Biography:

Natalie Portman was born on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. She left Israel at the tender young age of four and moved with her family to Maryland, Connecticut, and then to Long Island, New York where her parents still live today.

Found by a talent scout at age twelve, Portman was not interested by modeling and wanted to find a more rewarding job. While she had no desire to become an actress, Natalie Portman gained an interest in performing after attending the Stagedoor Manor Performing Camp for three years.

Her first acting experiences came from her summers at Stagedoor Manor, where she was cast in stage performances of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Cabaret", "Anne of Green Gables", and "Tapestry".

Her sexy celebrity movie career started with her role in the 1994 film, "The Professional" as "Leon" with Gary Oldman and Danny Aiello. The following year, Portman was hired and cast in the crime drama "Heat", next to heavy hitters Val Kilmer, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and then the 1996 film, "Beautiful Girls", stealing the film away from Uma Thurman, and competing with an all-star cast that included Matt Dillon, Lauren Holly and Rosie O'Donnell. 

Her role in "Beautiful Girls" received great reviews, and that same year she starred in the Woody Allen star packed musical, "Everyone Says I Love You" with Edward Norton, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn and Tim Roth. Natalie next appeared in the comedy "Mars Attacks!" where Earth is invaded by Martians with irresistible weapons and a cruel sense of humor. "Mars Attacks!" was another opportunity to play alongside a powerful celebrity cast including Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Jack Black, Christina Applegate and Lukas Haas.

Portman turned down several roles in movies like "Lolita" because of her feeling that young teen girls and actors should not be exposed to sex and nude scenes at such a young age, and the role of Juliet in "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet" because of the age difference between her and Leonardo DiCaprio. Portman also turned down a role in "The Horse Whisperer" giving it to Scarlett Johansson, deciding instead to star as Anne Frank in the Broadway production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" which she was nominated for a Tony award.

But the role that turned her into a celebrity was that of Queen Padme Amidala, in the first "Star Wars" prequel. Her character, which started with 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" with Samuel L. Jackson and Keira Knightley, transformed Natalie Portman into an overnight success. In an interesting side note, she had never seen the first Star Wars movies before being hired and cast by George Lucas.

After her role in Phantom Menace, Portman co-starred with Susan Sarandon in "Anywhere But Here" (1999), and starred as the lead character next to Ashley Judd in the film "Where the Heart Is" with Stockard Channing and Sally Field (2000).

Her next movies were "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" with Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson (2002), "Cold Mountain" (2003) featuring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Next was "Garden State" with Zach Braff (2004), and "True" (2004). In 2004, Portman impressed audiences with "Closer", co-starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. She walked away with a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Natalie Portman speaks four languages - Hebrew, English and Japanese and studied psychology at Harvard University as well as the Hebrew University in Jerusalem while filming "Free Zone" (2005) about two young women who take a road trip after they are brought together by fate. She also appeared as Senator Amidala/Padme Naberrie Skywalker in the third movie "Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" working again with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker. 

Natalie starred in several blockbusters in 2007 and 2008 including "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" with Dustin Hoffman and Jason Bateman, "My Blueberry Nights" featuring Jude Law and Norah Jones and "The Other Boleyn Girl" with Scarlett Johansson. Her next two films were the "The Darjeeling Limited" with an all-star cast including Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston, and finishing out the year with "Hotel Chevalier" - a short prologue of one heartbreaking history of love and the prologue of the travels told in The Darjeeling Limited.

Natalie Portman was now a true Hollywood movie star and every producer wanted her in their movies.

Portman next appeared in the war drama "Brothers" (2008) with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, about a young man who comforts his older brother's wife and children after he goes missing in Afghanistan. Based on Susanne Bier's film, "Brothers". Portman wrapped her year with the strange romantic comedy "New York, I Love You" with an all-star cast that included Shia Labeouf, Hayden Christensen, Kevin Bacon and Orlando Bloom, an anthology film joining several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York.

In 2010 Portman took the starring role in Darren Aronofsky’s horror thriller “Black Swan” where a ballet dancer cast as the White Swan slowly loses her mind turning herself into a real world example of her nemesis the Black Swan.  The following year she took the role of Jane Foster in the action thriller “Thor” working with Chris Hemsworth and Anthony Hopkins. The movie tells the story of the powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.

In 2013 Portman appeared with Ryan Gosling, Cate Blanchett, and Christian Bale in the movie “Lawless” where two intersecting love triangles. Sexual obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas.  Portman wrapped 2013 working again with Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett in the drama “Knight of Cups” about a man who is in search of love and truth.