Rotem Sela

Israeli model, actress, and television presenter (born 1983)

Rotem Sela

Sela in 2019

Born|

Rotem Sela

(1983-08-16) 16 August 1983 (age 41)

Kiryat Haim, Haifa, Israel

Nationality| Israeli[2]
Alma mater| IDC Herzliya[3]
Occupations|

* Model
* television host
* actress

Spouse|

Ariel Rotter

(m. 2010)​

Children| 3
Modelling information
Height| 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Hair colour| Dark blonde[1]
Eye colour| Blue[1]
Agency|

* Roberto Models Agency (Tel Aviv)

Rotem Sela-Rotter (Hebrew: רותם סלע-רוטר; née Sela; born 16 August 1983) is an Israeli model, television presenter, and actress; best known for starring as Noa Hollander on the Israeli television series Beauty and the Baker (2013–2021).

## Early life

[edit]

Rotem Sela (רותם סלע) was born and raised in Kiryat Haim, Haifa, Israel to Liora and Avraham Sela. She is of Polish-Jewish descent and Turkish-Jewish descent.[4][5][6][7][8][9] She is the youngest daughter and her elder sister is Tal Sela.[10] Sela's family and she moved to the affluent city of Caesarea, Israel, when Sela was 17.[1] Her common Hebrew first name is a derivative of the biblical flowering bush Retama, while her surname means "a rock" in Hebrew.

She was enlisted to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), serving as a clerk for the Israeli Navy headquarters at HaKirya base.

She graduated in 2011 with a degree in law and business administration from the IDC Herzliya college in Herzliya, Israel, and subsequently passed the bar.[3]

## Career

[edit]

Sela has said that she prioritises having a career in Israel instead of pursuing opportunities elsewhere; “Tel Aviv cannot be replaced by any city in the world. It’s always surprising to people, but it’s really not my dream to succeed in America, I want to succeed here, to work here, to do Israeli work … it was important to me to stay here.”[3]

In 2013 she was cast as the female lead in Beauty and the Baker alongside Alush after Bar Refaeli exited the role.[11] Sela plays Noa Hollander a privileged Ashkenazi model and heiress that falls in love with a working-class Yemenite baker Amos Dahari (Alush). The series was positively reviewed by Haaretz newspaper.[12] In 2017 Amazon acquired global rights of the first two seasons of the show to stream them worldwide on Amazon Prime Video.[13]

In 2018 she was cast as a series regular in The Psychologist, an Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation show that follows a similar format to the Lisa Kudrow series, Web Therapy. In the same year Sela appeared alongside Assi Cohen as a Haredi housewife in Autonomies. Autonomies is a dystopian drama about an Israel divided into two entities; the Haredi Autonomy in Jerusalem and a secular State of Israel in Tel Aviv.[14][15]

In 2023 she starred alongside Yehuda Levi in A Body That Works, a surrogacy drama series on Keshet 12. The series was a major success in Israel, and was the highest rated drama of 2023 in the country. Sela won the Best Actress award for an international series at Series Mania in France.[16] It was released internationally by Netflix.[17][18]

In 2024 Sela stars alongside Lior Raz and Zohar Strauss in the Israeli drama, Soda by Erez Tadmor. It is based on the story of Tadmor's grandfather, a Jewish partisan during the Second World War and his subsequent post-war life in Israel.[19]

### Additional work

[edit]

As a model she currently fronts the Castro campaigns alongside Aviv Alush.[20][21][22]

## Personal life

[edit]

In 2010 she married Israeli businessman Ariel Rotter, with whom she has three children.[3]

Sela became a vegetarian in 2007 and then began to approach veganism as well. In an interview with the Pnai Plus newspaper in November 2015, she defined herself as "90% vegan".[23][24] In 2014, she participated in a broadcast by the Vegan Friendly organization, which opposes the harm to cows in the dairy industry and calls for avoiding the consumption of dairy products.[25][26]

In March 2019, Sela criticized Israel's Ministry of Culture and Sport, Mrs. Miri Regev, due to the latter's reaction to the Arab political parties at the Knesset of Israel.[citation needed] Sela subsequently shared her political views online and where she condemns Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's actions, and then Netanyahu responded directly back to Sela's post and brought to her attention the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People.[27] Sela was publicly supported at the time by several local figures, including her fellow Israeli actress Gal Gadot,[28] model Shlomit Malka,[29] and Arab-Israeli newscaster Lucy Aharish.[30]

Sela has supported LGBT rights, telling ynet in 2015 that "I would give Nora Grinberg a torch, she's among the first [openly] transgender people in Israel, and it's very important that gays, lesbians and transgenders get a stage." And when asked whether the #MeToo movement had become too extreme she replied that "The situation before the #MeToo movement was extreme, this world in which men allowed themselves to talk and behave to women in an uninhibited way. The campaign is very important, and even if at the moment it feels to some people too extreme, it is okay and eventually the middle will be found."[3]

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

2003  | Shemesh | Model  | Episode: Basad Ha-Sheni
2007  | Ha-Alufa |  | Episode 2.99
2010  | Bobby ve Ani | Nurse Svetlana  |
Lost in Africa | Tzlil Marom Meitar  | Mini-series
2011  | Eretz Nehederet | Not Really Rotem Sela  | Episode: 8.7
2009–2011  | Naor's Friends | Rotem Sela  | Episodes: Passive Aggressive, Missoni Shirt
2017  | The Dogs |  | Short film
2018  | The Psychologist | Liat Shtrosman  | Series regular
Autonomies | Blumi  | Miniseries
2020–2021  | The Chef | Osnat  | 9 episodes
2021  | Jerusalem[31] | Shira  | Mini series
2013–2021  | Beauty and the Baker | Noa Hollander  | Series regular
2022  | Ole LaRosh |  | Film
Bloody Murray | Dana  | Series regular
2023–present  | A Body That Works | Elie Avrahami  | Series regular
2024–present  | Metukim | Shunit Devash  | Series regular
2024  | Soda | Ewa  | Film

## See also

[edit]

* Biography portal
* Israel portal
* Fashion portal

* Israeli fashion
* Women of Israel
* Women in the Israel Defense Forces
* List of Israelis
* List of Jewish actors

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d "רותם סלע - וואלה סלבס". November 2004.
2. ^ "Instagram".
3. ^ a b c d e Meet Rotem Sela, The Israeli Actress Who Provoked Netanyahu By Calling Arabs ‘Human Beings’ The Forward. 11 March 2019
4. ^ "מדוגמנית מתחילה לכוכבת על: איך התחילה הקריירה של רותם סלע?". pplus (in Hebrew). 7 June 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
5. ^ "10 דברים שגילינו על רותם סלע ואסי עזר | הכוכב הבא לאירוויזיון". mako. 9 January 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
6. ^ "כוכב "הכלה מאיסטנבול" נחת בארץ: מה משותף לו ולרותם סלע?". 13 February 2019.
7. ^ https://www.instagram.com/p/COsSiW7MgDZ/ [bare URL][self-published source]
8. ^ https://www.instagram.com/p/dXHqhiwmhD/ [bare URL][self-published source]
9. ^ https://www.instagram.com/p/CXESSmlMbA0/ [bare URL][self-published source]
10. ^ https://www.instagram.com/p/CWIuLXus0WP/ [bare URL][self-published source]
11. ^ Can Bar Refaeli quash the feud with her Eurovision co-host? The Jerusalem Post. 5 February 2019
12. ^ 'Big Brother' Co-host Pens Israeli Romantic Comedy - and Scores Haaretz. 2 January 2013
13. ^ Keslassy, Elsa (20 June 2017). "Amazon Nabs Global Rights to Keshet Hit Show 'The Baker and the Beauty'". Variety. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
14. ^ The TV Series That Offers a Possible Solution to Israel’s Problems Haaretz. 25 October 2018
15. ^ New Israeli TV Drama Raises Troubling Question: What if Haredi Jews Seceded? Tablet. 21 March 2018
16. ^ Series Mania Festival 2023 Winners AnnouncedDeadline. 24 March 2023
17. ^ Surrogacy Drama ‘A Body That Works’ Renewed for Second Season (EXCLUSIVE) Variety. 26 February 2024
18. ^ Netflix Picks Up Intimate Israeli Surrogacy Drama ‘A Body That Works’ Deadline. 15 February 2024
19. ^ Film director Tadmor tells story behind his movie ‘Children of Nobody’ The Jerusalem Post. 23 December 2023
20. ^ Gal Gadot Who? This Israeli Actress Is Suddenly Everywhere Haaretz. 11 August 2022
21. ^ רותם סלע ואביב אלוש בקולקציית החג של קסטרו YouTube. 2018
22. ^ מאיפה ה- COAT? מקסטרו! YouTube. 2019
23. ^ "רותם סלע בראיון: "לא דחוף לי להוכיח שאני חכמה"". mako (in Hebrew). 11 February 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
24. ^ "רותם סלע: "אני לא טבעונית ב-100 אחוז"". ynet (in Hebrew). 2 December 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
25. ^ Klein Leichman, Abigail (12 December 2015). "The (halachic) case for veganism". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
26. ^ "רותם סלע נגד מוצרי חלב". mako (in Hebrew). 27 March 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
27. ^ 'Israel Is the Nation-state of Jews Alone': Netanyahu Responds to TV Star Who Said Arabs Are Equal Citizens Haaretz. 11 March 2019
28. ^ Wonder Woman vs. Bibi: Gal Gadot Takes Stand in Row Over Jewish-Arab Equality Haaretz. 11 March 2019
29. ^ The Israeli Beauty Queens Who Don't Want to Be Pretty and Shut Up Haaretz. 12 March 2019
30. ^ Lucy Aharish, Arab-Israeli news anchor speaks out in Rotem Sela firestorm The Jerusalem Post. 12 March 2019
31. ^ "Jerusalem (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb". IMDb.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rotem Sela.

* Rotem Sela at IMDb
* Rotem Sela on Instagram
* Rotem Sela at the Fashion Model Directory
* rotemsela1 on Instagram

*[m.]: married