Born Natalia Stieglitz (also spelled Shteiglitz) in 1950 in the Soviet Union, Avital Sharansky grew up amid suppression of Jewish practices, developing an interest in her heritage through clandestine Hebrew lessons and underground Jewish study groups. She married Natan Sharansky in a religious ceremony not recognized by Soviet authorities. Following his arrest in 1977 and sentencing to hard labor in a Siberian prison camp, she became a tireless international campaigner for his release and the broader cause of Soviet Refuseniks, earning widespread recognition as a human rights defender in the Soviet Jewry movement. Telegenic and charismatic, Avital was dubbed 'the Israeli Audrey Hepburn' by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn. After Natan Sharansky's release in February 1986, she largely retreated from public life. She is a Soviet-Israeli activist who transitioned to Israeli nationality.