‘Wonder Woman’s’ Gal Godot to receive the Rising Star Award at 2018 Palm Springs Film Fest
The 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Gal Gadot with the Rising Star Award - Actress at its annual Film Awards Gala for her performance in “Wonder Woman.” The Film Awards Gala, hosted by Mary Hart, will be held Tuesday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 4-15, 2018.
“Gal Gadot’s ‘Wonder Woman’ showed us a strong, capable, poised, curious and compassionate character, and her performance has been universally praised, resonating with audiences everywhere. Gal plays the immortal warrior so well, and the film’s themes are especially apt for today, empowering all types of people—women and men, young and old—the world over," said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “The Palm Springs International Film Festival is honored to present Gal Gadot with this year’s Rising Star Award - Actress.” Past recipients of the Rising Star Award include Alicia Vikander, Ruth Negga, Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Kendrick, Scarlett Johansson and Dakota Fanning.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Wonder Woman,” is based on the iconic DC character. In the film, an American pilot crashes off an island and is rescued by Diana, an Amazonian princess and warrior. He tells them about the ongoing World War, and Diana decides she must help, leaving with him to fight, discovering her full powers and true destiny along the way. “Wonder Woman,” which earned more than $410 million in the U.S. and over $820 million worldwide, set numerous box office records, including becoming the highest-grossing film directed by a woman, the highest-grossing superhero origin film domestically, and the largest opening for a female-led comic-based film. The action adventure, starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, was directed by Patty Jenkins from a screenplay by Allan Heinberg, story by Zack Snyder & Heinberg and Jason Fuchs.
Gal Gadot was born in Rosh Ha’ayin, Israel. In 2004, she was crowned Miss Israel; then, like all Israeli citizens, went on to serve two years in the Israel Defense Forces. She studied at IDC Herzliya College before pursuing modeling and acting. While cultivating television work both in Israel and the U.S., Gadot made her film debut in “Fast & Furious,” as well as its sequels “Fast Five,” and “Fast & Furious 6,” also performing her own stunts. She appeared in the 2010 action comedy films “Date ,” and the Tom Cruise film “Knight and Day,” the 2014 Israeli film “Kicking Out Shoshana,” and the 2016 films “Triple 9,” “Criminal,” and “Keeping Up with the Joneses.” Gadot was cast as Wonder Woman in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” before playing the title character in the 2017 mega-hit “Wonder Woman,” which earned Gadot a Teen Choice Award for Action Actress. She will reprise the character in the DC extended universe film “Justice League,” to be released on November 17, 2017.