Gal Gadot's Real Name: Gal Gadot

Quick answer: Gal Gadot is publicly known by her birth name, Gal Gadot. The Times of Israel reports that her parents changed the family surname from Greenstein to the Hebrew name Gadot before she was born. She was born April 30, 1985, in Israel. Britannica gives her birthplace as Petah Tikva, while the Library of Congress gives Rosh HaAyin, where she grew up. She became a global star as Wonder Woman (Britannica; Times of Israel).

Real name and early life

Britannica says Gadot grew up in Rosh HaAyin, a small town east of Tel Aviv, with her parents and younger sister. She was raised Jewish and has said her faith and Israeli identity are central to her. In a 2025 keynote for the Anti-Defamation League, she said her mother's father, Abraham Weiss, was born in what was then Czechoslovakia. She said he was the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust; his mother and brother were murdered at Auschwitz.

As a child she played several sports and studied dance for 12 years. After high school she won Miss Israel 2004 and competed at Miss Universe, later saying she did all she could to avoid winning. At 20 she began two years of mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces (2005–07) as a combat fitness instructor. During that time she met Jaron Varsano, whom she married in 2008. She studied law and international relations at IDC Herzliya, now Reichman University.

Career highlights

Gadot moved from modeling to acting with the Israeli TV series Bubot in 2007. Her Hollywood break was Fast & Furious (2009), as former Mossad agent Gisele Yashar, a role she returned to in Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, and Fast X. Britannica notes she did much of her own stunt work.

Cast as Wonder Woman in 2013, she debuted in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman (2017) made her an international star, and she reprised the role in Justice League and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). She also starred in Red Notice (2021), Death on the Nile (2022), and Heart of Stone (2023). In 2025 she played the Evil Queen in Disney's live-action Snow White. In 2019 she and Varsano formed the production company Pilot Wave. Britannica notes that some Arab countries have banned her films because of her IDF service and outspoken support for Israel.

Name notes for searchers

Gal is her first name, and Gadot is the Hebrew family surname her parents adopted in place of Greenstein. Some references, including one LOC citation, add her husband's surname as "Gal Gadot-Varsano," but she works as Gal Gadot. No separate birth name is documented.