Gal Gadot

Gal Gadot entered the American industry sideways, through the Fast & Furious films, where Gisele Yashar was a stunt heavy supporting part across four entries before the franchise gave her anything to play. The recognition came from Wonder Woman, which she carried across the DC Extended Universe films between 2016 and 2023.

Her strength is presence rather than line readings, and she is unusually good at playing sincerity in a genre that mostly runs on irony. The entrance in Batman v Superman does more for the character in ninety seconds than the surrounding film manages in two hours, and the trench sequence in Wonder Woman works precisely because she plays it with no protective smirk at all. She is also a genuinely convincing physical performer, which cannot be faked at that scale.

The limits show when the material has nothing to believe in. Wonder Woman 1984, Red Notice and Heart of Stone all ask her to carry films built out of set pieces, and without a strong idea underneath, the earnestness has nowhere to go. Her comic timing is better than the industry has used, on the evidence of Keeping Up with the Joneses and her voice work as Shank in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

She was named to Time's list of the hundred most influential people in 2018, ranked by Forbes among the highest paid actresses, and in 2025 became the first Israeli actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.