Ayelet Zurer

Ayelet Zurer is a prolific and talented actress who has made tremendous achievements both at home in Israel, and also Stateside, where she has worked with such major directors as Steven Spielberg, Lawrence Kasdan and Ron Howard. She has been nominated for awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Israeli Academy Awards and the Israeli Television Academy Awards, and has won Best Actress awards for her roles in the Israeli film "Nina's Tragedies" and the HBO series "Betipul."

Zurer was born and raised in Tel Aviv. After completing her military service in the Israel Defense Forces, she moved to the United States to pursue a Hollywood career, and then moved back to Israel in 1991. She starred in the television series "Inyan Shel Zman" and in the Israeli film "Nikmato Shel Itzik Finkelstein." During this time she also acted in the cable television show "Yetziat Hirum." In 1997, Zurer starred in the television show "Florentine" on Israeli Channel 2. She followed that up in 2000 with the Israeli television series "Zinzana," and in 2002, the series "Shalva" and "Ha'Block."

On the big screen, she played the lead in the 1998 film "Ahava Asura" (aka "The Dybbuk of the Holy Apple Field"), also starring Moshe Ivgy. A few years later, she starred in the movies "Laila Lelo Lola" and "Kikar Ha'Halomot." She next starred in "Nina's Tragedies," portraying the title character, in one of Zurer's best known roles. She won an Israeli Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.

In 2005, Zurer starred in the Israeli hit television series "Betipul," a drama about a psychologist and his patients' therapy process. Her work on the series won her a Best Actress award from the Israeli Television Academy; the show was later remade as the highly successful Emmy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning HBO series "In Treatment." The following year, Zurer acted in an Israeli sketch comedy television show called "Gomrot Holchot," which dealt with the world of young women: relationships, marriage, sex, career and so forth. The show was based on the British sketch comedy show "Smack the Pony." Zurer made her first stateside television debut in NBC's series "Awake," and also appeared in Tim Kring's "Touch," with Kiefer Sutherland.

Zurer's first international film role was in Steven Spielberg's "Munich," which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Picture and in which she played opposite star Eric Bana. She later played the role of an exotic terrorist 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," playing a nurse who falls in love with the title character, a disturbed Holocaust survivor played by Jeff Goldblum. Prior to that, 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 2009, Zurer played the female lead in "The Da Vinci Code" sequel, "Angels & Demons," opposite Tom Hankes and under the direction of Ron Howard. She then appeared in "Hide Away," from director Chris Eyre, starring Josh Lucas, and in Lawrence Kasdan's "Darling Companion," with Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline.

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