Gal Gadot

Early Life

On the 30th of April 1985, in Rosh HaAyin in Israel, Gal Gadot was born to Irit Gadot, a teacher, and Michael Gadot, who was an engineer. She has a younger sister called Dana, and her family is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. She was brought up in a very religious Jewish environment.

Her maternal grandparents are from Europe, and her grandfather was one of the survivors of the Holocaust. Gadot’s first name means ‘wave’ in Hebrew and her surname means ‘riverbanks.’ She was an active, athletic child, and she was involved in a number of sports, excelling especially in Basketball, as well as taking dance lessons.

One of her first career ambitions was to become a dance choreographer. She majored in biology during high school and, after graduating, went on to study law at the Reichman Law School and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. At age 20, Gadot served two years of mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces as a combat instructor which helped her in her acting career later on.

Career

●     Pageant and Modeling

Before her military service, at age 18, Gadot entered the 2004 Miss Israeli pageant. She ended up winning the title and went on to represent Israel in the Miss Universe pageant in the same year in Ecuador.

This ignited her career as a model as she became the face of international campaigns for brands like Huawei smartphones, Gucci fragrances, Miss Sixty, Vine Vera skincare ranges, Captain Morgan rum, and Jaguar Cars.

She was featured in the 2007 Maxim photo shoot "Women of the IDF" as well as on the cover of the New York Post. From 2008-2016, she was the face of the fashion brand Castro.

●     Acting

When she was in college, Gadot was asked to star in James Bond in Quantum of Solace as Bond’s love interest. Even though she wasn’t cast in the movie, she did get several callbacks, which kindled her interest in acting. Gadot once stated, “I realized it takes a lot to act, and it's so much more interesting than going to law school.” She then landed her first acting role in the 2008 Israeli drama Bubot.

Right after that, the same casting director from the Bond movie chose her for the role of Gisele Yashar in the famous action film Fast & Furious over six other actresses. She later stated that it was probably due to her military background, giving her knowledge about weapons and enabling her to do her own stunts in the film series.

Gadot went on to play minor roles in movies like Date Night and Knight and Day until she reprised her role as Gisele Yashar in 2011 and 2013 in Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6. However, it was 2016 that was the pivoting year for Gadot when she landed her most famous role portraying the character of Wonder Woman in the movie Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The role didn’t come easy, and Gadot actually had to take kickboxing, Kung Fu, swordsmanship, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and capoeira training to prepare. It did pay off in the end since her performance was recognized as one of the best scenes of the film.