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Natalie Portman biography

Natalie Portman (Natalie Hershlag June Portman, who stated that she would "...rather be smart than be a movie star," completed a bachelor's degree in psychology at Harvard College while she was working on the Star Wars films.


Portman was born Natalie Hershlag (Hebrew: ???? ??????) in Jerusalem, Israel. Her father, Avner Hershlag, is an Israeli doctor specializing in fertility and reproduction (reproductive endocrinology). Her mother, Shelley Stevens, is an American homemaker who now works as her agent. Portman's maternal ancestors were Jews from Austria and Russia and her paternal ancestors were Jews who immigrated to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather's parents died in Auschwitz and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for the British during World War II.

Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University where her mother was selling tickets. Her father returned to Israel, but the two corresponded and were married when her mother visited Israel a few years later. In Portman has said that although she "really love the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home." She is an only child and very close to her parents, who are often seen with her at her film premieres.

Education

Although she says her family was not religious, Portman attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove, New York. She graduated from a public high school, Syosset High School. Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I so she could study for her high school final exams.

In June and wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson in response to an anti-Israeli essay.

Portman pursued graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of In March

In addition to being bilingual in Hebrew and English, Portman has studied French, Japanese, German, and Arabic.

As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in professional scientific journals. Her In Due to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdos–Bacon number.

Career

Early career

Portman started dancing lessons at the age of four and she performed in local troupes. At the age of ten, a Revlon 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 Ruthless!, a play about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play, and she was chosen as the understudy for Laura Bell Bundy. In in the director's cut of the film on DVD she is credited as Natalie Hershlag. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut at age 13. That same year she appeared in the short film Developing, which aired on television.

1995–1999

During the mid- She was also the first choice to play Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, but producers felt her age wasn't suitable enough. In The film opened in late Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon called Portman "astonishing", and noted that "nlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky." In the late She then signed on to play the lead role of a persevering teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is.

2000–2005

After filming Where the Heart Is, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology. She said in a During the summer break, from June to September The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearances in the comedy Zoolander. In

In 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 saw Portman win a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

She kept her hair short for most of Also in

2006–present

Portman appeared on Saturday Night Live on March hosting the show with musical guest Fall Out Boy and special guest star Dennis Haysbert. In a SNL Digital Short, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rapper (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 pot and cocaine. The song, titled "Natalie's Rap", was released - alongside other sketches from the show - in 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 Maxim magazine named Portman #

Portman has commented on V for Vendetta's political relevance, and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "Being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little." 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 In late

In 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' She also appears in Paul McCartney's music video "Dance Tonight" from his Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson short film Hotel Chevalier, opposite Jason Schwartzman, in which she performed her first nude scene. She is scheduled to star opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the In May

Personal life

Portman has been a vegetarian since childhood and is an advocate for animal rights. She does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers, or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney," she says. It has been reported that she will appear alongside actress Elissa Sursara in a PETA PSA to support the group's anti-fur campaign at some point throughout In In Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids.

Portman was involved with the In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 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 In fall

On the concept of the afterlife, she comments: "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." She has said that she feels more Jewish in Israel and that she would like to raise her children in the Jewish religion: "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... I get much more Jewish in Israel." During the She later campaigned for Obama during the general election.

Portman has had romantic links with actors including Gael García Bernal and Jake Gyllenhaal. In the May She was linked to Maroon She reportedly dated Nat Rothschild, of the famous multi-billionaire banking family. After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita," she began dating Venezuelan folk singer Devendra Banhart.

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