gadot was born in petah tikva, israel to jewish parents and grew up in rosh haayin, israel. in hebrew, her first name means "wave". her last name means "riverbanks". her parents were born in israel. her father michael gadot is an engineer. her mother irit (née weiss) is a teacher. gadot's maternal grandfather abraham weiss was a holocaust survivor from czechoslovakia. she is descended from ashkenazi jews, with ancestry from the levant and southern europe. her father's family comprising of palestinian jews. as a child, gadot required speech therapy due to a speech disorder. she was a skilled ballet, hip-hop and modern jazz dancer growing up, as well as a volleyball and tennis player. she was a member of her high school's basketball team. gadot's first job was at burger king.