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Ayelet Zurer, who stars in the new film “Angels & Demons” with Tom Hanks, channeled the experiences of her mother – who as a child hid from the Nazis in a convent in Czechoslovakia – to flesh out her role in the Ron Howard thriller.
“I wanted to hear her memories of the priests and the nuns,” said the Israeli-born Ms. Zurer. “I also wanted to learn about the separation from family, because when you lose parents at such a young age, something very intense happens to you, which I thought might happen to my character as well.”
After World War II, Ms. Zurer’s mother was reunited with her parents. The family relocated to Tel Aviv, where Ms. Zurer was born and raised.
“Angels & Demons” is based on the Dan Brown bestseller of the same name. It is the prequel to 2006’s “The Da Vinci Code,” also based on a Brown novel.
Now in her first American blockbuster, Ms. Zurer, 39, is arguably the top Israeli-born actress of her generation.
“I see myself primarily as a character actress, although I would love to get other kinds of roles,” she said. “You never know how you’re going to get that really big, juicy part. You don’t know how it will come your way.”