15 Things You Didn't Know About America's Hottest Wonder Woman

Gal Gadot, the actress we have all been girl-crushing on for a while is now heating up our screens as Wonder Woman! You may have heard of her before, or thought the crazy-beautiful woman with the unusual name looked familiar from some movie, but if one thing's for sure, now you will definitely know and remember her name. Wonder Woman is not the first time in which the character of the female savior of the world graced our screens. Gal first landed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), in which she first debuted the character, and she'll be starring in Justice League in November 2017.

Wonder Woman has been insanely hyped, and we have been on the edge our seats, waiting to see this larger-than-life female heroine come to life. Wonder Woman is surely the role of a lifetime, and it is the kind of character that demands an actress who is just as dynamic to fill its shoes. Well, Gal is definitely the one to do it. Gal has a fascinating life story and is basically a real life super hero. We know with such a huge career-defining breakout role like Wonder Woman, Gal has quite a bright future ahead of her, with no chance of slowing down anytime soon. Let's read up on 15 things you need to know about America's hottest Wonder Woman!

15 She Is The First Non-American Woman To Play Wonder Woman

See this picture of the woman above? Does she look anything like Gal Gadot? Well, this is the image and woman most people used to think of when they pictured Wonder Woman. The actress depicted is Lynda Carter, an iconic American actress who also played the female heroine back in the day. With her her fair skin, light-colored eyes and voluptuous curves, Carter embodied the image of what many people thought Wonder Woman should look like. Obviously, Gal is challenging that image, being of Israeli Jewish descent with darker features and a more athletic, runway model figure. In fact, she really doesn't care if people think she is correct physically for the role. She even said, "Hmm. I represent the Wonder Woman of the new world… By the way, Wonder Woman is Amazonian, and historically accurate Amazonian women actually had only one breast. So, if I'd really go “by the book”… it'd be problematic." You show 'em, girl!

14 She Is An Israeli Jew

Gal Gadot, is Jewish hailing from Rosh Ha'ayin Israel with Polish, Austrian, German, and Czech ancestry. Her maternal grandparents were actually Holocaust survivors. Her name has an interesting Hebraic origin too, with Gal meaning "wave" while her surname, Gadot means "riverbanks." But her original surname was actually Greenstein!-before her parents changed it to Gadot, sounding more Hebraic. In an interview, she has explained how important her Jewish heritage is to her. "I was brought up in a very Jewish, Israeli family environment, so of course my heritage is very important to me. I want people to have a good impression of Israel."  She has even been listed #5 on Shalom Time's list of the 50 most talented, intelligent, funny, and gorgeous Jewish women in the world. Wow!

13 She Served In The Israeli Defense Forces

Yep, you read that right. That means that she's not only playing an awesome superhero, in real life, she's actually just as bad**s! Being a native Israeli, as part of mandatory service to the country, she served 2 years in the Israeli Defense Forces at the mere age of 20. She went through a grueling boot camp before she was assigned the position of combat trainer, teaching calisthenics and gymnastics. As intense as her training was to get in Wonder Woman shape, she says it paled in comparison to the arduous training she had as an army officer, claiming the military actually gave her "good training for Hollywood." Well, that's definitely a positive way of looking at it, and we're glad it worked out for her!

12 Her Military Training Helped Her Land A Role In Fast and Furious

In fact, her military past helped transform her into the action hero she is today, with her first landing a role in Fast and Furious. She actually feels that her military training helped her win the part. “Justin (Justin Lin, her director) really liked that I was in the Israeli military, and he wanted to use my knowledge of weapons,” she said. Fast and Furious was her first big Hollywood film, having only acted in an Israeli TV series, Budot prior. In Fast and Furious 5, Gal had a small supporting role as Gisele, the intermediary to the villain's scheming, but her charisma and edgy sex appeal proved that she was a movie star in the making. She reappeared as Gisele again in Fast and Furious 6 and then made her debut as Wonder Woman in the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016. That year, she also starred in Keeping up with the Joneses as a secret agent, giving us even more of a glimpse of her action movie hero skills.

11 She Performs Her Own Stunts

As you can see in this gif, Gal is looking pretty fierce as she swings across the floor into a kick in this fight scene. Gal has claimed she really enjoys doing her own stunts, and that it's important for her to not let stunt doubles do all the work. She feeds off the adrenaline and excitement and is passionate about doing justice the physical demands of a role. She told sources, "All of the stunts on Fast 5 and 6 I have done myself, and on Fast 6, we went crazy with the action moves," she said. "The adrenaline was just incredible and I enjoyed being able to do the stuff that in real life you can't." Yes, she had a stunt double in Wonder Woman, especially, with being pregnant and all, but you can be pretty sure, she gave that double a run for her money!

10 She Was Miss Israel

Yes, that is a banner across Gal's chest signifying that she won the title of Miss Israel. I don't know about you, but can you think of any beauty pageant winners who were also in the military? Not very common. Even though Israel military service is mandatory for youth in the country, the woman is undeniably a real life superhero with multiple talents. At just the age of 18, she won the pageant and became Miss Israel 2004. She didn't expect to win the title, and has claimed that she only joined the competition for the invaluable experience. In fact, various sources reveal that after winning Miss Israel, she basically sabotaged herself to ensure she wouldn't win the title when went on to compete in the Miss Universe pageant of 2004! Maybe she didn't want to be labelled as a beauty queen and had other aspirations and endeavors she wanted to pursue?

9 She Had A "Secret Audition" For Wonder Woman

Gal originally didn't even know she was auditioning for the iconic role of Wonder Woman! In Hollywood, there's usually a tight leash around the blockbuster super hero movies, with the intention of keeping leaks under control at all costs. All the actress knew was that it was a movie with Zack Snyder. She revealed that she was on a plane going back to LA to shoot a movie, when she got a call from Snyder in which he finally unveiled the mystery character she would be playing. He said, "I don't know if you have this character in Israel, if she's big or not… but did you ever hear about Wonder Woman?" She tried to stop herself from screaming and disturbing the passengers, but she was too ecstatic at the wonderful news. And to think that Gal was considering leaving the acting industry before winning this star making role of a lifetime?! More about that later…

8 She Is 5'10"And Loves Flats

Can I just say how refreshing this is to see? In a world, such as Hollywood dominated by fancy schmancy sky scraper heels (with even pregnant celebs still parading around in them with their swollen feet), it's nice to see a down-to-earth actress, doing her own thing in flats with flair and conviction! Gal has been seen on many red carpets and events in various styles of flats, sometimes even in sneakers like Keds, as she is wearing in this picture. In fact, she sported surprisingly simple gold flat sandals that were very affordable too (at just $50) on the red carpet to her own Wonder Woman premiere! Ok, clearly if someone is going to pull off not wearing heels, Gal is the one to do it with her runway model figure and already statuesque height. But hey, if I say so myself, she looks amazing in her flats and maybe she is starting a new more relaxed and comfortable trend on the red carpet.

7 She Is A Model Turned Actress

It's no surprise that such a drop dead gorgeous woman with legs for miles and killer cheekbones would have started her career as a model. After winning Miss Israel in 2004, she started a successful modeling career. Her military experience actually helped her land not only acting parts but modeling gigs too! At 21 years old in 2007, she was featured in a Maxim photo shoot “Women of the Israeli Army". She has been a cover girl for various magazines including Glamour, Bride Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, UMM, Cleo, Fashion, Lucie, FHM, and Cosmopolitan. She even landed a prestigious perfume campaign becoming the face of Gucci's fragrance, Bamboo. Over the years, she has had quite a thriving modeling career, and I predict it's not stopping any time soon considering her commercial appeal and instant fame she's been receiving from her breakout role as Wonder Woman.

6 She Was Preggers When She Shot Wonder Woman

I know… WHAT?? How in the world did she pull that off?! Um, nbd, just playing the world's greatest female superhero of all time in Amazonian underwear, preggers. Yep, in fact, sources reveal that for most of the filming of Wonder Woman, she was pregnant with her second child. She tried to keep it hidden from her coworkers and even silently dealt with her morning sickness. "I gutted it out," the actress said. "I started to come to set with sunglasses. I had this jug of water with huge pieces of ginger." The team on the set was of course, very supportive and helpful, coming up with creative ways to aid, such as "creating a super green screen suit" to hide her growing baby bump." Yeah, she not only pulled it off, but she absolutely killed it as Wonder Woman and was carrying a child the whole time. Real life superhero powers much?

5 She And Her Hubby Are #RelationshipGoals

If this pic isn't enough proof, on top of being a breakout movie star, Gal's family life is just as charmed. She and her handsome husband, Yaron Varsano, are showing just how #relationshipgoals they are in this adorable pic. Her husband is an Israeli real estate mogul with an impressive net worth. But what's even more impressive is the love these two beautiful people share for one another. They have been together for 10 years, were married in 2008, and have two precious children. It seems Varsano is still just as madly in love with her as the day he met her. On Facebook, he wrote, "10 years have gone by, yet it feels like yesterday we first met… My heart will forever beat to the sound of our love." Awww!!!

4 She Got Ripped For The Part

To prepare for the biggest, and most physically demanding role of her life, Gal had very intense workouts and training to get her into Wonder Woman shape. She was in the gym, busting it for 6 hours a day, also learning difficult fight choreography and training in horseback riding. She told sources: "I did two hours [of] gym work, two hours [of] fight choreography and one and a half to two hours of horseback riding, which is super hard!" She was referring to how some people may assume that horseback riding is easy, with the burden being on the horse to do all the work. But according to Gal, that couldn't be further from the truth, as "it's so painful." Gal considers her arduous training to become a superhero was almost as grueling than that of her military training. But clearly, it was all worth it!

3 She Almost Quit Acting Before Landing The Role Of A Lifetime

Can you imagine that the actress considered leaving the field right before she was cast as Wonder Woman? In fact, Gal  hadn't really planned on being an actress at all when she was a younger. As beautiful as the star is, she is just as academic and intellectual, and was actually in law school when she was auditioning for the role of the Bond girl in Quantum of Solace, which she ended up not getting the part. She told sources, “I said, 'No way.' I said, 'I'm studying law and international relations. I'm way too serious and smart to be an actress."' 

Gal has claimed to sources how difficult and challenging building and sustaining a successful career in Hollywood is, and how particularly straining it was on her and her family. "This industry, the rejection can be tough. I had so many 'almost' [auditions]. I told my husband 'I don't know how long I can take it', always dragging my family to Los Angeles."

2 She Is A Mom Of Two

Gal Gadot is actually 32 years old, and now a mother of two to her 5 year old daughter, Alma, and her newborn, Maya. In her young life, she has accomplished so much, and on top of that, she is successful working mother. In the adorable picture above she is having a sweet moment with Alma. Her two main priorities in her life are of course her darling daughters, and she has even claimed she chooses roles based on what they will be able to learn or gain from them. For Gal, it's important for her to set the example to her children that you can be successful doing what you love and still have a complete and healthy family life. "When I choose a role, I always think about whether my daughter can get something out of it… Or even just show her that Mommy's doing what Mommy loves to do. And therefore, she can do what she loves to do and have a family at the same time.”

1 She Wanted The Role More Than Anyone Else

Obviously, Wonder Woman is the role of a lifetime. And for Gal it was truly the part she had been searching for all along. She stated "… I think Wonder Woman was my dream role. I grew up watching women playing princesses or damsels in distress… it wasn't common to see great roles for women."

She was especially drawn to the character's feminist qualities and was eager to portray a new vision of the heroine to the world as not just a sex object, but a strong and independent female. "… It was important for me that we show how independent she is,” Gadot has said. “She is not relying on a man, and she's not there because of a love story. She's not there to serve someone else."

That's right! Can you believe it's been over a decade since there was a woman as the title character of a superhero movie? Well, it's about time, and, clearly, there was no better fit for the role than the one and only, Gal Gadot. Here's to more female super heroes!