Natalie PortmanNatalie Portman
As a young child, Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps where she developed her love of acting. After some experience in an off-Broadway musical, she was cast in Léon at age twelve. During the mid-1990s, Portman had roles in films such as Heat, Everyone Says I Love You and Mars Attacks!, as well as having a major role in Beautiful Girls. In the late 1990s, she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the
Star Wars prequel trilogy. She placed a priority on her education
and pursued tertiary studies at Harvard University even though it
had potential to conflict with her acting career. Recent roles include
Garden State, Closer, and V for Vendetta. For Closer, she received
a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award. Biography
Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University, where Portman's mother was selling tickets. Portman's father returned to Israel, but the two corresponded and were married when Portman's mother visited Israel a few years later. When Portman was three years old, her family moved from Israel to her mother's native United States, where her father pursued his medical training. The family lived in Washington, D.C. in 1984 and then Connecticut in 1988, before finally settling down in Syosset, New York in 1990. Portman has said that although she "really love[s] the States", her "heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home." Portman is an only child and very close to her parents, who are often seen with her at her film premieres; her mother always accompanied pre-adult Portman to filming locations. Early career Starting at age 13, Portman spent her school holidays attending upscale theater camps Stagedoor Manor and Usdan Camp, where she forged her love for acting, playing roles in the camp productions such as the title character in Anne of Green Gables, Dream Laurey in Oklahoma! and Hermia in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1993 Portman was handed her first professional role as an understudy for the off-Broadway musical Ruthless!. Her inaugural experience in professional theater led her to audition
for Luc Besson's 1994 film Léon (aka The Professional). She
was initially turned down for the role due to her youth, but further
auditioning won her the part. Soon after Portman was given the part,
she took Portman as her stage name in the interest of privacy. In
the film, Portman plays an orphaned girl who befriends a much older
assassin. Léon opened on November 18, 1994 and marked her
feature film debut at age thirteen. That same year appeared in the
short film Developing which aired on television. 1995–1999 In 1996, to Portman's surprise, casting director for the new Star Wars films Robin Gurland contacted her to see if she was interested in playing the female lead in the new films. Portman, still only 14 years old and having never seen the original three Star Wars films, was speculative at first about the commitment she was making and what impact it would have on her life, as the role would ultimately see her participate in three films over the course of a decade. After meeting with George Lucas and producer Rick McCallum she signed on to the prequel trilogy. Portman then auditioned for the role of Anne Frank in the Broadway revival of The Diary of Anne Frank. The decision to participate in this production caused her to pull out of the film The Horse Whisperer. In mid-1997, production began on the first of the three Star Wars prequel films, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. She returned to complete her junior year in high school, whilst studying she also performed The Diary of Anne Frank. She did eight shows a week while attending classes full-time. The play was performed for a month at the Colonial Theater in Boston before making its Broadway debut at the Music Box Theater in early December. She would receive a Tony nomination for her role as Anne Frank. She was also offered a role in the film Anywhere But Here, but after reading the script turned down the role as her character was involved in a sex scene. Director Wayne Wang and actress Susan Sarandon rushed to her support and demanded a rewrite of the script, allegedly saying they would not continue their involvement in the film unless the young actress’s wishes were respected. Portman was shown a new script and she happily joined the project. In early 1999, The Phantom Menace opened and became the highest grossing film of the year and the highest grossing film out of the Star Wars series. Its massive audience and mainstream appeal saw Portman become an instant star. Portman then signed on to play a persevering teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is. Anywhere But Here opened in late 1999; she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ann August. 2000–2005 In 2005 she filmed Free Zone, the year also saw a close to the
Star Wars prequel trilogy, with Revenge of the Sith released worldwide
on May 19. The film was the highest grossing film of the year and
was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards.
Shortly before the film's opening, Portman shaved her head for her
role in the film adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel, V for
Vendetta which was set to be released on November 5, but was pushed
back to March 17, 2006. Her shaved head was first seen publicly
at the Revenge of the Sith premieres. She kept her hair short for
most of 2005, had a fauxhawk mohawk, and briefly sported a full
mohawk in late August, saying that it was "kind of wonderful
to throw vanity away for a bit". During the latter part of
2005, Portman filmed Goya's Ghosts. 2006–present
V for Vendetta opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak in an English accent. Maxim magazine named Portman #33 on its annual Hot 100 list, citing her V for Vendetta bald head as a huge accomplishment proving "you don't need hair to be hot." Portman has commented on V for Vendetta's political relevance, and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "Being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little", although the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion". Portman's upcoming films include Goya's Ghosts and Free Zone (an Israeli film which received a limited U.S. theatrical release in April 2006). She is set to appear in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which began filming in April 2006; Portman has said that she was "excited to do a kids movie". Portman is currently in final talks to appear in The Other Boleyn
Girl, a historical drama in which she will play Anne Boleyn; Eric
Bana will co-star in the film. Personal life Portman has spent some of her free time involved in causes such as the Democrats' 2004 U.S. presidential campaign and ending poverty. In 2004 and 2005 she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in poor countries. In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS program Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria she discussed micro-financing. Portman commented in an interview that "I'm much more like
the product of a doctor than I am a Jew." On the concept of
the afterlife, she comments "I don't believe in that. I believe
this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." Controversy Portman, who had recently read some of the works by W.E.B. DuBois, was interviewed for the August 2004 issue of Allure magazine where she was quoted as saying, "Oh my God! I'm not black, but I know what it feels like!" This prompted her to follow up with an apology letter to their editor, in which she wrote: "The 'it' I was referring to when I said, 'I know what it feels like,' was not intended to signify that I know 'how black people feel,' but rather that I know what DuBois’s concept of double-consciousness feels like, in variation. Had my quote included what I actually said preceding that statement, perhaps my meaning would have been clearer." Portman also made headlines when she was moved away by Israeli Police on February 23, 2005 from Jerusalem's Western Wall after protests by religious Jews who were praying at the holy site. She and Israeli actor Aki Avni were filming a kissing scene near the Wailing Wall for the movie Free Zone. This was deemed to be immodest and men who were praying heckled the pair until police stepped in and suggested they return later. The site is under the authority of Orthodox Judaism, and Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, who is responsible for the site, said the actors' behavior violated the code of conduct. It was reported that on July 8, 2005, Portman was pulled over by
the NYPD while driving in a transit tunnel underneath New York City
for looking unusual and having an expired registration. She had
a shaven head from playing a freedom fighter in V for Vendetta,
and had just arrived back in the United States from Israel and film
shooting in Berlin. The policeman told her not to drive in the tunnel,
but to take the bridge instead. "I've never had that happen
to me before," Portman said. "It's supposedly random...
I didn't understand that logic. If you're a suspect, don't take
the tunnel, take the bridge?" Education After high school, Portman enrolled at Harvard University where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Psychology on June 5, 2003. In 2005 Portman pursued graduate studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. Portman is credited as a research assistant to Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz's Case For Israel. She was a research assistant to Dr. Stephen M. Kosslyn's psychology lab as well, and made a cameo appearance as a guest lecturer for the Terrorism and Counterterrorism course at Columbia University in early March of 2006, discussing themes from her film V for Vendetta. In addition to her native Hebrew and English, Portman has studied and/or can speak (to some degree) French, Japanese, and German. She has recently been learning to speak Arabic. As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers which were
published in professional scientific journals. Her 1998 high school
paper on the "Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen" earned
her a semi-finalist placement in the Intel Science Talent Search.
In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal
Lobe Activation During Object Permanence" during her psychology
studies at Harvard. Relationships Trivia
Selected Filmography
2007 My Blueberry Nights Natalie Portman Picture Gallery
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Natalie Hershlag (born June 9, 1981), better known by her
stage name, Natalie Portman, is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden
Globe-winning Israeli-American actress.
