Gal Gadot

Gadot in 2013, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com

Place of Birth: Petah Tikva, Israel

Date of Birth: April 30, 1985

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. She was Miss Israel 2004, and is known for starring as Gisele Yashar in the Fast and Furious films; as Wonder Woman in the DC Cinematic Universe, starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016); and for her roles in the films Date Night, Knight and Day, Kicking Out Shoshana, Triple 9, Criminal (2016), Keeping Up with the Joneses, Red Notice, Death on the Nile (2022), and Heart of Stone. She is 5′10″.

Gal was born to a Jewish family in Israel. She is the daughter of Irit, a physical education teacher, and Michael Gadot, an engineer, and was raised partly in Rosh HaAyin. Her father is a sixth-generation Israeli. Her family were Jewish emigrants from Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and Ukraine. Gal is married to Israeli businessperson Jaron “Yaron” Varsano, with whom she has four children. Yaron has Turkish Jewish ancestry.

In Hebrew, Gal means “wave” and Gadot means “riverbank” or “shore.” Her family’s name was originally Greenstein.

Gal’s paternal grandfather is Arye Zeev Greenstein (the son of Michael Greenstein and Shulamit Natkin/Notkin). Arye was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Michael was born in Petah Tikva, Israel, the son of Wolf Leib Grinstein and Sara Goldberg. Gal’s great-grandmother Shulamit was born in Jerusalem, Israel, where many generations of her family had been born, and was the daughter of Natan Neta Natkin and Hana Lea/Leah Michlin. Gal’s great-great-grandfather Natan, whose family was from Jerusalem, had ancestors from Belarus and Lithuania, including evident descent from Talmudist Yisroel ben Shmuel of Shklov (1770-1839), who was born in Shklov, Lithuania. Gal’s great-great-grandmother Hana was born in Jerusalem, to a father from Khislavichi, Russia, and a mother who was born in Jerusalem, to a father from Yassvein, Lithuania, and a mother from Jerusalem, who had ancestors in Lithuania and Belarus.

Gal’s paternal grandmother was named Miriam Glicksman (the daughter of Samuel Glicksman). Miriam was evidently born in Austria.

Gal’s maternal grandfather was Abraham Weiss (born Adolf Weiss, the son of Zeev Weiss and Yehudit Yakubovitz). Abraham was born in Mukacheve, Zakarpats’ka oblast, Ukraine, and survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. He lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Gal discusses her grandfather, along with a picture, at this, this, and this link. Gal’s great-grandfather Zeev was the son of Yakov Weiss and Tzipora Klein. Gal’s great-grandmother Yehudit was killed in Auschwitz, in 1944. She was the daughter of Dov Yakubovitz and Bluma.

Gal’s maternal grandmother was Rachel Yehudit Kaufman (the daughter of Isaac Kaufman/Koffman and Tzarka Messenberg). Tzarka was the daughter of Shmuel Messenberg and Chaya.

Gadot in 2013, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com

Sources: Information about Gal’s background – http://www.ynet.co.il
http://www.rollingstone.com

Genealogy of Gal Gadot – https://www.geni.com