Her Current Gig: Zurer plays Vittoria Vetra, the foxy physicist who accompanies Tom Hanks on a mad dash through Rome in Angels and Demons.
You Know This Face Because: A regular in Israeli film and television, Zurer’s first English-speaking role was as Eric Bana’s pregnant wife in Munich. She also appeared with Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox in Vantage Point.
In Her Own Words: “Vittoria interested me because she represents that generation of women who are highly educated and in professions that are still male-dominated. At the same time, she has a life and she hasn’t given up her sensitivity for her career. She is a free thinker and used to exercising her intellect.”
In our fun phone chat, Zurer said that to research her role she, "went on YouTube and watched all the movies possible -- particle physics and quantum physics and lectures and specifically women scientists in the field of particle physics, and CERN in particular. You name it, I’ve been there…I never was the person that had the great grades in school in physics, and definitely not in mathematics, which is a tool of physics. So I can think of myself as capable of really understanding those fundamental ideas, and I did, and then I discovered that it’s actually intriguing and interesting for me because it is complicated, but yet, not. It makes a lot of sense, so that was a nice revelation for me."
Why So Fresh? Zurer, often called the Israeli Julia Roberts, is one of the country’s most acclaimed actresses and a winner of the 2003 Ophir Award (the Israeli Oscar) for Best Actress. While Zurer is still relatively unknown in the U.S., starring alongside Hanks in one of summer’s biggest movies should help raise her American profile just a tad.
Why We Love Her: Zurer is as brilliant as the character she plays. She studied up on particle science to give weight to her Angels and Demons dialog and is a talented artist who has illustrated several best-selling Israeli books.
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