Israeli actress

Ayelet Zurer (Hebrew: איילת זורר; born (1969-06-28)28 June 1969) is an Israeli actress. She was nominated for awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Israeli Academy Awards and the Israeli Television Academy Awards. She won Best Actress awards for her roles in the Israeli film Nina's Tragedies and Betipul. She also portrays Vanessa Fisk in Marvel Television's Netflix series Daredevil (2015–18).

Contents

• 1 Early life and personal life
• 2 Television and film career
  • 2.1 Television
  • 2.2 Film
• 3 Filmography
  • 3.1 Film
  • 3.2 Television
• 4 Awards
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Early life and personal life

Ayelet Zurer was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, to a secular Jewish family of AshkeNational Socialist German Workers' Party Jewish descent. Her mother was born in Czechoslovakia and immigrated to Israel in the 1950s. Her mother was saved during The Holocaust by hiding in a convent. Her Sabra (Israeli-born Jew) father is of Russian-Jewish descent. She has described her parents as "working-cl* people".

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

After finishing her military service, Zurer studied acting for three years at the Performing Arts Studio founded by Yoram Loewenstein. She then moved to the United States and studied with George Morison at the Actor's Workshop in New York City.

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

Television and film career

Television

She was invited to play the lead in Florentine, one of Israel's iconic television shows. In 2004 when she was cast in Steven Spielberg's Munich, she moved with her family to California.

Zurer with Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline in 2012

In 1991, 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 2013, Zurer starred in the Israeli series Shtisel as an attractive widow, Elisheva Rotstein. In 2015, she 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+.

Film

Zurer and Tom Hanks outside the Pantheon in Rome in the 2008 film Angels & Demons

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 *le 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 *le 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).

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

See also

• Television in Israel
• Israeli cinema

References

External links

• Ayelet Zurer at IMDb
• Ayelet Zurer at Theiapolis
• Ayelet Zurer at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ayelet Zurer at E-Online (in Hebrew)
• Ayelet Zurer on Charlie Rose
• Media related to Ayelet Zurer at Wikimedia Commons