her a "true and beloved ambassador" for Israel.[9]

Gadot's career moved from Miss Israel and IDF service to the Fast & Furious franchise and six appearances as Wonder Woman.[1][2] Her lead role in Wonder Woman made her an international star, while her later production work extended her career behind the camera.[1] Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2018, and Forbes ranked her as the world's third-highest-paid actress in 2020.[1]

Her public profile is also closely tied to her Jewish and Israeli identity. She has presented her maternal grandfather's Holocaust survival and her paternal family's eight-generation presence in the Land of Israel as central parts of her family history.[6] That identity has remained visible in her public activities, including hosting a Yom HaShoah gathering, speaking against antisemitism at the ADL, and directing her Genesis Prize toward Israeli recovery organizations.[12][5] Her 2025 Hollywood Walk of Fame star marked another milestone as the first such honor awarded to an Israeli actor.[3]

Gadot's Israeli identity, IDF service, and vocal support for Israel have generated sustained political controversy. Lebanon's Interior Ministry banned Wonder Woman in 2017 following pressure from anti-Israel campaigners who objected to Gadot's role as an Israeli actress and former IDF combat instructor.[13] The BDS campaign referred to the film as "the Israeli soldier film."[13] The film distributor in Lebanon, Tony Chacra, argued that Wonder Woman had nothing to do with Israel and that the ban harmed distributors, theater employees, and the Lebanese economy.[13] A prior attempt to block Batman v Superman in Lebanon on the same grounds had been unsuccessful.[13] Death on the Nile was subsequently banned in Lebanon and Kuwait because of Gadot's IDF service.[1]

During the May 2021 conflict known as Operation Guardian of the Walls, the Institute for National Security Studies identified Gadot as one of the Israeli public figures targeted by a campaign associated with the Malaysian Trolls Army.[14] The institute described Telegram groups with approximately 300,000 participants that offered training on blocking Israeli influencers or making activity on their accounts appear inauthentic. It also linked the hacker group DragonForce to related efforts involving personal information and account-blocking tactics.[14] Gadot and campaigner Hanania Naftali were given as examples of targeted influencers, but the report did not state that Gadot's account was actually blocked.[14]

Gadot's casting as Cleopatra prompted controversy over whether an Arab or African actress should have been chosen for the role.[1] Her celebrity video singalong of John Lennon's "Imagine," organized during the COVID-19 pandemic to raise morale, was also widely ridiculed, including for the participants' perceived self-satisfaction.[1] A 2024 post by actress Rachel Zegler was reported to have been followed by a surge in death threats against Gadot, though the alleged connection was not presented as an independently established finding.[1]