AKA Natalie Hershlag

Born: 9-Jun-1981
Birthplace: Jerusalem, Israel

Gender: Female
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Queen Amidala in Star Wars

Natalie Portman uses her grandmother's maiden name as her professional name, so that her family can retain a semblance of privacy. She was born in Jerusalem and moved to America at age three, living briefly in Washington D.C. and Connecticut before growing up in Long Island. She got into trouble as a young child at school for telling her classmates that her father -- a fertility expert -- made ladies pregnant for a living. She became a vegetarian at age eight, when she accompanied him to a medical conference and she saw a chicken used as a demonstration of laser surgery.

When she was 11, an agent spotted her in a pizza joint and asked if she would be interested in modeling. She did a Revlon commercial, then announced that what she really wanted was to be an actress. Six months later she was filming Léon, better known as The Professional (1994), starring Gary Oldman and Jean Reno. She sang in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, was President Jack Nicholson's daughter in Mars Attacks and portrayed Timothy Hutton's 13-year-old love interest in Ted Demme's Beautiful Girls (all 1996). Also in 1996, she played Anne Frank on Broadway. She originally turned down the role of Susan Sarandon's flighty daughter in Anywhere but Here (1999), because she felt too young to film a sex scene. Sarandon insisted that only Portman could play the role, so the sex scene was deleted. She also turned down the title role in the 1997 remake of Lolita. She played Queen Amidala in the three Star Wars prequels, while pursuing a degree in psychology at Harvard, and she was nominated for an Oscar for Mike Nichols' Closer (2004).

Father: Avner Hershlag (fertility specialist)
Mother: Shelley (artist)
Boyfriend: Moby (together 2000-02)
Boyfriend: Lukas Haas (together 2001)
Boyfriend: Zach Braff (together 2004)
Boyfriend: Gael Garcia Bernal (together 2003-04, 2007)
Boyfriend: Devendra Banhart (together 2008)

    High School: Syosset High School, Syosset, NY (1999)
    University: BS Psychology, Harvard University (2003)

    Golden Globe 2005 for Closer
    Risk Factors: Vegetarian, Smoking, Yoga

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    The Other Boleyn Girl (15-Feb-2008)
    Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (15-Nov-2007)
    The Darjeeling Limited (3-Sep-2007)
    My Blueberry Nights (16-May-2007)
    Goya's Ghosts (8-Nov-2006)
    Paris, je t'aime (18-May-2006)
    V for Vendetta (11-Dec-2005)
    Free Zone (19-May-2005)
    Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (18-May-2005)
    Closer (3-Dec-2004)
    Garden State (16-Jan-2004)
    Cold Mountain (25-Dec-2003)
    Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (16-May-2002)
    Zoolander (28-Sep-2001) Herself
    Where the Heart Is (28-Apr-2000)
    Anywhere But Here (17-Sep-1999)
    Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (19-May-1999)
    Mars Attacks! (13-Dec-1996)
    Everyone Says I Love You (6-Dec-1996)
    Beautiful Girls (9-Feb-1996)
    Heat (15-Dec-1995)
    Léon the Professional (14-Sep-1994)

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