"Ayelet Zurer"

Ayelet Zurer (Hebrew: איילת זורר‎; born 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.

Ayelet Zurer was born and raised in Tel Aviv. Her father was a government worker and her mother spent World War II hiding in a convent in Czechoslovakia. After the war, Zurer's mother was reunited with her parents, who survived the war in hiding, and immigrated to Tel Aviv. After completing her military service in the Israel Defense Forces, Zurer moved to the United States to pursue a Hollywood career.

Zurer lives in California with her husband Gilad Lewandovski and their son, Liad, born in 2005.

Zurer moved back to Israel in 1991. In 1992, she starred in the television series Inyan Shel Zman, and in 1993, she played Debbie in the Israeli film Nikmato Shel 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 the Israeli Channel 2. In 2000, Zurer participated in the Israeli television series Zinzana, and in 2002, she participated in the Israeli television series Shalva and Ha'Block.

In 2005, Zurer starred in the Israeli hit television series, Betipul, a drama about a psychologist and his patients' therapy process. She played the role of Na'ama Lerner, a seductive patient who initiates a romance with the doctor (portrayed by Assi Dayan). The series won her a Best Actress award from the Israeli Television Academy and was remade as the highly successful Emmy-and-Golden Globe-winning 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, career, etc. The show is based on the British sketch comedy show Smack the Pony.

In 1998 she played the lead in the film Ahava Asura (aka The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field) starring Moshe Ivgy. In 2001, she starred in the movies Laila Lelo Lola and Kikar Ha'Halomot. In 2003, Zurer starred in Nina's Tragedies, portraying the title character, Nina, in one of her best known roles. Nina's role depicts a passionate young woman who must carve out a new life for herself after her husband's sudden death. She won an Israeli Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.

Zurer's first international role was in Steven Spielberg's Munich, (which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture), where she played Eric Bana's wife. She later played the role of an exotic terrorist, Veronica, in the American thriller Vantage Point, appearing alongside Dennis Quaid, William Hurt, and Sigourney Weaver. Her next international role was in Paul Schrader's Adam Resurrected, where she played Gina Grey, a nurse who falls in love with the title character, Adam Stein, a disturbed Holocaust survivor played by Jeff Goldblum. In 2007, Zurer starred in Fugitive Pieces, the story of a boy who survives the Holocaust in Greece and becomes a troubled young adult who falls in love with her.

In April 2008, Zurer was cast as the female lead, Vittoria Vetra, in the The Da Vinci Code sequel, Angels & Demons, Zurer's character is the research partner of a CERN physicist/Catholic priest who is murdered during the theft of a canister of unstable antimatter from their lab in Geneva (in the novel the film is based upon, the slain scientist is her adopted father). She is paired by the Vatican Police with Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks).

Zurer plays the leading female role in Chris Eyre's 2011 film Hide Away" (aka: "A Year in Mooring"). The cast includes Josh Lucas.

Zurer played Superman's mother, Lara Lor-Van, in the reboot of the Superman franchise, Man of Steel (2013).

Zurer has appeared in Israeli plays such as Ha'Yoreshet, Madrich Nashim Le'Tohu Va'Vohu, Bigdei Ha'Melech, Bo'u Lo Nedaber Al Ze, Ohavim Et Ophal, and Monologim Me'Ha'Vaginah. In the United States, she has appeared in plays such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III.

Zurer has modelled for fashion companies such as Honigman and Golf.

Zurer has also illustrated the pictures for the 1999 fantasy book Badulina by Gabi Nitzan, an Israeli author.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Pour Sacha (aka For Sasha)	Shoshana	French Drama
1993	Nikmato Shel Itzik Finkelstein (aka The Revenge of Itzik Finkelstein)	Debbie
1998	Ahava Asura (Forbidden Love, aka The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field)	Lea
2001	Laila Lelo Lola (aka A Night Without Lola)	Oshrit	TV movie
2001	Kikar Ha'Halomot (aka Desperado Square)	Gila (the waitress)
2003	Ha'Asonot Shel Nina (Nina's Tragedies)	Nina
2003	Ish Ha'Hashmal (aka Rutenberg)	Becki
2004	Maktub	Michal	TV movie
2004	Mashehu Matok (Something Sweet)	Tamar
2005	Munich	Daphna Kaufman
2007	Fugitive Pieces	Michaela
2007	Rak Klavim Ratzim Hofshi (aka Wild Dogs)	Telma
2008	Vantage Point	Veronica
2008	Adam Resurrected	Gina Grey
2009	Ingenius (film)	Gina
2009	Angels & Demons	Vittoria Vetra
2011	Hide Away	The Waitress
2012	Darling Companion	Carmen
2012	Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn	Colonel Mehaffey
2013	Man of Steel	Lara Lor-Van
2013	The Last Knights	Naomi
2013	Shtisel	Elisheva

Awards

Year	Group	Award	Result	Film/Show
1997	Israeli Film Academy Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	Ahava Asura
2000	Israeli Film Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated	Kikar Ha'Halomot
2001	Israeli Film Academy Awards	Best Actress	Nominated	Ish Ha'Hashmal
2003	Israeli Film Academy Awards	Best Actress	Won	Ha'Asonot Shel Nina
	Jerusalem Film Festival	Best Actress	Won	Ha'Asonot Shel Nina
2006	Israeli Film Academy Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nominated	Rak Klavim Ratzim Hofshi
	Israeli Television Academy Awards	Best Actress	Won	Betipul

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org