Natalie
Portman
(1981 - )
Natalie Hershlag (born June 9, 1981 in Jerusalem, Israel) better known under her stage name Natalie Portman, is an Oscar nominated Israeli-American actress.
Early life background
While many actors take on stage names, Natalie's professional last name of "Portman" is in fact her maternal grandmother's maiden name. It is rumored that she first adopted it in case her performance in Léon might discredit her family.
Portman is a descendent of Holocaust survivors, though many in her father's family perished. Natalie's paternal family are Israeli descendants of Jewish immigrants from Poland, while her American mother's family is descended from Jewish refugees from Austria and Russia. When Natalie was three years old her family moved from Israel to the United States for her father to pursue his medical training. They first went to Washington, D.C. in 1984 and then Connecticut in 1988, before finally settling down in Syosset, New York in 1990.
Natalie is an only child and very close to her parents, who are often seen with her at movie premieres. Her father, Dr. Avner Hershlag, M.D., is a medical doctor specializing in the research and treatment of human fertility and reproduction (reproductive endocrinology). Her mother, Shelley, studied art in college and always accompanied pre-adult Natalie to movie shoot locations.
Portman is reportedly between 5'1" and 5'3" tall (approx. 155–160 cm), a size which she often credits with helping her blend into the crowd.
Professional life
Natalie was a child actor who performed in local troupes and dreamed of dancing on Broadway. One day after dance class at age eleven, Natalie was discovered in a pizza parlor by an agent for Revlon, who offered her an opportunity to model. She asked to be introduced to acting talent scouts and quickly got an audition for Luc Besson's 1994 film Léon (aka The Professional). She soon made her movie début at the age of twelve playing an orphaned girl who befriends a much older assassin in the intense R rated film.
During her teen years Portman played a significant and memorable role in the ensemble cast of Beautiful Girls, and had minor roles in Heat, Everyone Says I Love You and Mars Attacks!. During her junior year in high school, Portman starred in the Broadway revival of The Diary of Anne Frank, performing eight shows a week while attending classes fulltime. In 1999, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ann August in Anywhere But Here. Portman went on to play a persevering teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is. Later she was one of many celebrities who played themselves in the cameo comedy Zoolander.
While pursuing her bachelor's degree in psychology at Harvard she appeared in the Star Wars prequel trilogy of movies, which were filmed during her summer break from university. Among Star Wars fans she is known for playing the role of Padmé Amidala in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
After graduating from Harvard in 2003 Natalie had a small but pivotal role as a young war widow in the Oscar-winning movie Cold Mountain. That was followed in 2004 by starring roles in the successful independent movies Garden State and Closer, winning a Supporting Actress Golden Globe for her role as Alice in Closer. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same role.
Portman had her head shaved on film for the screen adaption of Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta, set for release in March 2006. In it she plays Evey Hammond, the young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. With her new look Portman appeared as a presenter at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia in July 2005. During the show, Natalie admitted to fans, that she was engaged to recent boyfriend Brant Shapka, of British Columbia, Canada.
At age 24, Natalie Portman is spending the fall of 2005 in Spain, filming Goya's Ghosts with Javier Bardem and Oscar-winning director Miloš Forman (Amadeus).
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