Natalie Portman

Cast · Director · Writer

Born

June 9, 1981 · Jerusalem, Israel

Birth name

Natalie Hershlag

“A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with.” Natalie Portman is an Israeli-American actress with an extensive and heterogeneous career. She had her debut under the direction of Luc Besson in "Leon: The Professional" (1994) playing a little orphan who is left in charge of a hitman, a role she embodies with a maturity and commitment shocking for her young age. She again attracted attention in "Beautiful Girls" (1996) but reached widespread fame thanks to the Star Wars saga, where she played Padmé Amidala. In 2005 she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars and Golden Globes for her performance in "Closer" (2004) by Mike Nichols and in 2011 she finally won the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG Award for Best Actress thanks to her stellar role in "Black Swan", directed by Darren Aronofsky. In 2015, she directed and starred "A Tale of Love and Darkness", a feature film nominated for the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In addition, she graduated in Psychology at Harvard University, took postgraduate courses at the University of Jerusalem, completed a doctorate in Educational Psychology at Yale and was a guest lecturer at Columbia University.