Life and Career

Natalie Portman was born in Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel to Avner (a fertility specialist of Polish and Romanian descent) and Shelley (an artist of Russian and Austrian ancestry). She was born on her mother's 29th birthday. At the age of three she moved to Washington DC, but soon relocated to Syosset, New York where she spent the rest of her childhood.

At the age of 11 she was spotted by an agent searching for a child model, she used this to start off her acting career. 6 months later at age 12 she won her first role for the critically acclaimed film Léon (1994), directed by Luc Besson and starring Jean Reno and Gary Oldman. Although the movie was a huge hit, it caused her family some problems due to her Lolita-like role.

Following a short film called Developing (1995) and Heat (1996) (where she acted opposite Al Pacino), Natalie landed supporting roles in Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Beautiful Girls (1996) and Mars Attacks! (1996). She then concentrated on High School in Syosset where she was a straight A student. She acted only during the summer holidays.

In 1997 Natalie became a leading lady when she landed the role of Queen/Senator Amidala for Star Wars Episode I, II, and III. This helped her win roles in such films as Anywhere But Here (1999) and Where the Heart Is (2000). She has also had a successful stage career appearing in such plays as "The Seagull" and "The Diary of Anne Frank" (on broadway). 

In 2002, she finished shooting Cold Mountain (2003) and graduated from Harvard University the following year. She then went on to finish Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), shot Garden State (2004) with Zach Braff, Closer (2004) (which earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe). She filmed True, a segment of the multi director project Paris, Je t'aime (2005), in 2002. She also filmed an indie film called Domino One (2005) whilst in college.

Natalie is currently filming the bigscreen adaption of Alan Moore's graphic novel, V for Vendetta (2005) with Hugo Weaving, Rupert Graves, Stephen Rea and Stephen Fry, in Berlin. She plays Evey Hammond, a young woman who's saved by V, and taken under his wings. 

The role required Natalie to shave her head, and lose weight. Her most recent finished films are Free Zone (2005), an Israeli film by Amos Gitai, and Goya's Ghosts (2006), a drama starring Javier Bardem as Francisco Goya and directed by Milos Forman. Then follows Mr. Magnorium's Wonder Emporium (2006), which starts filming soon in Toronto, and The Smoking Room (200?).

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