Rotem Sela

Rotem Sela (Hebrew: רותם סלע‎) is an Israeli model, actress and television presenter best-known for playing Noa Hollander on the hit TV-show Beauty and the Baker (2013–present).

Rotem Sela
Born (1983-08-16) 16 August 1983
Kiryat Haim, Israel
NationalityIsraeli
Alma materIDC Herzliya
Occupation
  • Model
  • television host
  • actress
Spouse(s)
Ariel Rotter
​
(m. 2010)​
Children3
Modelling information
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Hair colourBlonde
Eye colourBlue
Agency
  • Roberto Models Agency
    (Tel Aviv)

Early life

Sela was born in Kiryat Haim, Israel, to Jewish parents. Her mother Liora (née Shaulsky) is Israeli-born and of Ashkenazi Jewish (Polish-Jewish) descent, and her father Avraham Sela is a fourth-generation Sabra. She moved with her family to the affluent city of Caesarea when Sela was 17. Her first name is a biblical desert shrub, and her surname means "rock" in Hebrew.

She was enlisted to the Israel Defense Forces, serving as a clerk for the Navy at HaKirya base.

She graduated in 2011 with a degree in law and business administration from the IDC Herzliya college, and passed the bar.[1]

Career

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.”[1]

As a model she currently fronts the Castro campaigns alongside Aviv Alush.

In 2013 she was cast as the female lead in Beauty and the Baker alongside Alush after Bar Refaeli exited the role.[2] 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.[3] In 2017 Amazon acquired global rights of the first two seasons of the show to stream them worldwide on Amazon Prime Video.[4]

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.[5][6]

Personal life

In 2010 she married Israeli businessman Ariel Rotter, with whom she has three children.[1]

In March 2019, Sela criticized culture minister Miri Regev's reaction to Arab political parties in Israel. Sela wrote that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then responded directly to Sela's post and brought attention to the Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People.[7] Sela was publicly supported by several Israeli figures, including Hollywood actress Gal Gadot,[8] model Shlomit Malka,[9] and Arab-Israeli newscaster Lucy Aharish.[10]

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.”[1]

Filmography
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
2013–present Beauty and the Baker Noa Hollander Series regular
2018 The Psychologist Liat Shtrosman Series regular
Autonomies Blumi Miniseries

References
  1. Meet Rotem Sela, The Israeli Actress Who Provoked Netanyahu By Calling Arabs ‘Human Beings’ The Forward. 11 March 2019
  2. Can Bar Refaeli quash the feud with her Eurovision co-host? The Jerusalem Post. 5 February 2019
  3. 'Big Brother' Co-host Pens Israeli Romantic Comedy - and Scores Haaretz. 2 January 2013
  4. Keslassy, Elsa (20 June 2017). "Amazon Nabs Global Rights to Keshet Hit Show 'The Baker and the Beauty'". Variety. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  5. The TV Series That Offers a Possible Solution to Israel’s Problems Haaretz. 25 October 2018
  6. New Israeli TV Drama Raises Troubling Question: What if Haredi Jews Seceded? Tablet. 21 March 2018
  7. 'Israel Is the Nation-state of Jews Alone': Netanyahu Responds to TV Star Who Said Arabs Are Equal Citizens Haaretz. 11 March 2019
  8. Wonder Woman vs. Bibi: Gal Gadot Takes Stand in Row Over Jewish-Arab Equality Haaretz. 11 March 2019
  9. The Israeli Beauty Queens Who Don't Want to Be Pretty and Shut Up Haaretz. 12 March 2019
  10. Lucy Aharish, Arab-Israeli news anchor speaks out in Rotem Sela firestorm The Jerusalem Post. 12 March 2019
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