Gal Gadot: 38 fun facts about the actress! (List)

1. Gal Gadot was born on 30 April 1985.

2. She is an Israeli actress and fashion model.

3. Gadot is known for her role, which began in 2009, as Gisele in The Fast and the Furious film series.

4. From 2016 onwards, Gadot will play the role of Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe, starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

5. Gadot was born and raised in Rosh HaAyin, Israel.

6. In Hebrew, her first name means “wave” and her surname means “riverbanks” or “shores”.

7. Her father is an engineer and her mother is a teacher.

8. Her parents were born in Israel, and her grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Europe (she has described her family background as “1/4 Polish, 1/4 Austrian, 1/4 German, and 1/4 Czech”).

9. Gadot has stated that she was brought up in a “very Jewish, Israeli family environment” and served for two years as an enlisted soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, where she served as a ‘combat instructor’.

10. Gadot had originally planned to become a lawyer.

11. However, at the age of 18 years old, she attended and won the 2004 Miss Israel competition. After winning, she travelled to Ecuador to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. She did not place in the top 15. At the same age, Gadot joined the Israeli Army where she completed two years of military service.

12. After leaving the army, Gadot started at university, studying law.

13. After finishing her first year at university, a casting director who saw her card called her to audition for the part of Bond girl Camille Montes in the film Quantum of Solace. She failed to win the part which went instead to Olga Kurylenko (who would years later also compete with Gadot in the audition for the part of Wonder Woman).

14. However, as a result of the audition for Quantum of Solace, the casting director instead hired Gadot for the role of Gisele in Fast & Furious.

15. In 2007, the 21 year old Gadot took a part in the Maxim photo shoot “Women of the Israeli army,” and as such she featured on the cover of the New York Post. In April 2012, Shalom Life ranked her Number 5 on its list of “the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish women in the world”, behind model Bar Refaeli and actress Eva Green.

16. She has led international campaigns for Captain Morgan rum, Gucci fragrances and Vine Vera skincare ranges, and advertised Jaguar Cars.

17. She has featured as the covergirl on Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Bride Magazine, FHM. Gadot has been a model for Castro (whose fashion shows she also hosts)

18. In 2013, her annual modelling salary was estimated at NIS 2.4 million, which was ahead of a number of other famous Israeli models such as Esti Ginzburg, Liraz Dror and Shlomit Malka (who campaigns for Ralph Lauren), although significantly behind Bar Refaeli.

19. In 2015, Gadot was chosen to be the new face of Gucci’s Bamboo perfume brand.

20. Gadot married her boyfriend, the Israeli real estate developer Yaron Varsano, during the filming of Fast & Furious, on 28 September 2008. The couple owned a hotel in the Neve Tzedek district of Tel Aviv.

21. In 2015, her husband Yaron Varsano sold his Tel Aviv hotel to Roman Abramovich for $26 million. In November 2011, Gadot and Varsano had a baby girl, Alma. The three live in Tel Aviv.

22. She is a motorcycle rider and owns a black 2006 Ducati Monster-S2R.

23. She also plays on volleyball, basketball and tennis teams.

24. She says that at high school she was successful at basketball due to her height of 5 ft 10 in.

25. To transition from a fashion model body-type, to play the role of the action hero Wonder Woman, Gadot says that she has had to put on 17 pounds of muscle.She says she built up the muscle through doing “kung fu, kick boxing, sword fighting, ju jitsu”.

26. In December 2013, DC Entertainment announced that Gadot has been cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and is signed for two future sequels which include the Justice League and a solo Wonder Woman film. Gadot received swordsmanship, Kung Fu kickboxing, capoeira and Brazilian jiu-jitsu training in preparation for the role.

27. She had a small role in John Hillcoat’s crime-thriller Triple 9, where she starred along with Kate Winslet and Aaron Paul.

28. She was signed on to star in the film Criminal as Ryan Reynolds’ character’s wife.

29. Gadot was also signed on a main role in the comedy film Keeping Up with the Joneses along with Isla Fisher and Jon Hamm.

30. She won the Miss Israel title in 2004, and represented Israel at the 2004 Miss Universe beauty pageant.

31. Is the third actress to play Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in a live-action film. Cathy Lee Crosby was the first in 1974. Lynda Carter was the second in 1975.

32. Was close friends with her Fast & Furious co-star Paul Walker.

33. Her husband Varon Varsano owned (with his brother) a hotel in the Neve Tzedek district of Tel-Aviv. In April 2015 it was sold for $25m.

34. She is the first actress to portray Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in a live-action theatrically-released film. For that reason, Lynda Carter only performed the role for television.

35. Ranked #84 on Maxim magazine’s Hot 100 Women of 2014 list.

36. She was offered to portray Faora in Man of Steel (2013), but turned it down due of her pregnancy at that time.

37. In 2012, Gal Gadot was ranked number 5 by Shalom Life in the top 50 most intelligent, talented, funny and beautiful Jewish women in the world.

38. Currently she is the second highest paid Israeli model in the world. She is second only to Bar Refaeli.