Israeli actress Swell Ariel Or had her big break starring as Luna Ermoza in “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” which tells the story of the lives of three generations of the Sephardic Ermoza family in Jerusalem.
Set under Ottoman rule and British Mandate Palestine, the series delves into the complex romantic destinies of the Ermoza family as the characters navigate the profound societal changes unfolding in Israel.
However, Or has also gained recognition for her advocacy for Israel as her career has blossomed.
The basics
Swell Ariel Or was born in Tel Aviv in 1999 to hippie parents who named her after surfer slang for a wave.
While serving in the technology division of the IDF, she used her one night off per week to take an acting course with “Fauda” star Doron Ben David. This experience convinced her to pursue acting professionally.
Upon completing her army service, Or knew she didn’t want to pursue a college education and instead set her sights on the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, every agent except one rejected her on the spot.
Read more: ‘Beauty Queen of Jerusalem’ actress Swell Ariel Or shares about Sephardic representation and playing Luna Ermoza
After a year and a half of auditions, she landed her first acting gig at age 21, which, by chance, was the top billing in one of Israel’s most ambitious television projects: “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.”
In addition to her work on the historical drama, Or also starred in the new Israeli film “Kissufim,” which is a historical drama about young adults living on Kibbutz Kissufim in 1978. Or’s character, Eli, is inspired by the true story of Elian Gazit, a 21-year-old Israeli woman, who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist two years later.
Or’s fight to represent Israel on and off the screen
Or moved to Los Angeles just a week and a half before the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
Since then, Or has been raising money for Israeli reservists. She helped with efforts to reimburse IDF reservists who were abroad and paid for the tickets to help out the war efforts out of pocket.
She has also advocated for people to educate themselves on the war and for the release of the hostages, underscoring to JTA that the narrative of Israel fighting the Palestinians is “crazy” to her.
Or expressed that, as an Israeli actress, she’s motivated to use her platform to educate audiences about Israeli culture and history. Her representation of Israel on the global stage isn’t out of obligation, but is a personal ethos.
“I don’t feel obligated to represent Israel worldwide, but I do that because it’s my set of values,” she told Unpacked. “I feel it is both a blessing and an honor to be able to be in a position where people want to hear my opinion, to let me show them [Israel] through my perspective.”
Whenever abroad, Or considers herself an ambassador for Israel, aiming to uplift fellow Israeli artists and spotlight their work.
Or believes that her best shot at securing an Oscar for Israel is through making her mark in Hollywood. Israeli films face challenges in gaining recognition at the Oscars, she told Jewish Insider.
“I think that an Israeli actress or actor [winning an Oscar] is the next step, and then maybe they’ll give an Israeli film a chance,” Or told Unpacked. “I think that we deserve an Oscar because we have great cinema here. We have great artists and actors.
“Jewish people are historically storytellers. This is how we managed to survive the horrible things and traumas that happened to us. We’re the best at storytelling, so I think we deserve it.”
Or hopes “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” will help viewers see Israel and Israelis in a different light
Since its debut, “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” has earned four awards from the Israeli Television Academy and is one of the top international shows on Netflix.
Beyond resonating with the characters and enjoying the storylines, Or hopes that viewers will learn about under-discussed aspects of Israeli history through the show.
“It’s the story of the establishment of Israel from the inside,” she explained. “We hear a lot about the establishment of Israel from the outside because of the Holocaust and antisemitism, but we don’t really hear about why we had to have our own country from Jews who were already there.”
She hopes the show will paint a picture for viewers of what Israel looked like before the Holocaust, and that it will allow viewers to understand the fight for a Jewish state from the perspectives of those residing in British Mandate Palestine.
“We didn’t all come after the Holocaust in Europe. A lot of us were here before — a lot of Sephardic communities,” Or said. “Especially today, when the whole world is looking at Israel and the Middle East on social media, it’s very important to show a different part of history that isn’t widely known.”
She also hopes viewers gain insights into the early phases of Israeli international relations through the show. The series showcases Israelis interacting with the wider Middle East, from market scenes to instances of Jewish traveling to Syria and Lebanon for purchases and vacation. Or stressed that these interactions during the show’s timeframe laid the groundwork for Israel’s foreign relations.
Swell Ariel Or hopes “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” will pave the way for more diverse Jewish stories
Set against the backdrop of historical tensions between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, as well as ongoing strife between Jews, Arabs and the British, “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” is one of the first television shows which depicts Sephardic Jews.
The characters converse in a mix of Hebrew, English, Arabic and Ladino — a language traditionally spoken by Sephardic Jews which blends elements of Spanish and Hebrew. The once-vibrant language has now dwindled: as of 2018, reportedly only 51,000 people spoke Ladino.
Filming the show was the 25-year-old actress’ first exposure to Ladino, which she described as “beautiful.”
With the Sephardic story told in “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem,” Or believes the show is a stepping stone in presenting more diverse narratives of Jewish history in TV and film.
She received an outpouring of support from isolated Jewish communities in places like Uzbekistan and India, who hope to see their communities depicted on television, like the Sephardic community has been in “Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.”
“Finally, you have a big international show that represents Sephardic Jews,” Or said, highlighting the message she received from global communities: “Maybe there’s hope for us to be represented in the spectrum of Jewish identities too.”
