Natalie Portman
Overview
Natalie Hershlag better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon
, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (released in 1999, 2002 and 2005). In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University
to study psychology while still working as an actress.
Léon (film)
Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...
, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate...
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (released in 1999, 2002 and 2005). In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to study psychology while still working as an actress.
Quotations
I grew up in the classic American-Jewish suburbia, which has a whole different sense of what it means to be Jewish than anywhere else in the world.
You know, I get much more Jewish in Israel because I like the way that religion is done there.
I had a fashion designer tell me that when I wear a dress of his, it sells out across the country because Jewish girls ‘look to me,’ and Jewish girls are the ones that buy expensive dresses. It made me sad, because I want to be an influence in ways other than by a pretty dress.
There’s so much goodness there, and such a value placed on education, which is sort of universal among Jews around the world. I appreciate that obviously, to be a part of that.
My response was that more than half of Israelis are of Sephardic origin. Many of these Jews come from Arab lands and share the same physical skin color.
On allegations of racism in Israel
I’d like it if people thought I was Jewish-looking.
Encyclopedia
Natalie Hershlag better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film Léon
, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (released in 1999, 2002 and 2005). In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University
to study psychology while still working as an actress. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.
In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov
's The Seagull
. In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
for the drama Closer
. She won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress for her starring role in V for Vendetta
(2006). She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya's Ghosts
(2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st
Annual Cannes Film Festival
jury. Portman's directorial debut, Eve
, opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival
's shorts competition in 2008.
In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award
, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance as Nina Sayers in Black Swan
.
immigrants to the United States, from Austria and Russia (her mother's family had changed their surname from "Edelstein" to "Stevens"). Her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz
, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.
Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University
, where her mother was selling tickets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has said that although she "really love[s] the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."
Portman and her family first lived in Washington, D.C., but relocated to Connecticut
in 1988, and then settled on Long Island
, New York, in 1990.
. Portman learned to speak Hebrew
in addition to English, and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School
of Glen Cove
, New York. She graduated from Syosset High School
in Syosset, Long Island, in 1999. Portman skipped the premiere of her film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
so she could study for her high school final exams.
In 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College
with a B.A. degree in psychology. "I don't care if [college] ruins my career," she told the New York Post
, according to a Fox News Channel
article. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star." At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz
's research assistant. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of Lowell House
and wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson
in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions toward Palestinians.
Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in the spring of 2004. In March 2006, she appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University
course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film V for Vendetta
.
Portman has professed an interest in foreign languages since childhood and has studied French, Japanese, German, and Arabic.
As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in scientific journal
s. Her 1998 high school paper, "A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search
, in which she was named a semifinalist. In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe
Activation during Object Permanence
: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy" during her psychology studies at Harvard. This publication placed Portman among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdős–Bacon number.
agent asked her to become a child model
, but she turned down the offer to focus on acting. In a magazine interview, Portman said that she was "different from the other kids. I was more ambitious, I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."
Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps. When she was ten, she auditioned for the Off-Broadway
show Ruthless!
, a musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play. Portman and future pop star Britney Spears
were chosen as the understudies
for star Laura Bell Bundy
. In 1994, she auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson
's film, Léon
(aka The Professional). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy and to protect her family's identity. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut. That same year she appeared in the short film Developing
, which aired on television.
, and Mars Attacks!
, as well as a major role in Beautiful Girls. She was the first choice to play Juliet
in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, but producers felt her age wasn't suitable. In 1997, Portman played the role of Anne Frank
in a Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank
.
Also in 1997, Portman was cast as Padmé Amidala
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The first film, The Phantom Menace
, began filming in June 1997 and opened in May 1999. Following production on The Phantom Menace, she initially turned down a lead role in the film Anywhere but Here after learning it would involve a sex scene, but director Wayne Wang
and actress Susan Sarandon
(who played Portman's mother in the film) demanded a rewrite of the script. Portman was shown a new draft, and she decided to accept the role. The film opened in late 1999, and she received a Golden Globe
nomination for Best Supporting Actress
for her role as Ann August. Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon called Portman "astonishing" and said that "[u]nlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky." She then signed on to play the lead role of a teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is
, which opened in April 2000.
to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology
. She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the Star Wars prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. During the summer break from June to September 2000, Portman filmed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
in Sydney, along with additional production in London.
In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's
The Seagull
, directed by Mike Nichols
; she played the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep
, Kevin Kline
, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
. The play opened at the Delacorte Theater
in Central Park
. That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearance
s in the 2001 comedy Zoolander
. Portman was cast in a small role in the film Cold Mountain
alongside Jude Law
and Nicole Kidman
.
In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies Garden State
and Closer
. Garden State was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival
and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in Closer earned her a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
.
The final Star Wars prequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
, was released on May 19, 2005. The film was the highest grossing domestic film of the year, and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards
. Also in 2005, Portman filmed Free Zone
and director Miloš Forman
's Goya's Ghosts
. Forman had not seen any of her work but thought she looked like a Goya
painting, so he requested a meeting.
on March 4, 2006. In a SNL Digital Short
, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rap
per (with Andy Samberg
as her Flavor Flav
-esque partner in Viking
garb) during a faux-interview with Chris Parnell
, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on marijuana
and cocaine
. The song, titled "Natalie's Rap," was released – alongside other sketches from the show – in 2009 on Incredibad
, an album by the Lonely Island. In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist (her father's profession).
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 with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.
Portman has commented on V for Vendetta political relevance and mentioned that the main character, who recruits Evey to join 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." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion".
Both Goya's Ghosts
and Free Zone
received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
, which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie." In late 2006, Portman filmed The Other Boleyn Girl, a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn
; Eric Bana
and Scarlett Johansson
co-starred. She was named one of the hottest women of film and TV by Blender
Magazine.
In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai
's road movie My Blueberry Nights
. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because "[f]or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman... but she's not coasting on her looks... She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table." Portman voiced Bart Simpson
's girlfriend Darcy in the episode "Little Big Girl
" of The Simpsons
' 18th season
.
She appeared in Paul McCartney
's music video "Dance Tonight
" from his 2007 album Memory Almost Full
, directed by Michel Gondry
. Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson
short film Hotel Chevalier
, opposite Jason Schwartzman
. In May 2008, Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury, and in 2009, she starred opposite Tobey Maguire
and Jake Gyllenhaal
in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name.
In 2008, Portman at age 27 made her directorial debut at the Venice Film Festival
. "Eve", a short movie about a young woman who is dragged along on her grandmother's romantic date, was screened out of competition. Portman said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for the character from her own grandmother.
's 2010 film Black Swan
, a role of which critic Kurt Loder
wrote: "Portman gives one of her most compelling performances in this film, which is saying something." To prepare for the role, she went through five to eight hours of dance training each day for six months and lost 20 pounds. In 2011, she won both the Golden Globe Award
and the Academy Award for Best Actress.
After Portman's Oscar win, controversy arose
over who performed the bulk of the on-screen dancing in Black Swan. Sarah Lane
, one of Portman's dancing doubles in the film, claimed that Portman performed only about 5 percent of the full-body shots, adding that she was asked by the film’s producers not to speak publicly about it during the Oscar season. Director Aronofsky defended Portman by issuing a statement insisting that Portman performed 80 percent of the on-screen dancing in the movie.
Portman's next film was No Strings Attached, for which she was also an executive producer. It was released on January 21, 2011. She then starred in Your Highness
, opposite James Franco
and Danny McBride, and also played the role of Jane Foster
in Kenneth Branagh
's superhero film adaptation Thor
. In 2010, Portman dropped out of the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet
in the novel adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
, but she continues as producer.
, has been a vegetarian since childhood. She became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer
's Eating Animals
. She does not eat animal products or wear fur
, feather
s, or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target
and Stella McCartney
," she has said. In 2007, she launched her own brand of vegan
footwear. During her pregnancy in 2011, Portman went off her vegan diet and returned to vegetarianism.
In 2007, Portman traveled to Rwanda
with Jack Hanna
, to film the documentary Gorillas on the Brink. Later, at a naming ceremony, Portman christened a baby gorilla
Gukina, which means "to play." Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes
since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids. She is also a member of the One Voice
movement
.
Portman has also supported antipoverty activities. 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 developing 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 microfinance
. Host Fareed Zakaria
said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes," but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff."
In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday morning program This Week with George Stephanopoulos
, Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and children in Third World
countries. In fall 2007, she visited several university campuses, including Harvard, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.
In 2010, Portman's activist work and popularity with young people earned her a nomination for VH1
's Do Something
Awards, which is dedicated to honoring individuals who do good.
Portman is a supporter of the Democratic Party
, and in the 2004 presidential race
she campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry
. In the 2008 presidential election
, Portman supported Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. She later campaigned for the eventual Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama
of Illinois, during the general election. However, in a 2008 interview, she also said: "I even like John McCain
. I disagree with his war stance – which is a really big deal – but I think he's a very moral person."
After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", she began a relationship with American folk
singer Devendra Banhart
, which ended in September 2008.
Portman began dating ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied
in 2009. The couple met while she was filming Black Swan
. The following year, Portman publicly announced her engagement to Millepied and later confirmed her pregnancy. In 2011, Portman gave birth to their first child, a son named Aleph Portman-Millepied.
Léon (film)
Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...
, but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate...
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (released in 1999, 2002 and 2005). In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to study psychology while still working as an actress. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.
In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
's The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
. In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
for the drama Closer
Closer (film)
Closer is a 2004 romantic drama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. It was produced and directed by Mike Nichols and stars Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen...
. She won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress for her starring role in V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
(2006). She played leading roles in the historical dramas Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late...
(2006) and The Other Boleyn Girl (2008). In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st
2008 Cannes Film Festival
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 14 to May 25, 2008. In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.The British press...
Annual Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
jury. Portman's directorial debut, Eve
Eve (film)
Eve is a short film directed by Natalie Portman, starring Olivia Thirlby, Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara. The film, Portman's directorial debut, premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2008 in Venice, Italy; Portman attended the premiere...
, opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival
65th Venice International Film Festival
The 65th Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on August 27, 2008 by Burn After Reading, and closed on September 6, 2008....
's shorts competition in 2008.
In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance as Nina Sayers in Black Swan
Black Swan (film)
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
.
Early life
Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Shelley (née Stevens), an American homemaker who works as Portman's agent, and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli citizen who is a fertility specialist and gynecologist. Portman's maternal ancestors were JewishHistory of the Jews in the United States
The history of the Jews in the United States , has been part of the American national fabric since colonial times.Until the 1830s the Jewish community of Charleston, South Carolina was the most numerous in North America. With the large scale immigration of Jews from Germany in the 19th century,...
immigrants to the United States, from Austria and Russia (her mother's family had changed their surname from "Edelstein" to "Stevens"). Her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.
Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, where her mother was selling tickets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has said that although she "really love[s] the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."
Portman and her family first lived in Washington, D.C., but relocated to Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
in 1988, and then settled on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York, in 1990.
Education
In Washington, D.C., Portman attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day SchoolCharles E. Smith Jewish Day School
The Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, often referred to as CESJDS or JDS, is a private, pluralistic Jewish K-12 school in Rockville, Maryland....
. Portman learned to speak Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
in addition to English, and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School
Solomon Schechter Day School Association
The Solomon Schechter Day School Association is the organization of Jewish day school that identify with Conservative Judaism. The association provides guidance and resources for its member schools in the United States and Canada...
of Glen Cove
Glen Cove, New York
Glen Cove is a city in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the city population was 26,964....
, New York. She graduated from Syosset High School
Syosset High School
Syosset High School, located on Southwoods Road in Syosset, New York, USA is the only high school for residents of the Syosset Central School District.- Overview :The school was named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1992–1993...
in Syosset, Long Island, in 1999. Portman skipped the premiere of her film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
so she could study for her high school final exams.
In 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
with a B.A. degree in psychology. "I don't care if [college] ruins my career," she told the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, according to a Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
article. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star." At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
's research assistant. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of Lowell House
Lowell House
Lowell House is one of the twelve undergraduate residential houses within Harvard College, located on Holyoke Place facing Mount Auburn Street between the Harvard Yard and the Charles River...
and wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson
The Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions toward Palestinians.
Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
in the spring of 2004. In March 2006, she appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
.
Portman has professed an interest in foreign languages since childhood and has studied French, Japanese, German, and Arabic.
As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in scientific journal
Scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s. Her 1998 high school paper, "A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search
Intel Science Talent Search
The Intel Science Talent Search , known for its first 57 years as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search is a research-based science competition in the United States for high school seniors. It has been referred to as "the nation's oldest and most prestigious" science competition. In his speech...
, in which she was named a semifinalist. In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe
Frontal lobe
The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of humans and other mammals, located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere and positioned anterior to the parietal lobe and superior and anterior to the temporal lobes...
Activation during Object Permanence
Object permanence
Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard, or touched. It is acquired by human infants between 8 and 12 months of age via the process of logical induction to help them develop secondary schemes in their sensori-motor coordination...
: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy" during her psychology studies at Harvard. This publication placed Portman among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdős–Bacon number.
Early work
Portman started dancing lessons at age four and performed in local troupes. At the age of ten, a RevlonRevlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
agent asked her to become a child model
Child modeling
A child model refers to a child who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art, such as photography, painting and sculpture.-Practice:...
, but she turned down the offer to focus on acting. In a magazine interview, Portman said that she was "different from the other kids. I was more ambitious, I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."
Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps. When she was ten, she auditioned for the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
show Ruthless!
Ruthless!
Ruthless! The Musical is an all female musical with music by Marvin Laird and book and lyrics by Joel Paley that spoofs Broadway musicals, like Gypsy and Mame, and movies such as The Bad Seed and All About Eve...
, a musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play. Portman and future pop star Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
were chosen as the understudies
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
for star Laura Bell Bundy
Laura Bell Bundy
Laura Ashley Bell Bundy is an American actress and singer who has performed in a number of Broadway roles, both starring and supporting, as well as in television and film. Her best known Broadway roles are the original Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray and the original Elle Woods in the musical...
. In 1994, she auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson
Luc Besson
Luc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
's film, Léon
Léon (film)
Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson...
(aka The Professional). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy and to protect her family's identity. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut. That same year she appeared in the short film Developing
Developing (film)
Developing is a 1994 short film directed by Marya Cohn, about the relationship between a girl and her single mother, who has breast cancer. The film stars Natalie Portman as Nina....
, which aired on television.
1995–99
During the mid-1990s, Portman had roles in the films Heat, Everyone Says I Love YouEveryone Says I Love You
Everyone Says I Love You is a 1996 American musical film that was written and directed by Woody Allen. The film features many stars, including Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Gaby Hoffmann, Tim Roth, Goldie Hawn, and Natalie Portman.Set in New York, Venice, and Paris, the...
, and Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks!
Mars Attacks! is a 1996 American science fiction film directed by Tim Burton and based on the cult trading card series of the same name. The film uses elements of black comedy, surreal humour, and political satire, and claims to be also a parody of multiple science fiction B movies...
, as well as a major role in Beautiful Girls. She was the first choice to play Juliet
Juliet Capulet
Juliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself....
in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, but producers felt her age wasn't suitable. In 1997, Portman played the role of Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
in a Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank
The Diary of a Young Girl
The Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen...
.
Also in 1997, Portman was cast as Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala
Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate...
in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The first film, The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
, began filming in June 1997 and opened in May 1999. Following production on The Phantom Menace, she initially turned down a lead role in the film Anywhere but Here after learning it would involve a sex scene, but director Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang is a Chinese American film director.-Biography:Wang was born and raised in Hong Kong, and named after his father's favorite movie star, John Wayne...
and actress Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
(who played Portman's mother in the film) demanded a rewrite of the script. Portman was shown a new draft, and she decided to accept the role. The film opened in late 1999, and she received a Golden Globe
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
nomination for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year....
for her role as Ann August. Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon called Portman "astonishing" and said that "[u]nlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky." She then signed on to play the lead role of a teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (2000 film)
Where the Heart Is is a 2000 drama/romance film directed by Matt Williams and produced by Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams. Filmed in Austin, Texas, and Waco, Texas at Baylor University. The movie stars Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd...
, which opened in April 2000.
2000–05
After filming Where the Heart Is, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the Star Wars prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. During the summer break from June to September 2000, Portman filmed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...
in Sydney, along with additional production in London.
In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's
Anton Chekhov
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...
The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
, directed by Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...
; she played the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
, Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
. The play opened at the Delacorte Theater
Delacorte Theater
The Delacorte Theater, established in 1962, is an open-air theater located in Manhattan's Central Park and has a seating capacity of 1,800. The Delacorte is owned by the City of New York and operated by The Public Theater. It is an open-air amphitheater, with the Turtle Pond and Belvedere Castle...
in Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s in the 2001 comedy Zoolander
Zoolander
Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the...
. Portman was cast in a small role in the film Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
alongside Jude Law
Jude Law
David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989...
and Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
.
In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies Garden State
Garden State (film)
Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies...
and Closer
Closer (film)
Closer is a 2004 romantic drama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. It was produced and directed by Mike Nichols and stars Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen...
. Garden State was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in Closer earned her a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
.
The final Star Wars prequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
, was released on May 19, 2005. The film was the highest grossing domestic film of the year, and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett...
. Also in 2005, Portman filmed Free Zone
Free Zone (film)
Free Zone is a 2005 film directed by Amos Gitai. Shot in Israel and Jordan, the Israel-Belgium-French-Spain production stars Israeli Jewish actress Hanna Laslo, Palestinian Arab actress Hiam Abbass, and Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman....
and director Miloš Forman
Miloš Forman
Jan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
's Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late...
. Forman had not seen any of her work but thought she looked like a Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
painting, so he requested a meeting.
2006–09
Portman hosted Saturday Night LiveSaturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
on March 4, 2006. In a SNL Digital Short
SNL Digital Shorts
An SNL Digital Short is one in a series of comedic and often musical video shorts created for airing on NBC's Saturday Night Live, generally produced and written by The Lonely Island , though originated by Adam McKay, in collaboration with SNL hosts, writers, and cast members...
, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rap
Gangsta rap
Gangsta Rap is a subgenre of hip hop music that evolved from hardcore hip hop and purports to reflect urban crime and the violent lifestyles of inner-city youths. Lyrics in gangsta rap have varied from accurate reflections to fictionalized accounts. Gangsta is a non-rhotic pronunciation of the word...
per (with Andy Samberg
Andy Samberg
David Andrew "Andy" Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper and writer best known as a member of the comedy group The Lonely Island and as a cast member on Saturday Night Live...
as her Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
-esque partner in Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
garb) during a faux-interview with Chris Parnell
Chris Parnell
Thomas Christopher "Chris" Parnell is an American comic actor best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2006 and currently for his recurring role as Dr. Leo Spaceman on NBC's Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock. Parnell also voices Cyril Figgis on the FX animated comedy...
, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
and cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. The song, titled "Natalie's Rap," was released – alongside other sketches from the show – in 2009 on Incredibad
Incredibad
Incredibad is the debut studio album of the American comedy troupe The Lonely Island, released on February 10, 2009, through Universal Republic Records...
, an album by the Lonely Island. In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist (her father's profession).
V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta (film)
V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd...
opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond
Evey Hammond
Evey Hammond is a fictional character and one of the main characters of the V for Vendetta comic book series, created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. She becomes involved in V's life when he rescues her from a gang of London's secret police.-Biography:Evey grew up on Shooters Hill in south-east...
, 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 with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.
Portman has commented on V for Vendetta political relevance and mentioned that the main character, who recruits Evey to join 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." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion".
Both Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts
Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late...
and Free Zone
Free Zone (film)
Free Zone is a 2005 film directed by Amos Gitai. Shot in Israel and Jordan, the Israel-Belgium-French-Spain production stars Israeli Jewish actress Hanna Laslo, Palestinian Arab actress Hiam Abbass, and Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman....
received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee.-Plot:...
, which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie." In late 2006, Portman filmed The Other Boleyn Girl, a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
; Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
and Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
co-starred. She was named one of the hottest women of film and TV by Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
Magazine.
In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai
Wong Kar-wai BBS is a Hong Kong Second Wave filmmaker, internationally renowned as an auteur for his visually unique, highly stylized, emotionally resonant work, including Days of Being Wild , Ashes of Time , Chungking Express , Fallen Angels , Happy Together and 2046...
's road movie My Blueberry Nights
My Blueberry Nights
My Blueberry Nights is a 2007 romance/drama/road film directed by Wong Kar Wai, his first feature in English. The screenplay by Wong and Lawrence Block is based on a short Chinese-language film written and directed by Wong...
. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because "[f]or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman... but she's not coasting on her looks... She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table." Portman voiced Bart Simpson
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
's girlfriend Darcy in the episode "Little Big Girl
Little Big Girl
"Little Big Girl" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season, which was originally broadcast on February 11, 2007. It was written by Don Payne, and directed by Raymond S. Persi. Natalie Portman guest starred as a new character, Darcy. The title is a play on the Dustin Hoffman movie...
" of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
' 18th season
The Simpsons (season 18)
The Simpsons 18th season aired from September 10, 2006 to May 20, 2007. The season contained seven hold-over episodes from the season 17 production line. Al Jean served as the Showrunner, a position he has held since the thirteenth season....
.
She appeared in Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's music video "Dance Tonight
Dance Tonight
"Dance Tonight" is a song by Paul McCartney and the opening track to his 2007 album Memory Almost Full. The song was released as a download single in the United Kingdom on 18 June 2007: McCartney's 65th birthday. A week later, the song debuted at number 34 in the UK Singles Chart. The UK single was...
" from his 2007 album Memory Almost Full
Memory Almost Full
Memory Almost Full is the 14th studio album by Paul McCartney, released in the United Kingdom on 4 June 2007 and in the United States a day later. The album was the first release on Starbucks' Hear Music label...
, directed by Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
. Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson
Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....
short film Hotel Chevalier
Hotel Chevalier
Hotel Chevalier is a short film written and directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2007. Starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman as former lovers who reunite in a Paris hotel room, the 13-minute film acts as a prologue to Anderson's 2007 feature The Darjeeling Limited...
, opposite Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...
. In May 2008, Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury, and in 2009, she starred opposite Tobey Maguire
Tobey Maguire
Tobias Vincent "Tobey" Maguire is an American actor and producer. He began his career in the 1980s, and has achieved his greatest fame for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films.-Early life:...
and Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name.
In 2008, Portman at age 27 made her directorial debut at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. "Eve", a short movie about a young woman who is dragged along on her grandmother's romantic date, was screened out of competition. Portman said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for the character from her own grandmother.
2010–present
Portman played a veteran ballerina in Darren AronofskyDarren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
's 2010 film Black Swan
Black Swan (film)
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
, a role of which critic Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder is an American film critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at Rolling Stone, during a tenure that Reason later called "legendary". He has contributed to articles in Reason, Esquire, Details, New York, and Time. He has also made cameos on...
wrote: "Portman gives one of her most compelling performances in this film, which is saying something." To prepare for the role, she went through five to eight hours of dance training each day for six months and lost 20 pounds. In 2011, she won both the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
and the Academy Award for Best Actress.
After Portman's Oscar win, controversy arose
Black Swan dance double controversy
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, and Mila Kunis...
over who performed the bulk of the on-screen dancing in Black Swan. Sarah Lane
Sarah Lane (dancer)
Sarah Lane is an American ballet dancer and a soloist with American Ballet Theatre .-Life and career:Lane was born in San Francisco, California. She started training for dance at the Memphis Classical Ballet in Memphis, Tennessee. Her family later moved to Rochester, New York where she continued...
, one of Portman's dancing doubles in the film, claimed that Portman performed only about 5 percent of the full-body shots, adding that she was asked by the film’s producers not to speak publicly about it during the Oscar season. Director Aronofsky defended Portman by issuing a statement insisting that Portman performed 80 percent of the on-screen dancing in the movie.
Portman's next film was No Strings Attached, for which she was also an executive producer. It was released on January 21, 2011. She then starred in Your Highness
Your Highness
Your Highness is a 2011 fantasy comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Danny McBride and Ben Best, and starring McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel. Filming began in the summer of 2009 in Northern Ireland and concluded in October 2009...
, opposite James Franco
James Franco
James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...
and Danny McBride, and also played the role of Jane Foster
Jane Foster (comics)
Jane Foster is a Marvel Comics supporting character who for many years was the nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake, the secret identity of the Norse god superhero Thor.-Publication history:...
in Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
's superhero film adaptation Thor
Thor (film)
Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe...
. In 2010, Portman dropped out of the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet
Elizabeth Bennet, later Elizabeth Darcy, is the protagonist in the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family...
in the novel adaptation Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a 2009 parody novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. It is a mashup combining Jane Austen's classic 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice with elements of modern zombie fiction, crediting Austen as co-author...
, but she continues as producer.
Social and political causes
Portman, who is an advocate for animal rightsAnimal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
, has been a vegetarian since childhood. She became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer is an American author best known for his novels Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...
's Eating Animals
Eating Animals
Eating Animals is the third book by the American writer Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2009. It is a work of non-fiction.-Themes:Foer explores the topics of factory farming and commercial fisheries...
. She does not eat animal products or wear fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
, feather
Feather
Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds and some non-avian theropod dinosaurs. They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates, and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty. They...
s, or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
and Stella McCartney
Stella McCartney
Stella Nina McCartney is an English fashion designer. She is the daughter of former Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney and the late photographer and animal rights activist, Linda McCartney.-Early life:...
," she has said. In 2007, she launched her own brand of vegan
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
footwear. During her pregnancy in 2011, Portman went off her vegan diet and returned to vegetarianism.
In 2007, Portman traveled to Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
with Jack Hanna
Jack Hanna
John Bushnell "Jack" Hanna is an American zookeeper who is the Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. He was Director of the zoo from 1978 to 1993, and is viewed as largely responsible for elevating its quality and reputation. His media appearances have made him one of the most...
, to film the documentary Gorillas on the Brink. Later, at a naming ceremony, Portman christened a baby gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
Gukina, which means "to play." Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids. She is also a member of the One Voice
OneVoice Movement
OneVoice is a non profit organization and citizen activism movement working in Israel and the Palestinian territories to achieve a two-state solution through non-violent means...
movement
Social movement
Social movements are a type of group action. They are large informal groupings of individuals or organizations focused on specific political or social issues, in other words, on carrying out, resisting or undoing a social change....
.
Portman has also supported antipoverty activities. In 2004 and 2005, she traveled to Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Guatemala, and Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International
FINCA International
The Foundation for International Community Assistance is a non-profit, microfinance organization, founded by John Hatch in 1984. Sometimes referred to as the "World Bank for the Poor" and a "poverty vaccine for the planet", FINCA is the innovator of the village banking methodology in microcredit...
, an organization that promotes micro-lending
Microcredit
Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...
to help finance women-owned businesses in developing countries. In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
program Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, she discussed microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
. Host Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Zakaria
Fareed Rafiq Zakaria is an Indian-American journalist and author. From 2000 to 2010, he was a columnist for Newsweek and editor of Newsweek International. In 2010 he became Editor-At-Large of Time magazine...
said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes," but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff."
In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday morning program This Week with George Stephanopoulos
This Week (ABC TV series)
This Week is ABC's Sunday morning political affairs program.The Sunday morning talk show has aired on Sunday mornings on ABC since 1981; the program is initially aired at 9:00 AM ET, although many stations air the program later, especially those in other time zones...
, Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and children in Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
countries. In fall 2007, she visited several university campuses, including Harvard, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.
In 2010, Portman's activist work and popularity with young people earned her a nomination for VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Do Something
Do Something
Do Something is a non-profit organization that motivates young people to take action around social changes through national campaigns and grants for projects that make an impact. The organization's CEO is Nancy Lublin, who founded Dress for Success in 1996.-History:The organization was co-founded...
Awards, which is dedicated to honoring individuals who do good.
Portman is a supporter of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, and in the 2004 presidential race
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
she campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
. In the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, Portman supported Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. She later campaigned for the eventual Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
of Illinois, during the general election. However, in a 2008 interview, she also said: "I even like John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
. I disagree with his war stance – which is a really big deal – but I think he's a very moral person."
Personal life
In 2006, she said that she felt more Jewish in Israel and that she would like to raise her children Jewish: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner."After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", she began a relationship with American folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
singer Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
, which ended in September 2008.
Portman began dating ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied
Benjamin Millepied
Benjamin Millepied is a French danseur, best known for his work as choreographer in the movie Black Swan .-Early life:...
in 2009. The couple met while she was filming Black Swan
Black Swan (film)
Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to...
. The following year, Portman publicly announced her engagement to Millepied and later confirmed her pregnancy. In 2011, Portman gave birth to their first child, a son named Aleph Portman-Millepied.
Filmography
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Léon Léon (film) Léon is a 1994 French thriller film written and directed by Luc Besson... |
1994 | Mathilda | Also known as The Professional |
| Developing Developing (film) Developing is a 1994 short film directed by Marya Cohn, about the relationship between a girl and her single mother, who has breast cancer. The film stars Natalie Portman as Nina.... |
1994 | Nina | 23-minute short film |
| Heat | 1995 | Lauren Gustafson | |
| Beautiful Girls | 1996 | Marty | |
| Everyone Says I Love You Everyone Says I Love You Everyone Says I Love You is a 1996 American musical film that was written and directed by Woody Allen. The film features many stars, including Julia Roberts, Alan Alda, Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Gaby Hoffmann, Tim Roth, Goldie Hawn, and Natalie Portman.Set in New York, Venice, and Paris, the... |
1996 | Laura Dandridge | |
| Mars Attacks Mars Attacks Mars Attacks is a science fiction trading card series released in 1962. The cards feature artwork by science-fiction artist Wallace Wood and tell the story of the invasion of Earth by cruel, hideous Martians. The cards depicted futuristic battle scenes and bizarre methods of Martian attack, torture... |
1996 | Taffy Dale | |
| Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms... |
1999 | Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate... |
|
| Anywhere but Here | 1999 | Ann August | |
| Where the Heart Is Where the Heart Is (2000 film) Where the Heart Is is a 2000 drama/romance film directed by Matt Williams and produced by Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams. Filmed in Austin, Texas, and Waco, Texas at Baylor University. The movie stars Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd... |
2000 | Novalee Nation | |
| Zoolander Zoolander Zoolander is a 2001 American satirical comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the... |
2001 | Herself | Cameo |
| Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology... |
2002 | Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate... |
|
| Cold Mountain Cold Mountain (film) Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier... |
2003 | Sara | |
| Garden State Garden State (film) Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies... |
2004 | Samantha | |
| Closer Closer (film) Closer is a 2004 romantic drama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. It was produced and directed by Mike Nichols and stars Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen... |
2004 | Alice Ayres | |
| Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology.... |
2005 | Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala Padmé Amidala is a fictional character in the Star Wars science fiction franchise. She first appeared on film in the 1999 feature film, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, as the young queen of the planet Naboo. In subsequent prequel trilogy films, Padmé represents Naboo in the Galactic Senate... |
|
| Free Zone Free Zone (film) Free Zone is a 2005 film directed by Amos Gitai. Shot in Israel and Jordan, the Israel-Belgium-French-Spain production stars Israeli Jewish actress Hanna Laslo, Palestinian Arab actress Hiam Abbass, and Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman.... |
2005 | Rebecca | received a limited US theatrical release in April 2006 |
| V for Vendetta V for Vendetta (film) V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd... |
2006 | Evey Hammond Evey Hammond Evey Hammond is a fictional character and one of the main characters of the V for Vendetta comic book series, created by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. She becomes involved in V's life when he rescues her from a gang of London's secret police.-Biography:Evey grew up on Shooters Hill in south-east... |
|
| Paris, je t'aime Paris, je t'aime Paris, Je t'aime is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements... |
2006 | Francine | Ensemble film with 18 segments. She appears in the segment directed by German writer-director Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer Tom Tykwer is a German film director, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing Run Lola Run , Heaven , Perfume: The Story of a Murderer , and The International .... . |
| Goya's Ghosts Goya's Ghosts Goya's Ghosts is a 2006 Spanish/American film directed by Miloš Forman, and produced by Xuxa Producciones and by Saul Zaentz, and written by Miloš Forman and Jean-Claude Carrière. The film stars Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Stellan Skarsgård, and was filmed on location in Spain during late... |
2006 | Inés Bilbatúa & Alicia | |
| My Blueberry Nights My Blueberry Nights My Blueberry Nights is a 2007 romance/drama/road film directed by Wong Kar Wai, his first feature in English. The screenplay by Wong and Lawrence Block is based on a short Chinese-language film written and directed by Wong... |
2007 | Leslie | |
| 2007 | Jack's Ex-Girlfriend | ||
| Hotel Chevalier Hotel Chevalier Hotel Chevalier is a short film written and directed by Wes Anderson and released in 2007. Starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman as former lovers who reunite in a Paris hotel room, the 13-minute film acts as a prologue to Anderson's 2007 feature The Darjeeling Limited... |
2007 | Jack's Ex-Girlfriend | 13-minute short companion piece to The Darjeeling Limited The Darjeeling Limited The Darjeeling Limited is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson, and starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman. It was written by Anderson, Schwartzman, and Roman Coppola... |
| Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is a 2007 film written and directed by Zach Helm. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the owner of a magical toy store, and Natalie Portman as his store employee.-Plot:... |
2007 | Molly Mahoney | |
| 2008 | Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the... |
||
| The Other Woman | 2009 | Emilia Greenleaf | Originally titled Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, with limited theatrical release in February 2011 |
| New York, I Love You New York, I Love You New York, I Love You is a 2009 romance film released in the United States on October 16, 2009. From the producer of Paris, je t'aime, it stars an ensemble cast, among them Bradley Cooper, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Anton Yelchin, Hayden Christensen, Orlando Bloom, Irrfan Khan, Rachel Bilson,... |
2009 | Rifka | |
| Brothers | 2009 | Grace Cahill | |
| Hesher Hesher (film) Hesher is a 2010 American dark comedy/drama film written and directed by Spencer Susser and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rainn Wilson, and Natalie Portman. First screened at the Sundance Film Festival January 22, 2010, the film was released in the United States on May 13, 2011... |
2010 | Nicole | |
| Black Swan Black Swan (film) Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to... |
2010 | Nina Sayers | |
| No Strings Attached | 2011 | Emma Kurtzman | |
| Your Highness Your Highness Your Highness is a 2011 fantasy comedy film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Danny McBride and Ben Best, and starring McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, and Zooey Deschanel. Filming began in the summer of 2009 in Northern Ireland and concluded in October 2009... |
2011 | Isabel | |
| Thor Thor (film) Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics. It is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe... |
2011 | Jane Foster Jane Foster (comics) Jane Foster is a Marvel Comics supporting character who for many years was the nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake, the secret identity of the Norse god superhero Thor.-Publication history:... |
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sesame Street Sesame Street Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The... |
2003–2004 | Herself/Natalie | Season 34, Episode: "Oscar Needs a Change of Scenery" Season 35, Episode: "Alan's Vacation Replacement" |
| Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture... |
2006 | Host | Season 31, Episode 13 |
| 2006 | Aurora Mardiganian (narration) | Documentary film | |
| 2007 | Darcy | Season 18, Episode: "Little Big Girl Little Big Girl "Little Big Girl" is the twelfth episode of The Simpsons eighteenth season, which was originally broadcast on February 11, 2007. It was written by Don Payne, and directed by Raymond S. Persi. Natalie Portman guest starred as a new character, Darcy. The title is a play on the Dustin Hoffman movie... " (voice) |
| Production | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruthless Ruthless Ruthless can refer to:* Ruthless * Ruthless * Ruthless , a 1948 film starring Zachary Scot* Ruthless , a race horse* Ruthless!, a 1992 musical-See also:... |
1994 | ||
| 1997 | Anne Frank Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt... |
||
| 2001 |
Awards
| Award | Award category | Year | Title of work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Award | Best Actress Academy Award for Best Actress Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
2011 | Black Swan Black Swan (film) Black Swan is a 2010 American psychological thriller film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis. Its plot revolves around a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet by a prestigious New York City company. The production requires a ballerina to... |
|
| Academy Award | Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the... |
2005 | Closer Closer (film) Closer is a 2004 romantic drama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. It was produced and directed by Mike Nichols and stars Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen... |
|
| Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award Alliance of Women Film Journalists The Alliance of Women Film Journalists is a group of female journalists based out of New York, United States that was founded in 2006. The AWFJ is composed of 45 professional female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media, dedicated to supporting... |
Best Actress | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Boston Society of Film Critics Award Boston Society of Film Critics The Boston Society of Film Critics is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts, United States, based publications.The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make "Boston's unique critical perspective heard on a national and international level by awarding commendations to the best of the... |
Best Actress | 2010 | Black Swan | |
| British Academy of Film and Television Arts British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:... (BAFTA) |
Best Actress in a Supporting Role BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film... |
2005 | Closer | |
| British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (BAFTA) | Best Actress in a Leading Role | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | 2005 | Closer | |
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | 2005 | Closer | ||
| Broadcast Film Critics Association Award | Best Actress | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | 1996 | Beautiful Girls | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Most Promising Actress | 1996 | Beautiful Girls | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Award | Best Supporting Actress | 2009 | Brothers | |
| Golden Globe Award Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign... |
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | 2000 | Anywhere but Here | |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | 2005 | Closer | |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Golden Raspberry Award | 1999 | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms... |
||
| Golden Raspberry Award | Worst Supporting Actress | 2003 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology... |
|
| Golden Raspberry Award | 2003 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | ||
| Independent Spirit Awards Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit... |
Best Female Lead | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Irish Film and Television Award | Best International Actress | 2005 | Garden State Garden State (film) Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies... |
|
| London Film Critics' Circle Award | Actress of the Year | 2005 | Closer | |
| London Film Critics' Circle Award | Actress of the Year | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| MTV Movie Award | Best Female Performance MTV Movie Award for Best Performance This is a following list of the MTV Movie Award winners and nominees for Best Performance from 1992 onward. In all but two years, the awards are separated into Male and Female categories.-1992:... |
2005 | Garden State | |
| MTV Movie Award | Best Female Performance | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| MTV Movie Award | 2005 | Garden State | ||
| MTV Movie Award | 2011 | Black Swan | ||
| MTV Movie Award | Best Jaw Dropping Moment MTV Movie Award for Best WTF Moment This is a following list of the MTV Movie Award winners and nominees for Best WTF Moment. It was first awarded in 2009. In 2011, it was renamed Best Jaw Dropping Moment.-2009:*Peeing in the Sink – Amy Poehler ... |
2011 | Black Swan | |
| National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award | 2004 | Closer | ||
| New York Film Critics Online Award New York Film Critics Online The New York Film Critics Online is an organization composed of Internet film critics based in New York City. The group meets once a year, in December, for voting on its annual NYFCO Awards.-Awards:*New York Film Critics Online Awards 2003... |
Best Actress | 2010 | Black Swan | |
| Online Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress The Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress is an annual film award given by the Online Film Critics Society to honor the best supporting actress of the year.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... |
2005 | Closer | |
| Online Film Critics Society | Best Actress | 2010 | Black Swan | |
| People's Choice Award | Favorite Look 31st People's Choice Awards The 31st People's Choice Awards, honoring the best in popular culture for 2004, were held on January 9, 2005 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California... |
2005 | ||
| San Diego Film Critics Society Award | Best Supporting Actress | 2004 | Closer | |
| Satellite Award | Best Supporting Actress – Drama | 2005 | Closer | |
| Satellite Award | Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Satellite Award | Best Actress in a Drama | 2010 | Black Swan | |
| Saturn Award Saturn Award The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within... |
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor The following are a list of Saturn Award winners for Best Performance by a Younger Actor:- References :* , Saturn Awards... |
2000 | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace | |
| Saturn Award | Best Actress | 2003 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | |
| Saturn Award | Best Actress | 2006 | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology.... |
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| Saturn Award | Best Actress | 2006 | V for Vendetta V for Vendetta (film) V for Vendetta is a 2005 dystopian thriller film directed by James McTeigue and produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers, who also wrote the screenplay. It is an adaptation of the V for Vendetta comic book by Alan Moore and David Lloyd... |
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| Saturn Award | Best Actress | 2010 | Brothers | |
| Saturn Award | Best Actress | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress | 2000 | Where the Heart Is Where the Heart Is (2000 film) Where the Heart Is is a 2000 drama/romance film directed by Matt Williams and produced by Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams. Filmed in Austin, Texas, and Waco, Texas at Baylor University. The movie stars Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd... |
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| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure | 2002 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | |
| Teen Choice Award | 2002 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones | ||
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Drama | 2005 | Closer | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Drama | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure | 2005 | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Liar | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Liplock | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Love Scene | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure | 2006 | V for Vendetta | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Drama | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy | 2011 | No Strings Attached | |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Movie Liplock | 2011 | Black Swan | |
| Toronto Film Critics Association Award Toronto Film Critics Association The Toronto Film Critics Association is an organization of film reviewers from Toronto-based publications. As of 1999, the TFCA is member of FIPRESCI.-History:... |
Best Actress Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is one of the annual awards given by the Toronto Film Critics Association:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:... |
2011 | Black Swan | |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress The winners of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress are listed below.- 2000s :- 2010s :... |
2005 | Closer | |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award | Best Supporting Actress | 2005 | Garden State | |
| Vancouver Film Critics Circle | Best Actress Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress The Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress is an annual award given by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle.-2000s:-2010s:... |
2011 | Black Swan | |
| Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association is a group of film critics based out of Washington, D.C., United States that was founded in 2003. WAFCA is composed of 34 DC-based film critics from television, radio, print and the internet... |
Best Actress Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress is one of the annual awards given by the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association.-2000s:-2010s:... |
2010 | Black Swan | |
| Young Artist Award Young Artist Award The Young Artist Award is an accolade bestowed by the Young Artist Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1978 to recognize and award excellence of youth performers, and to provide scholarships for young artists who may be physically and/or financially challenged.The Young Artist... |
Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress | 2000 | Anywhere but Here | |
| Young Artist Award | Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress | 2001 | Where the Heart Is |