10 Things You Never Knew About Natalie Portman
As Padme Amidala, she was the queen who stood up against the corporate giant to save her planet, and the senator who fought for democracy in the Galactic Republic. She was the “angel” who captured the heart of Anakin Skywalker and essentially changed the course of the galaxy. The actress who brought out the passionate and strong-willed character was none other than Natalie Portman. We would become more familiar with her on the silver screen in the years following the premiere of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The audience would remember her for her roles in Garden State, Closer, V for Vendetta, Black Swan, No Strings Attached, Jackie, and Thor. She will reprise her role as Jane Foster opposite Chris Hemsworth in the upcoming installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Love and Thunder. Here are 10 things you probably never knew about Natalie Portman.
1.) Portman was born in Jerusalem. Her family would later move to the United States and she would spend much of her childhood in Long Island. Her birth name in Hebrew is Neta-Lee Hershlag. She would adopt her paternal grandmother’s maiden name “Portman" as her stage name.
2.) A Revlon agent spotted her in a Long Island pizza shop, but she turned down modeling and pursued acting instead.
3.) Portman starred in her first movie when she was thirteen, the 1994 film Leon: The Professional. She portrayed Mathilda, the young protegee of a hitman named Leon.
4.) She was cast as Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet, but dropped out during rehearsals when studio executives found her too young for the role. The role of Juliet would go to Claire Danes.
5.) She worked on Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace when she was in her senior year of high school. She reportedly missed the U.S. premiere for the film so she could study for her high school final exams. She was not familiar with the Star Wars franchise and only watched the original trilogy before filming began. According to her interview with Inside the Actors Studio, she didn’t know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.
6.) Among her many acting accolades, Portman won Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress for her role in Black Swan. She won Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Closer.
She earned two Academy Award nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Closer and Best Actress for Jackie, and two Golden Globe nominations: Best Supporting Actress for Anywhere but Here, and Best Actress in a Drama for Jackie.
Her acting resume also included directing works. She made her directorial debut with the 2008 short film Eve which was shown at the 65th Venice International Film Festival. She would go on to direct and star in the 2015 biographical drama Tale of Love and Darkness.
7.) She significantly reduced her acting roles between 2000 and 2003 while she pursued her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Harvard University. She would work on Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith during the summer breaks. Ever the multilinguist, she is fluent in six languages: English, Hebrew, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese.
“I don’t care if [college] ruins my career...I’d rather be smart than a movie star.”
8.) She participated in the 2008 Women’s March. As part of the #MeToo movement, she shared her experience when she was thirteen after the release of Leon: The Professional. The first ever fan mail she received was a rape fantasy between her and a male fan, and her local radio station had a countdown until her eighteenth birthday.
9.) She became a vegetarian when she was eight, and became a vegan when she was in her late twenties after reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals.
10.) She is married to French danseur and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. The two had met while working together on the set of Black Swan. They have two children together, son Aleph, and daughter Amalia.