Ayelet Zurer

Ayelet Zurer (Hebrew: ????? ????‎) was born on June 28, 1969, in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a secular Jewish family of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Her mother was born in Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Israel when she was 16 years old. Her mother was saved during the Holocaust by hiding in a convent in Slovakia. Her Israeli-born father was of Russian-Jewish descent. She has described her parents as “working-class people.”

During her service in the Israel Defense Forces, Zurer was a soldier in the military band of the Northern Command.

After finishing her service, Zurer studied acting for three years in Yoram Levinstein Academy. She moved to the United States and studied with George Morison at the Actor’s Workshop in New York City. She was invited to play the lead in Florentin, one of Israel’s iconic television shows. She returned to Israel, developed a career on stage, in films, and in television and became one of Israel’s most acclaimed actresses. In 2004, when she was cast in Steven Spielberg’s Munich, she moved with her family to California where she resides today.

In 1991, after her studies in the U.S., Zurer moved back to Israel. In 1992, she starred in the television series Inyan Shel Zman and, in 1993, she played Debbie in the Israeli comedy film Nikmato shel Itzik Finkelstein (Revenge of Itzik Finkelstein). During this time, she also participated in the cable television show Yetziat Hirum. In 1997, Zurer played the role of Shira Steinberg in the television show Florentin on Israeli Channel 2. Several Israeli television series followed: in 2000, Zinzana and, in 2002, Shalva and Ha’Block.

In 2005, she starred in another Israeli television series, Betipul, a drama about a psychologist and his patients’ therapy process. She plays Na’ama Lerner, a patient who starts a romance with the doctor. The series won her a Best Actress award from the Israeli Television Academy and was remade as the HBO series In Treatment. The following year, Zurer participated in an Israeli sketch comedy television show called Gomrot Holchot that deals with the world of young women; relationships, marriage, sex, and career. The show is based on the British sketch comedy show Smack the Pony.

In 2015, Zurer starred in Daredevil as Vanessa Marianna, an art gallery owner. The series was part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Zurer reprised her role in the third season (2018) of Daredevil.

In November 2020, Zurer was cast in a recurring role on the third season of the Netflix psychological thriller series You. She stars in the 2021 dramatic-thriller, Losing Alice on Apple TV+.

In 1998, she played the lead in the film Ahava Asura (a.k.a. The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field). In 2001, she starred in the movies Laila Lelo Lola and Kikar Ha’Halomot. In 2003, she starred in Nina’s Tragedies, portraying the title character, Nina, a young woman who has to rebuild her life after the death of her husband. She won an Israeli Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.

Zurer appeared in Munich (2005), where she played Avner Kaufman’s wife. She played a terrorist in the American thriller Vantage Point. In 2007, she starred in Fugitive Pieces, in which a troubled young Holocaust survivor falls in love with her character. She played a nurse who falls in love with the title character in Adam Resurrected (2008).

In April 2008, Zurer was cast as the female lead, Vittoria Vetra, in The Da Vinci Code sequel, Angels & Demons. She played the lead role in the 2011 film Hide Away (a.k.a. “A Year in Mooring”), and played Superman’s mother, Lara Lor-Van, in the reboot of the Superman franchise, Man of Steel (2013).

In 2003, she married her former surfing instructor, Gilad Londovski, an Israeli. They have a son and now reside in Los Angeles.

Source: Ayelet Zurer, Wikipedia.

Photo: Az11, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.