Natalie Portman, born Natalie Hershlag
was born on June 9, 1981 to Avner and Shelly Hershlag in Jerusalem,
Israel.
She moved to the Unites States with her
parents when she was three years old. They first lived in
Washington, D.C., (with stops in Maryland and Connecticut along the
way) but eventually settled in Long Island, New York. In 1992,
while eating in a pizza parlor in New York, she was “discovered” by
a Revlon modeling agent and became a child model. However, she did
not like modeling and wanted to pursue a career as an actress.
Natalie began to take small parts in
local plays, but it eventually grew into large plays and larger
parts on and off Broadway (such as The Seagull, Ruthless
(understudied with Britney Spears)
and The Diary of Anne Frank. She received a Tony nomination
for the role of Anne Frank). She eventually made her way to the
silver screen and debuted in the movie Léon (The
Professional) in 1994. She spent her summers going to the
exclusive Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Camp, where she immersed
herself in the performing arts.
In 1991, she tried her hand at singing
and recorded an album with the group World Patrol Kids called
Earth Tunes which was made to support the environment. [Note:
She used her given name, Natalie Hershlag for the making of this
CD.]
During the mid 1990s she appeared in a
few movies, including Heat (1995), Beautiful Girls
(1996), Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and Mars Attacks!
(1996). However, it was not until three years later that she
received a role to shoot her into stardom. She has been very
selective in her choices of movies and tries to take on roles that
have portray a positive role model to girls. In fact she will not
do any nude scenes in a movie.
In 1999, Natalie Porman played the role
of Queen Amadala in the prequel to the Star Wars trilogy entitled
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. [Note: she never saw
the original three movies before taking this part.] The movie was a
blockbuster smash at the box office and gave her worldwide exposure.
She was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Performance by
a Younger Actor/Actress for this role.
Although her acting skills were noted
by some critics in the Star Wars saga, she showed the world her true
acting abilities that same year in Anywhere But Here and in
Where the HeartIs the following year. These two
movies showed the nay sayers that not only was she beautiful, smart
and popular, but she also knew how to act. She was nominated for the
Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading
Young Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an
Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for Anywhere But
Here. Where the Heart is gave her a nomination for the Young
Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young
Actress.
She appeared in the second Star Wars
installment (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) in
2002 (giving her another nomination for the Saturn Award for Best
Actress), which was another box office success and will appear in
the third prequel this year (2005) in Star Wars III: Revenge of
the Sith.
She was a very intelligent and studious
person in school and graduated with honors in Syosset High School
(in Syosset, New York). She was accepted to attend Harvard
University in 1999 and studied psychology. She graduated in 2003
and she hopes to pursue a career in this field, but still act in a
few films from time to time – however she will be very selective in
the roles she take on. [Note: contrary to her statement, she is
already slated to appear in 6 movies in 2005 and 2006.]
In 2004, she appeared in another role
which added to her critical acclaim in the movie Closer in
which she received many awards including the SDFCS Award for Best
Supporting Actress, National Board of Review Award for Best Acting
by an Ensemble (shared with Jude Law, Clive Owen and
Julia Roberts) and the Golden
Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
in a Motion Picture. She also received nominations for an Academy
Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role, a
Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama
and the BAFTA Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a
Supporting Role (nominated). In 2004, she was also in another
critically acclaimed movie, Garden State, in which she was
nominated for the Golden Satellite Award for Best Actress in a
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical.
Hobbies & Interests: Traveling, dancing
reading, writing, ice-skating, collecting purses, loves chocolate &
Jolly Rancers [Note: she has been a vegetarian since age 8]
Favorites: Actor = Ben Kingsley,
Brad
Pitt, Patrick Swayze; Actresses: Lily Tomlin,
Julia Roberts, Susan
Sarandon, Jennifer Grey, Diane Keaton; Band =
Maroon 5; Movies =
Dirty Dancing, Schindler’s List.
Biography by Ian Ripley,
PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer
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Natalie Portman
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