Natalie Portman

Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August 31, 2015 , title=החלום הישראלי: מנטע-לי הרשלג לכוכבת , trans-title=The Israeli Dream: From Neta-Li Harshleg to Star , url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/cinema/2015-08-31/ty-article/0000017f-f86a-d460-afff-fb6ee2fa0000 , access-date=February 11, 2025 , work=Haaretz{{{cite web , date=July 7, 2022 , title=18 Things to Know About Jewish Actress Natalie Portman , website= Hey Alma , url=https://www.heyalma.com/18-things-you-didnt-know-about-natalie-portman/ However, Portman herself has stated that her name has "always been Natalie" and that she doesn't know where "Neta-Lee" came from. (born {{birth date, 1981, 6, 9), known professionally as Natalie Portman, is an actress, film producer and director with dual Israeli and American citizenship. She has had a prolific screen career from her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.

Portman was born in West Jerusalem and raised on Long Island, New York, where she began her acting career at twelve, starring as the young protégée of a hitman in '' Léon: The Professional'' (1994). While still in high school, she made her Broadway debut in ''The Diary of a Young Girl'' (1998) and gained international recognition for her role as Padmé Amidala in '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999). From 1999 to 2003, Portman attended Harvard University, earning a bachelor's degree in psychology. During this time, she took fewer acting roles but continued to appear in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy (2002 and 2005) and performed in a 2001 revival of Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull'' at The Public Theater.

Her career gained further momentum in 2004 when she won a Golden Globe and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for '' Closer''. She then played Evey Hammond in ''V for Vendetta'' (2005), Anne Boleyn in '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008), and a troubled ballerina in ''Black Swan'' (2010), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. In the following years, Portman starred in the romantic comedy '' No Strings Attached'' (2011) and portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy in '' Jackie'' (2016), which earned her a third Academy Award nomination. She also became a prominent figure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing Jane Foster in '' Thor'' (2011), '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013), and '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' (2022), which established her as one of the world's highest-paid actresses.

Portman has also directed the short film ''Eve'' (2008) and the biographical drama '' A Tale of Love and Darkness'' (2015), in which she also starred. In 2021, she co-founded the production company MountainA, under which she produced and starred in the film '' May December'' (2023) and the miniseries '' Lady in the Lake'' (2024). Portman is an advocate for various causes, including women’s rights, environmental issues, and animal welfare, supporting organizations like the Human Rights Foundation and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Early life

Natalie Hershlag was born on June 9, 1981,{{cite news , last=Crean , first=Ellen , date=July 30, 2004 , title=A 'Garden State' Of Mind , url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-garden-state-of-mind/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811194145/https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/30/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main633153.shtml , archive-date=August 11, 2011 , access-date=October 18, 2007 , publisher=CBS News in West Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, at Hadassah Medical Center{{Cite news , last=Rosenblum , first=Sarit , date=March 24, 2011 , title=Natalie Portman promotes Hadassah , url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4044426,00.html , access-date=February 13, 2025 , work=Ynetnews , language=en to Jewish parents. She is the only child of Shelley Stevens, an Ohio-born artist, and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born gynecologist. Portman’s maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Austria who settled in the United States, while her paternal grandparents emigrated from Poland to Israel in the late 1930s. Her grandfather had led a Jewish youth movement in Poland and came to Israel expecting to send for his family later, but they perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Her paternal grandmother, originally from Romania, worked as a spy for the British during WW II. Portman is a dual citizen of Israel and the United States.

Portman and her family migrated to the United States when she was 3, first living in Washington, D.C., but relocating to Connecticut in 1988 and then settling in Syosset, Long Island.{{cite news , first1 = Carol , last1 = Polsky , first2=Frank , last2=Lovece , title = Portman was ever the swan growing up on LI , date = February 26, 2011 , url = http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/portman-was-ever-the-swan-growing-up-on-li-1.2715737 , work = Newsday , location = New York/Long Island , access-date = March 21, 2013 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131003015745/http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/portman-was-ever-the-swan-growing-up-on-li-1.2715737 , archive-date = October 3, 2013{{Cite news , last=Thernstrom , first=Melanie , date=2004-11-07 , title=The Enchanting Little Princess , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movies/moviesspecial/the-enchanting-little-princess.html , url-access=subscription , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103195558/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/movies/moviesspecial/the-enchanting-little-princess.html , archive-date=November 3, 2015 , access-date=2025-06-11 , work=The New York Times , language=en-US , issn=0362-4331 While living in Washington, Portman attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland.{{cite book , chapter-url = http://salempress.com/store/pdfs/jewish_lives.pdf , title = Great Lives from History: Jewish Americans , chapter = Natalie Portman , publisher = Salem Press , location = Ipswich, Massachusetts , author = Dr. Rafael Medoff , year = 2011 , page = 900 , isbn = 978-1-58765-741-2 , archive-date = August 24, 2014 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140824040914/http://salempress.com/store/pdfs/jewish_lives.pdf , url-status=dead , access-date = July 4, 2015 Her native language is Hebrew.{{cite web , last=Collins , first=Andrew , date=January 1, 2011 , title=Natalie Portman: The prodigy comes of age , website=The Guardian , url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2011/jan/02/observer-profile-natalie-portman , access-date=November 5, 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019100751/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2011/jan/02/observer-profile-natalie-portman , archive-date=October 19, 2013 While living on Long Island, she attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County. She studied ballet and modern dance at the American Theater Dance Workshop, and regularly attended the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Describing her early life, Portman has said that she was "different from the other kids. I was more ambitious. I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."

When Portman was ten years old, a Revlon agent spotted her at a pizza restaurant and asked her to become a child model.{{Cite news , title = Up and Coming: Natalie Portman; Natalie Portman (Not Her Real Name) , url = https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/25/movies/up-and-coming-natalie-portman-natalie-portman-not-her-real-name.html , work = The New York Times , first = James , last = Ryan , date = February 25, 1996 , access-date = July 1, 2018 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180612165642/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/25/movies/up-and-coming-natalie-portman-natalie-portman-not-her-real-name.html , archive-date = June 12, 2018 , url-status=live She turned down the offer but used the opportunity to get an acting agent.{{cite news , last=Peretz , first=Evgenia , date=April 2006 , title=What Natalie Knows , url=https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2006/4/what-natalie-knows , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804085014/https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2006/4/what-natalie-knows , archive-date=August 4, 2020 , access-date=August 9, 2019 , work= Vanity Fair{{Subscription required{{Cite magazine , magazine = Rolling Stone , title = The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story , url = https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-private-life-of-natalie-portman-rolling-stones-2002-cover-story-20110120 , first = Chris , last = Heath , author-link = Chris Heath , date = June 20, 2002 , issue = 898 , access-date = July 4, 2015 , archive-date = December 2, 2014 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141202051246/http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/the-private-life-of-natalie-portman-rolling-stones-2002-cover-story-20110120 , url-status=live She auditioned for the 1992 off-Broadway '' Ruthless!'', a musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=32 Portman and Britney Spears were chosen as understudies for star Laura Bell Bundy.

Career

1994–1998: Early work

Six months after ''Ruthless!'' ended, Hershlag auditioned for and secured a leading role in Luc Besson's action drama '' Léon: The Professional'' (1994). She adopted her paternal grandmother's maiden name, Portman, as her stage name. She played Mathilda, an orphan child who befriends a middle-aged hitman (played by Jean Reno). Her parents were reluctant to let her do the part due to the explicit sexual and violent nature of the script, but agreed after Besson took out the Mathilda character's nudity and killings that she committed.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, pp=44-45 Portman herself said that after those scenes were removed, she found nothing objectionable about the content.{{cite news , last = McKenna , first = Kristine , title = Movies: Young and Restless : Natalie Portman is Hollywood's favorite 14-year-old. But wouldn't med school be as much fun? , url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-11-ca-34583-story.html , work = Los Angeles Times , date = February 11, 1996 , access-date = August 8, 2019 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190808092139/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-02-11-ca-34583-story.html , archive-date = August 8, 2019 , url-status=live Even so, her mother was displeased with some of the "sexual twists and turns" in the finished film, which were not part of the script. Hal Hinson of ''The Washington Post'' commended Portman for bringing a "genuine sense of tragedy" to her part, but Peter Rainer of the ''Los Angeles Times'' believed that she wasn't "enough of an actress to unfold Mathilda's pain" and criticized Besson's sexualization of her character.

{{Quote box, width=25em, align=bgcolor=#E0E6F8, quote=" ere's a surprising preponderance of that kind of role for young girls. Sort of being fantasy objects for men, and especially this idealised purity combined with the fertility of youth, and all this in one. ... It was definitely interesting to think about – why men write the female characters they do. Just like the way they write the male character. How much is wish-fulfilment fantasy, and why.", source={{mdashPortman on playing sexualized youngsters as a child, 2007

After filming ''The Professional'', Portman went back to school and during the summer break of 1994, she filmed a part in Marya Cohn's short film '' Developing''. In it she played a young girl coping with her mother's (played by Frances Conroy) cancer.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=52–53 She also enrolled at the Stagedoor Manor performing arts camp, where she played Anne Shirley in a staging of '' Anne of Green Gables''.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=53 Michael Mann offered her the small part of the suicidal stepdaughter of Al Pacino's character in the action film ''Heat'' (1995) for her ability to portray dysfunction without hysteria.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=61 Impressed by her performance in ''The Professional'', the director Ted Demme cast her as a precocious teenager who flirts with her much-older neighbor (played by Timothy Hutton) in the ensemble comedy-drama '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996). Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times'' wrote, "Portman, a budding knockout, is scene-stealingly good even in an overly showy role." She subsequently went back to Stagedoor Manor to appear in a production of the musical ''Cabaret''.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=77 Also in 1996, Portman had brief roles in Woody Allen's musical '' Everyone Says I Love You'' and Tim Burton's comic science fiction film '' Mars Attacks!''{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=81

Portman was cast opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's '' Romeo + Juliet'' (1996), but she dropped out during rehearsals when studio executives found her too young for the role. Luhrmann said "Natalie was amazing in the footage, but it was too much of a burden for her at that age".{{Cite news , last=Dowd , first=Maureen , date=May 22, 2022 , title=A Larger-Than-Life Look at a Larger-Than-Life Star , pages=ST10 , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/21/style/baz-luhrmann-elvis.html , access-date=May 22, 2022 , issn=0362-4331 , archive-date=May 21, 2022 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521230629/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/21/style/baz-luhrmann-elvis.html , url-status=live She was also offered Adrian Lyne's '' Lolita'', based on the novel of the same name, but she turned down the part due to its excessive sexual content. She later bemoaned that her parts in ''The Professional'' and ''Beautiful Girls'' prompted a series of offers to play a sexualized youngster, adding that it "dictated a lot of my choices afterwards 'cos it scared me ... it made me reluctant to do sexy stuff".{{cite news , last1 = Hattenstone , first1 = Simon , title = All things to all men , url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/apr/20/2 , work = The Guardian , access-date = October 26, 2016 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161027061342/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/apr/20/2 , archive-date = October 27, 2016

Portman instead signed on to star as Anne Frank in a Broadway revival of '' The Diary of Anne Frank'', which was staged at the Music Box Theatre from December 1997 to May 1998. In preparation, she twice visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and interacted with Miep Gies, who had preserved Anne's diary after the family was captured; she found a connection with Frank's story, given her own family's history with the Holocaust.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=102–103 Reviewing the production for '' Variety'', Greg Evans disliked her portrayal, which he thought had "little of the charm, budding genius or even brittle intelligence that the diary itself reveals". Conversely, Ben Brantley found an "ineffable grace in her awkwardness". The experience of performing the play was emotionally draining for her, as she attended high school during the day and performed at night; she wrote personal essays in ''Time'' and '' Seventeen'' magazines about her experience.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=104, 107

1999–2006: ''Star Wars'', education, and transition to mature roles

Portman began filming the part of Padmé Amidala in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy in 1997, which marked her first big-budget production. The first film of the series, '' Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' was released in 1999, when she was in her senior year of high school.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=130 Portman was unfamiliar with the franchise when she was cast, and watched the original ''Star Wars'' trilogy before filming began. She worked closely with the director George Lucas on her character's accent and mannerisms, and watched the films of Lauren Bacall, Audrey Hepburn, and Katharine Hepburn to draw inspiration from their voice and stature. Filming in arduous locations in Algeria proved challenging for Portman.{{cite news , last=Goodwin, first=Christopher, title=America's Sweetheart , work= Sunday Times Magazine , date=April 28, 2002 She did not attend the film's premiere so she could study for her high school finals.{{cite news , publisher = BBC , title = Natalie Portman interview , first=Stella , last=Papamichael , url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/12/03/natalie_portman_garden_state_interview.shtml , access-date = May 1, 2006 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050828173525/http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2004/12/03/natalie_portman_garden_state_interview.shtml , archive-date = August 28, 2005 The critical response to the film was mixed, but with earnings of $924 million worldwide it was the second highest-grossing film of all time to that point, and it established Portman as a global star.{{cite news , last = Mumford , first = Gwilym , title = Natalie Portman: 'It's dangerous when you can't separate the emotion from the business' , url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/13/natalie-portman-dangerous-separate-emotion-business , work = The Guardian , date = September 13, 2018 , access-date = August 8, 2019 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190727081454/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/13/natalie-portman-dangerous-separate-emotion-business , archive-date = July 27, 2019 , url-status=live

Portman graduated from Syosset High School in 1999. Her high school paper, "A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search. Following production on ''The Phantom Menace'', Portman initially turned down a lead role in the coming-of-age film '' Anywhere but Here'' (1999) after learning it would involve a sex scene, but the director Wayne Wang and actress Susan Sarandon (who played Portman's mother in the film) demanded a rewrite of the script. She was shown a new draft, and decided to accept the part.{{Cite episode , title=Natalie Portman , url=http://www.bravotv.com/inside-the-actors-studio/natalie-portman , series=Inside the Actors Studio , series-link=Inside the Actors Studio , network=Bravo , airdate=November 21, 2004 , season=11 , number=1101 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721103815/http://www.bravotv.com/inside-the-actors-studio/natalie-portman , archive-date=July 21, 2011 Mary Elizabeth Williams of ''Salon'' called Portman's performance "astonishing" and added that "unlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky". She received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for it.

Portman's sole screen appearance in 2000 was in '' Where the Heart Is'', a romantic drama filmed in Texas, in which she played a pregnant teenager.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=132 After finishing work on the film, she began attending Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology, and significantly reduced her acting roles over the next few years. At Harvard she served as Alan Dershowitz's research assistant for his book '' The Case for Israel.{{Cite web , date=2018-04-21 , title=Natalie Portman Is Biggest Canary In Israel’s Coal Mine , url=https://forward.com/israel/399394/natalie-portman-is-biggest-canary-in-israels-coal-mine/ , access-date=2025-06-10 , website=The Forward , language=en'' Both spoke highly of each other and described themselves as close friends, with Dershowitz calling her a "terrific student." She then studied advanced Hebrew literature and neurobiology, In the summer of 2001, she returned to Broadway (at the Delacorte Theater) to perform Chekhov's drama ''The Seagull'', which was directed by Mike Nichols and co-starred Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Linda Winer of ''Newsday'' wrote that the "major surprises come from Portman, whose Nina transforms with astonishing lyricism from the girl with ambition to Chekhov's most difficult symbol of destruction". Also in 2001, Portman was among several celebrities who made cameo appearances in the comedy '' Zoolander''. The following year she reprised her role of Amidala in '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'', which she had filmed in Sydney and London during her summer break of 2000.{{sfn, Dickerson, 2002, p=167–171 She was excited by the opportunity to play a confident young woman who did not depend on the male lead. When asked about balancing her career and education, she said, "I don't care if ollegeruins my career. I'd rather be smart than a movie star." In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy".{{cite journal , last1 = Baird , first1 = Abigail A. , last2 = Kagan , first2 = Jerome , last3 = Gaudette , first3 = Thomas , last4 = Walz , first4 = Kathryn A. , last5 = Hershlag , first5 = Natalie , last6 = Boas , first6 = David A. , title = Frontal lobe activation during object permanence: data from near-infrared spectroscopy , doi = 10.1006/nimg.2002.1170 , journal = NeuroImage , volume = 16 , issue = 4 , pages = 1120–26 , date = August 2002 , pmid = 12202098 , s2cid = 15630444 , url = http://rabi.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/DOT/PDF/Baird_NeuroImage_16_1120_2002.pdf , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110527162756/http://rabi.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/DOT/PDF/Baird_NeuroImage_16_1120_2002.pdf , archive-date = May 27, 2011 Portman graduated from Harvard in 2003 and her sole screen appearance that year was in the brief part of a young mother in the war film '' Cold Mountain''.{{cite news, url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/science/01angier.html, title=Natalie Portman, Oscar Winner, Was Also a Precocious Scientist, last=Angier , first=Natalie, date=February 28, 2011, work=The New York Times, access-date=March 1, 2011, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628060707/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/science/01angier.html, archive-date=June 28, 2011, url-status=live She described this period as the "most difficult time" in her life, noting that she wasn't getting work and felt criticized for her performances in ''Star Wars''. After taking time off, she begged for the ''Cold Mountain'' role, which Mike Nichols helped secure, offering her a letter of support that helped her regain confidence.{{Cite news , last=Pringle , first=Gill , date=February 29, 2008 , title=Natalie Portman - more than a woman , url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/natalie-portman-more-than-a-woman-789103.html , archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231022075256/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/natalie-portman-more-than-a-woman-789103.html , archive-date=2023-10-22 , access-date=February 21, 2025 , work=The Independent , language=en-GB

Portman began 2004 by featuring in the romantic comedy '' Garden State'', which was written and directed by its star Zach Braff. She was the first actor to sign on to the film after finding a connection with her part: a spirited young girl suffering from epilepsy. Her role in it was described by Nathan Rabin of ''The A.V. Club''. as a prime example of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl character type – a stereotypical female role designed to spiritually help a male protagonist. Portman later said she found it upsetting to have contributed to the trope.{{cite magazine , url = https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/natalie-portman-cover-story , title = Natalie Portman: Voice of Light , first = Durga , last = Chew-Bose , date = October 30, 2018 , magazine = Vanity Fair , access-date = August 7, 2019 , archive-date = August 8, 2020 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200808234149/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/natalie-portman-cover-story , url-status = live She followed it by playing a mysterious stripper in '' Closer'', a romantic drama directed by Mike Nichols based on the play of the same name, and co-starring Julia Roberts, Jude Law, and Clive Owen. Portman agreed to her first sexually explicit adult role after turning down such parts in the past, saying it reflected her own maturity as a person.{{cite news , url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/07/2 , title = Dangerous liaisons , first = Lisa , last = Allardice , date = January 7, 2015 , work = The Guardian , access-date = August 7, 2019 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190807091626/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jan/07/2 , archive-date = August 7, 2019 , url-status=live She had also performed her first nude scenes for the film, but they were deleted from the final cut when she insisted that they were inessential to the story. ''Closer'' grossed over $115 million worldwide against a $27 million budget, and the critic Peter Travers took note of Portman's "blazing, breakthrough performance", writing that she "digs so deep into the bruised core of her character that they seem to wear the same skin." She won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and received an Academy Award nomination in the same category.{{cite web , url = http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearch?action=searchLink&displayType=6&BSNomineeID=69768 , archive-url = https://archive.today/20121204190852/http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/BasicSearch?action=searchLink&displayType=6&BSNomineeID=69768 , url-status=dead , archive-date = December 4, 2012 , title = Academy Award Database: Natalie Portman , publisher = Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , access-date = March 1, 2008 {{cite web , url = http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/member/29803 , title = Golden Globe Award Database: Natalie Portman , publisher = Hollywood Foreign Press Association , access-date = March 1, 2008 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120902134507/http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/member/29803 , archive-date = September 2, 2012

'' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', the final installment of the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy, was Portman's first film release of 2005. It earned over $848 million to rank as the second-highest-grossing film of the year. She next played a Jewish-American girl in '' Free Zone'' (2005), a drama from Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai. During the project, which was shot in Israel —particularly in the spring of 2004—she spent six months taking graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studying subjects such as the anthropology of violence and Middle Eastern studies. In 2005, she read the memoirs of Yitzhak Rabin and a novel by David Grossman, which she said helped her explore both the role and her own heritage, and remarked that, "living in Israel is really beautiful. One of the most shocking things is how peaceful it feels."{{cite news , title = Screen Goddess: Natalie Portman , url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/style/tmagazine/02portman.html , work = The New York Times , last = Hirschberg , first=Lynn , date = December 2, 2007 , access-date = July 1, 2018 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180701164907/https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9E01E1DD143EF931A35751C1A9619C8B63.html , archive-date = July 1, 2018 , url-status=live Critics disliked the film for its heavy-handed approach to the conflicts in the Middle East.

Portman's final film role in 2005 was that of Evey Hammond in the political thriller ''V for Vendetta'', based on the comics of the same name, about an alternative future where a neo-fascist regime has subjugated the United Kingdom. She was drawn to the provocative nature of the script, and worked with a dialect coach to speak in an English accent. In a scene in which her character is tortured, her head was shaved on camera; she considered it an opportunity to rid herself of vanity. Ruthe Stein of the '' San Francisco Chronicle'' deemed it Portman's strongest performance to that point, and remarked that she "keeps you focused on her words and actions instead of her bald head." She was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Actress.

Portman began 2006 by hosting an episode of the television sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live''.Freydkin, Donna
"Portman's bald truth: She's no pixie"
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120914202908/http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-03-14-portman_x.htm , date=September 14, 2012 . ''USA Today'', March 14, 2006; retrieved January 16, 2011. One of her sketches, a song named "Natalie's Rap", was released later in 2009 on '' Incredibad'', an album by the Lonely Island. In the anthology film '' Paris, je t'aime'', consisting of eighteen short films, she had a role in the segment named "Faubourg Saint-Denis" from director Tom Tykwer. Later that year, she starred in Miloš Forman's '' Goya's Ghosts'', about the painter Francisco Goya. Forman cast her in the film after finding a resemblance between her and Goya's portrait '' The Milkmaid of Bordeaux''. She insisted on using a body double for her nude scenes after discovering on set that she had to perform them when they were not originally in the script.{{cite news, url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/25/1, title=More than meets the eye, last=McLean, first=Craig, date=November 25, 2007, work=The Guardian, access-date=August 7, 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227165019/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/25/1, archive-date=February 27, 2017, url-status=live It received predominantly negative reviews, but Roger Ebert was appreciative of Portman for playing her dual role "with fearless conviction".

2007–2015: Career expansion and ''Black Swan''

Portman began 2007 by replacing Jodie Foster in Wong Kar-wai's romantic drama '' My Blueberry Nights'', which was his first English-language film. For her role as a gambler, she trained with a poker coach.{{cite news, url=https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a9139/the-natural-19082/, title=The Natural, last=Levy, first=Ariel, date=March 5, 2008, work=Elle, access-date=August 7, 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807102705/https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/a9139/the-natural-19082/, archive-date=August 7, 2019, url-status=live Richard Corliss of ''Time'' magazine believed that "for once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman" and commended her "vibrancy, grittiness and ache, all performed with a virtuosa's easy assurance". Her next appearance was in '' Hotel Chevalier'', a short film from Wes Anderson, which served as a prolog to his feature '' The Darjeeling Limited'' (in which Portman had a cameo). In the short, she and Jason Schwartzman play former lovers who reunite in a Paris hotel room. For the first time, Portman performed an extended nude scene; she was later disappointed at the undue focus on it and she subsequently swore off appearing nude again. Keen to work in different genres, Portman accepted a role in the children's film '' Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'', playing an employee of a magical toy store. She also appeared in Paul McCartney's music video " Dance Tonight" from his album '' Memory Almost Full'', directed by Michel Gondry.{{Cite news , url = http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20040081,00.html , title = Natalie Portman Stars in New Paul McCartney Video , first = Liz , last = Corcoran , date = May 24, 2007 , work = People , url-status=dead , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100420210138/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20040081,00.html , archive-date = April 20, 2010

Scarlett Johansson and Portman portrayed rival sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn, respectively, in the period film '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008). She was excited by the opportunity to work opposite another actress her age, bemoaning that such casting was rare in film. Derek Elley of ''Variety'' was critical of Portman's English accent and wrote that she "doesn't quite bring the necessary heft to make Anne a truly dominant power player". The film had modest box-office earnings. She served as a jury member of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and also launched her own production company, named handsomecharlie films, after her late dog. Portman's directorial debut, the short film ''Eve'', opened the short-film screenings at the 65th Venice International Film Festival.{{cite news , first=Eric J. , last=Lyman , date = September 1, 2008 , url = https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i70662f7dd9d6f3c4f7b7701a654be195 , title = Venice festival all about 'Eve' on Monday , work = The Hollywood Reporter , access-date = September 3, 2008 , url-status=dead , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080906010934/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i70662f7dd9d6f3c4f7b7701a654be195 , archive-date = September 6, 2008 It is about a young woman who goes to her grandmother's romantic date, and Portman drew inspiration for the older character (played by Lauren Bacall) from her own grandmother.{{cite news , first=Silvia , last=Aloisi , url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venice-portman-idUSL23720720080902 , title = Portman makes directorial debut in Venice , work = Reuters , date = September 2, 2008 , access-date = August 7, 2019 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190807141122/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venice-portman-idUSL23720720080902 , archive-date = August 7, 2019 , url-status=live

A poorly received adaptation of Ayelet Waldman's novel '' Love and Other Impossible Pursuits'', entitled '' The Other Woman'', marked Portman's first film role of 2009. She appeared in a faux perfume commercial called ''Greed'', directed by Roman Polanski, and in the anthology film '' New York, I Love You'', she directed a segment and also starred in a different segment directed by Mira Nair. Portman next took on a role opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film '' Brothers'', a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name. Her role was that of a war widow, for which she spoke with military wives to prepare. The film was shot during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, and Portman found it challenging to shoot certain scenes without a written script. Claudia Puig of ''USA Today'' found her to be "subdued and reactive in a part that doesn't call for her to do much else".

After producing and co-starring alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the black comedy '' Hesher'' (2010), Portman played a ballerina overwhelmed with the prospect of performing '' Swan Lake'' in Darren Aronofsky's psychological horror film ''Black Swan''. She was trained by the professional ballerina Mary Helen Bowers, and in preparation, she trained for five to eight hours daily for six months and lost {{convert, 20, lb, kg, 0. Her performance was acclaimed; writing for ''Empire'', Dan Jolin found her to be "simultaneously at her most vulnerable and her most predatory, at once frostily brittle and raunchily malleable ..before peaking at the film's denouement with a raw, alluring showstopper of a performance." ''Black Swan'' emerged as a sleeper hit, grossing over $329 million worldwide against a $13 million budget, and earned Portman several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress.Duke, Alan
"'King's Speech' rules at the 83rd Oscars"
{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228151740/http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/27/academy.awards/ , date=February 28, 2011 , cnn.com, February 28, 2011. Following her Oscar win, controversy arose over who performed the bulk of the on-screen dancing in the film. Sarah Lane, one of Portman's dancing doubles in the film, claimed that the actress performed only about five percent of the full-body shots, adding that she was asked by the film's producers not to speak publicly about it during awards season.{{cite magazine, url=http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/darren-aronofsky-black-swan-controversy, title={{-'Black Swan' director Darren Aronofsky defends Natalie Portman in body-double controversy, magazine=Entertainment Weekly, date=March 28, 2011, access-date=March 31, 2011, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110331172705/http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/03/28/darren-aronofsky-black-swan-controversy/, archive-date=March 31, 2011 Aronofsky defended Portman by insisting that she had performed 80 percent of the on-screen dancing.

Portman next served as an executive producer for '' No Strings Attached'' (2011), a romantic comedy in which she starred with Ashton Kutcher as a young couple in a casual sex relationship. She described the experience of making it as a "palate cleanser" from the intensity of ''Black Swan''. It received unfavorable reviews but was a commercial success. She next agreed to the film '' Your Highness'' for the opportunity of playing an athletic and foul-mouthed character, which she believed was rare for actresses. Critics were dismissive of the film's reliance on scatological humor and it proved to be a box-office bomb. In her final film release of 2011, Portman took on the part of Jane Foster, a scientist and love-interest of the titular character (played by Chris Hemsworth) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film '' Thor''. She liked the idea of Kenneth Branagh directing a big-budget film that emphasized character; she signed on to it before receiving a script, and helped develop her part by reading the biography of scientists such as Rosalind Franklin. Richard Kuipers of ''Variety'' commended Portman's "sterling work in a thinly written role" for adding dimension to the film's romantic subplot. ''Thor'' earned $449.3 million worldwide to emerge as the 15th highest-grossing film of 2011.

In 2012, Portman topped ''Forbes''{{' listing of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Her sole screen appearance that year was in Paul McCartney's music video "My Valentine", alongside Johnny Depp. The following year, she reprised the role of Jane Foster in '' Thor: The Dark World'', which earned over $644 million worldwide to emerge as the 10th highest-grossing film of 2013. ''Forbes'' featured her in their Celebrity 100 listing of 2014, and estimated her income from the previous year to be $13 million.

In 2015, Portman appeared alongside an ensemble cast, including Christian Bale, in Terrence Malick's experimental drama film '' Knight of Cups'', which marked her first project after giving birth. She shot for it within a week of returning to work and she did not receive a traditional script or dialogues, improvising most of her scenes with Bale.{{cite news, last=Siegal, first=Miranda, url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/02/bale-portman-on-malicksknight-of-cups.html, title=Christian Bale and Natalie Portman on 'Embracing the Unknown' in Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, work=Vulture, date=February 9, 2015, access-date=August 6, 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181023114316/http://www.vulture.com/2015/02/bale-portman-on-malicksknight-of-cups.html, archive-date=October 23, 2018, url-status=live She said that shooting with Malick influenced her own directorial venture, '' A Tale of Love and Darkness'' which was released in the same year. Based on Israeli author Amos Oz's autobiographical novel of the same name which is set in Jerusalem during the last years of the British Mandate of Palestine, the Hebrew-language film starred Portman who also produced and co-wrote it. She had wanted to adapt the book since she first read it a decade ago, but postponed it until she was old enough to play the leading role of a mother herself. She collaborated closely with Amos, showing him drafts of her script as she adapted the book. The film received partial funding from the rightist Israeli government, She later remarked that it was easier to be a female director in Israel than in the U.S., "thanks to the IDF". She explained that Israeli men are accustomed to female officers and commanders, "making it easier for them to accept female authority." Critics gave the film generally positive reviews. A. O. Scott of ''The New York Times'' found it to be a "conscientious adaptation of a difficult book" and was appreciative of Portman's potential as a filmmaker.

She next produced and starred in the western film '' Jane Got a Gun'' about a young mother seeking vengeance. Initially scheduled to be directed by Lynne Ramsay, the production was plagued with numerous difficulties. Ramsay did not turn up on set for the first day of filming and was eventually replaced with Gavin O'Connor. Michael Fassbender, Jude Law, and Bradley Cooper were all cast as the male lead, before Ewan McGregor played the part. Peter Bradshaw of ''The Guardian'' reviewed that Portman's "stately performance" was not enough to save the "laborious and solemn western", and it grossed less than $4 million against its $25 million budget.

2016–present: ''Jackie'' and production ventures

Portman portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy in the Pablo Larraín-directed biopic '' Jackie'' (2016), about Kennedy's life immediately after the 1963 assassination of her husband. She was initially intimidated to take on the part of a well-known public figure, and eventually researched Kennedy extensively by watching videos of her, reading books, and listening to audiotapes of her interviews.{{cite news, url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/natalie-portman-jackie-kennedy-movie-interview, title=Natalie Portman on Unlocking the Mystery of Jackie Kennedy, first=Julie , last=Miller , work= Vanity Fair, date=September 11, 2016, access-date=October 8, 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161016090033/http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/natalie-portman-jackie-kennedy-movie-interview, archive-date=October 16, 2016, url-status=live{{cite news, url=http://www.businessinsider.in/How-Natalie-Portman-prepared-for-her-Oscar-worthy-performance-as-Jackie-Kennedy/articleshow/54319281.cms, title=How Natalie Portman prepared for her Oscar-worthy performance as Jackie Kennedy, first=Jason , last=Gurrrasio , work= Business Insider, date=September 14, 2016, access-date=October 9, 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161009190506/http://www.businessinsider.in/How-Natalie-Portman-prepared-for-her-Oscar-worthy-performance-as-Jackie-Kennedy/articleshow/54319281.cms, archive-date=October 9, 2016, url-status=live She also worked with a dialect coach to adopt Kennedy's unique speaking style. David Rooney of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' termed it an "incandescent performance" and added that "her Jackie is both inscrutable and naked, broken but unquestionably resilient, a mess and yet fiercely dignified". She won the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also served as producer for the comedy horror film '' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'', directed by Burr Steers, and starred in Rebecca Zlotowski's French-Belgian drama '' Planetarium''. The 2017 experimental romance '' Song to Song'' marked Portman's second collaboration with Terrence Malick, which like their previous film polarized critics. That year, Portman revealed that she has experienced sexual harassment or discrimination in almost every project she has worked on, despite initially believing she had avoided such experiences.

In 2018, Portman starred in the science fiction film '' Annihilation'', based on Jeff VanderMeer's novel. She played a biologist and former soldier who studies a mysterious quarantined zone of mutating organisms. She was pleased to headline a rare female-led science fiction film, and she moved her family near Pinewood Studios during filming. For the action sequences, she underwent movement training with the dancer Bobbi Jene Smith. Benjamin Lee of ''The Guardian'' took note of Portman's "strong, fiercely compelling presence" and commended her for playing the part without unnecessary sentimentality. It only received a limited theatrical release and was distributed on Netflix internationally. Her next appearance was in Xavier Dolan's first English-language film, the ensemble drama '' The Death & Life of John F. Donovan'' (2018), which was termed a "shocking misfire" by Eric Kohn of IndieWire. She then starred as a troubled pop singer in '' Vox Lux'', sharing the part with Raffey Cassidy. She was drawn to the idea of showcasing the negative effects of fame, and in preparation, she watched documentaries on musicians and listened to the music of Sia, who wrote her songs in the film. For the climactic dance routines, she trained with her then-husband, Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed the sequence. It received mixed reviews from critics, but Portman's performance earned praise. Comparing it to her performances in ''Black Swan'' and ''Jackie'', Robbie Collin of ''The Daily Telegraph'' wrote that "this role has a similar audacity and extravagance that few actresses would dare attempt, let alone be allowed to get away with".

Unused footage from ''Thor: The Dark World'' and a new voice-over were used for Portman's brief appearance in the 2019 superhero film '' Avengers: Endgame''. She then portrayed a psychologically troubled astronaut (based on Lisa Nowak) in the drama '' Lucy in the Sky'', directed by Noah Hawley. She replaced the film's producer Reese Witherspoon, who backed out due to a scheduling conflict. The film was poorly received, though Portman's performance was praised. The following year, she narrated the Disney+ nature documentary '' Dolphin Reef'' and voiced Jane Foster in the animated series '' What If...?''. In 2022, Portman reprised her role as Foster in the sequel '' Thor: Love and Thunder'', in which her character becomes Mighty Thor. She agreed to return to the franchise after meeting with director Taika Waititi, who offered to portray her character in an "adventurous and fun and funny" way. In preparation, Portman took the Mjolnir prop home to practice using it for her stunts. Nick Allen at RogerEbert.com opined, "In both her human and her heroic state, Portman’s performance conveys why it's great to see Jane again." Portman received a nomination for the Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actress in a Superhero Movie. In a 2022 readers' poll by ''Empire'' magazine, Portman was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.{{cite news , first1=Ben, last1= Travis , first2=Sophie , last2=Butcher, first3=Nick, last3=De Semlyen, first4=James , last4=Dyer, first5=John , last5=Nugent, first6=Alex , last6=Godfrey, first7=Helen , last7=O'Hara, title=Empire's 50 Greatest Actors of All Time List, Revealed , url=https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-actors/ , magazine=Empire, date=December 20, 2022 , access-date=February 4, 2023

Portman and her producing partner, Sophie Mas, founded the production company MountainA in 2021, and signed a first-look television deal with Apple TV+. The company's first project was '' May December'', a drama from filmmaker Todd Haynes, starring Portman and Julianne Moore, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.{{Cite news , last=Keegan , first=Rebecca , date=May 10, 2023 , title=Natalie Portman at Cannes: "I Need to Leave the Drama for the Screen", url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/natalie-portman-cannes-may-december-times-up-1235483130/ , access-date=September 14, 2023 , work=The Hollywood Reporter Portman played an actress researching for her role as a woman (played by Moore) whose marriage to a much younger man was highly controversial. She was pleased to work with Haynes, whose work she admired, and to play a morally ambiguous character. Geoffrey Macnab of ''The Independent'' believed that the film had been "galvanised by the tremendous performances from Portman and Moore". Portman received another Golden Globe nomination for her performance.{{cite web , last1=Hipes , first1=Patrick , title=Golden Globe Nominations: 'Barbie', 'Oppenheimer' Top Movie List; 'Succession' Leads Way In TV , url=https://deadline.com/2023/12/golden-globe-nominations-2024-1235660995/ , website=Deadline Hollywood , accessdate=December 11, 2023 , date=December 11, 2023 The company next produced the HBO documentary series '' Angel City'', about the inaugural season of Angel City FC, which was co-founded by Portman.

MountainA's third project was '' Lady in the Lake'' (2024), an Apple TV+ miniseries adaptation of Laura Lippman's thriller novel. Portman played a 1960s housewife in Baltimore who turns into an investigative journalist following an unsolved murder. Production in Baltimore was briefly paused when the crew received threats of violence. Continuing her collaboration with Apple TV+, Portman will next star in '' Fountain of Youth'', an adventure film directed by Guy Ritchie. She will also star alongside Jenna Ortega in Cathy Yan's thriller film '' The Gallerist''.

Endorsements

Beyond her acting career, Portman has been a longtime ambassador for Dior. She signed with the brand in 2010 and has starred in multiple advertising campaigns. In March 2011, Portman began voluntarily promoting a fundraising campaign for Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. The campaign was aimed at raising funds for the construction of the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower, a new hospitalization tower at the hospital's Ein Kerem campus, which was open in 2012. The campaign was a joint effort with the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America, which owns the hospital. Later in October 2012, Britain's Advertising Standards Authority banned a Dior advertisement that featured Portman wearing Dior mascara after a complaint from Dior's competitor, L'Oreal, saying that the advert "misleadingly exaggerated the likely effects of the product". The ASA ruled that "the ad was likely to mislead".{{Cite web , last=Sweney , first=Mark , date=October 23, 2012 , title=Christian Dior mascara ad banned for airbrushing Natalie Portman eyelashes , url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/24/dior-mascara-natalie-portman-ad-ban , access-date=November 14, 2024 , website=The Guardian Portman is the face of one of the company's fragrances, Miss Dior, inspired by Catherine Dior. She has starred in campaign videos for the fragrance, and promoted a new version of the fragrance, Rose N'Roses, in 2021.

Activism

Animal and human rights

Portman has long been an advocate for various causes, including animal rights, where she became a vegetarian at age eight after witnessing a demonstration of laser surgery on a chicken during a medical conference with her father. This experience deeply influenced her decision and has been a key part of her commitment to animal welfare.{{Cite news , title = More than meets the eye , url = https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/25/1 , work = The Observer , date = November 25, 2007 , first = Craig , last = McLean , location = London, UK , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170227165019/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/nov/25/1 , archive-date = February 27, 2017 She became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's '' Eating Animals'' and later produced a documentary on factory farming systems in the U.S. by the same title.{{cite news , url = https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jonathan-safran-foers-iea_b_334407 , title = Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals Turned Me Vegan , first = Natalie , last = Portman , work = The Huffington Post , date = October 28, 2009 , access-date = October 28, 2009 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091029032435/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-portman/jonathan-safran-foers-iea_b_334407.html , archive-date = October 29, 2009 In September 2017, she was recognized for her work on the film by the Environmental Media Association Awards with the Ongoing Commitment Award. She does not wear animal products and has praised animal-friendly products designed by Stella McCartney and Target. In 2007, she launched her own brand of animal-friendly footwear. In 2007, Portman traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna to film the documentary ''Gorillas on the Brink''. Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids.

Portman has also supported anti-poverty causes. In 2004 and 2005, she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in developing countries.{{cite web , title = Celebrating 20 Years of Village Banking , publisher = villagebanking.org , url = http://www.villagebanking.org , access-date = May 1, 2006 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060430081153/http://www.villagebanking.org/ , archive-date = April 30, 2006 In an interview appearing on the PBS program '' Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria'', she discussed microfinance. Host Fareed Zakaria said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes", but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff". On '' This Week with George Stephanopoulos'' in April 2007, Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and children in Third World countries. In fall-2007, she visited several university campuses, including Harvard, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.

Portman is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and for the 2004 presidential election she campaigned for Senator John Kerry. Prior to the 2008 presidential election, she supported Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. Portman later campaigned for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. In a 2008 interview, she also stated: "I even like John McCain. I disagree with his war stance – which is a really big deal – but I think he's a very moral person." In 2010, her activist work and popularity with young people earned her a nomination for VH1's Do Something Awards, which is dedicated to honoring individuals who do good. In 2011, Portman and her then-fiancé Benjamin Millepied were among the signers of a petition to President Obama in support of same-sex marriage.{{cite news , url = http://www.christianpost.com/news/natalie-portman-fiance-benjamin-millepied-push-for-gay-marriage-51008 , title = Natalie Portman, Fiancé Millepied Push President Obama for Gay Marriage , first = Jennifer , last = Riley , work = The Christian Post , location = Washington, DC , date = June 9, 2011 , access-date = August 4, 2012 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://archive.today/20130119035223/http://www.christianpost.com/news/natalie-portman-fiance-benjamin-millepied-push-for-gay-marriage-51008/ , archive-date = January 19, 2013 She supported Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.

In 2009, Portman signed a petition that defended Roman Polanski, who was charged with drugging and raping a thirteen-year-old girl in 1977, and has been a fugitive for decades. In February 2018, she expressed regret over signing the petition.

In January 2011, Portman was appointed an ambassador of WE Charity (formerly known as Free The Children), an international charity and educational partner, spearheading their Power of a Girl campaign.{{cite web , url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lctTq26XevU , publisher = Free The Children , title = Celebrate The Power of a Girl with Natalie Portman , date = January 30, 2011 , access-date = February 6, 2013 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140521173832/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lctTq26XevU , archive-date = May 21, 2014 She hosted a contest challenging girls in North America to fundraise for one of WE Charity's all-girl schools in Kenya. As incentives for the contest winner, Portman offered the designer Rodarte dress she wore to the premiere of ''Black Swan'', along with tickets to her next film premiere. It was announced in May 2012 that Portman would be working with watch designer Richard Mille to develop a limited-edition timepiece with proceeds supporting WE Charity.{{cite news , url = http://www.watchtime.com/wristwatch-industry-news/richard-mille-partners-natalie-portman-free-children , title = Richard Mille Partners with Natalie Portman and Free the Children Charity , first = Mark , last = Bernardo , work = WatchTime , date = March 16, 2012 , access-date = March 6, 2013 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130125201950/http://www.watchtime.com/wristwatch-industry-news/richard-mille-partners-natalie-portman-free-children/ , archive-date = January 25, 2013 During WE Day California 2019 Portman gave a pro vegan speech in front of the student audience, linking vegan lifestyle and feminism. In December 2019, she visited Kenya a second time with WE Charity and spoke with young girls determined to improve their lives through access to education.

In 2006, Portman served as a guest lecturer at Columbia University for a course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film ''V for Vendetta''.{{cite news , publisher = Columbia University , title = Hollywood Star Leads Columbia Class in Discussion of Political Violence , url = http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/03/nataliePortman.html , access-date = April 25, 2006 , first=Mary-Lea , last=Cox , date = March 31, 2006 , url-status=live , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060404180312/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/03/nataliePortman.html , archive-date = April 4, 2006 In February 2015, Portman was among other alumni of Harvard University including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Darren Aronofsky and Susan Faludi who wrote an open letter to the school demanding it divest its $35,900,000,000 endowment from coal, gas, and oil companies. Later that year in May, she spoke at the annual Harvard Class Day to the graduating class of 2015.

In January 2018, she donated $50,000 to the Time's Up initiative. Portman took part in the 2018 Women's March in Los Angeles, where she spoke about the "sexual terrorism" she experienced at age thirteen after the release of her film ''Léon: The Professional''. She told the crowd, "I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself sexually I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort."{{cite news , last=Sanchez , first=Ray , date=January 21, 2018 , title=Natalie Portman, at 13, experienced 'sexual terrorism' , url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/20/us/women-march-natalie-portman-trnd/index.html , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123050004/https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/20/us/women-march-natalie-portman-trnd/index.html , archive-date=January 23, 2018 , access-date=January 23, 2018 , publisher=CNN She drew attention to the MeToo movement, revealing that her first fan letter was a "rape fantasy" from a man and that her local radio station created a countdown until her eighteenth birthday (when she would reach legal age to consent to have intercourse). In September 2023, Portman spoke at an event for the United Nations Spotlight Initiative to eliminate violence against women and girls, where she urged member states to reinvest in the Initiative and ending gender-based violence.

In 2020, Portman endorsed the " defund the police" movement. In 2020, Portman collaborated with JusticeLA to create a public service announcement #SuingToSaveLives about the health of people in L.A. County jails amid the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite magazine , last=Perez , first=Lexy , date=September 24, 2020 , title=Natalie Portman, Gabrielle Union, Joaquin Phoenix Lead #SuingToSaveLives PSA for COVID-19 Response Coalition (Exclusive) , url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/natalie-portman-gabrielle-union-joaquin-phoenix-lead-suingtosavelives-psa-for-covid-19-response-coalition-4066236/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627194209/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/natalie-portman-gabrielle-union-joaquin-phoenix-lead-suingtosavelives-psa-for-covid-19-response-coalition-4066236/ , archive-date=June 27, 2021 , access-date=June 16, 2021 , magazine=The Hollywood Reporter Later in 2020, Portman was announced as one of the co-founders and investors in an almost all-female group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of the women's sport in the U.S. The new team, since unveiled as Angel City FC, began play in the 2022 NWSL season.

Views on Israel

''Haaretz'' has described Portman as "one of Israel's outspoken supporters," even when global public opinion has turned against Israel, she has remained steadfast in her support for "the Holy Land," advocating through academic articles, lectures, and public declarations.{{Cite web , last=Mendelsohn , first=Ran , last2=Shamir , first2=Oron , date=August 31, 2015 , title=החלום הישראלי: מנטע-לי הרשלג לכוכבת , trans-title=The Israeli Dream: From Neta-Li Harshleg to Star , url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/gallery/cinema/2015-08-31/ty-article/0000017f-f86a-d460-afff-fb6ee2fa0000 , website=Haaretz , trans-quote="Portman is one of Israel's outspoken supporters. Even when global public opinion is turned against her, she supports the Holy Land both in academic articles and lectures and in a declarative manner, for example when she raised donations for the reconstruction of northern Israel after the Second Lebanon War." ''Haaretz'' cited Portman raising funds for the reconstruction of northern Israel after the Second Lebanon War as a notable example of her support. However, Portman herself has described her relationship with Israel as complex, "like family—you love it more than anything else in the world, and you are also more critical of it than anything else in the world."

In 2002, at Harvard, Portman wrote a letter to ''The Harvard Crimson'' in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions toward Palestinians, arguing that it misleadingly compared the situation to racial apartheid and that instead "most Israelis and Palestinians are indistinguishable physically". She has criticized the Israeli government, specifically Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, being critical of his re-election in 2015, saying she was "disappointed" and found his comments racist.{{cite web, url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/natalie-portman-refuses-to-collect-prize-in-israel-citing-recent-events/, title=Natalie Portman refuses to visit Israel to accept prize, citing 'recent events', work= The Times of Israel, date=April 20, 2018, access-date=April 20, 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420015847/https://www.timesofisrael.com/natalie-portman-refuses-to-collect-prize-in-israel-citing-recent-events/, archive-date=April 20, 2018, url-status=live In November 2017, Portman was announced as the Genesis Prize recipient for 2018, which includes $2,000,000 in prize money. The following April, Portman announced that she did not plan to attend the awards ceremony scheduled for June, citing "recent events in Israel" that left her feeling uncomfortable attending public events there, leading to the ceremony being canceled.{{Cite news, url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/natalie-portman-forces-genesis-prize-to-cancel-israel-ceremony-1.6012937, title=Genesis Prize Cancels Ceremony After 2018 Winner Natalie Portman Says Won't Visit Israel, agency=JTA, date=April 20, 2018, work=Haaretz, access-date=April 20, 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420034811/https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/natalie-portman-forces-genesis-prize-to-cancel-israel-ceremony-1.6012937, archive-date=April 20, 2018, url-status=live

The statement did not specify which events, but was suggested as referencing the killings and wounding of Palestinian protestors by Israeli fire during the 2018–2019 Gaza border protests. Portman’s decision sparked backlash from Israeli politicians, including Culture Minister Miri Regev, Minister of Public Security and Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan and American rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who accused the actress of falling into the hands of the BDS movement. The Likud party condemned Portman’s position, with Knesset member Oren Hazan calling for her Israeli citizenship to be revoked.

Portman clarified that she was not boycotting Israel, stating, "I am not part of the BDS movement and do not endorse it. Like many Israelis and Jews, I can be critical of Israel's leadership without wanting to boycott the nation." She explained that she did not want to "appear as endorsing" Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was scheduled to speak at the ceremony, and emphasized that "the mistreatment of those suffering from today’s atrocities is not in line with my Jewish values." She added, "Because I care about Israel, I must stand up against violence, corruption, inequality, and abuse of power". Later in 2018, Portman criticized the passing of the highly controversial and widely criticized Nation-State Bill, describing the law as "racist, and there’s nothing else to say about that." She is also a member of the One Voice movement.

On October 18, 2023, Portman called for the release of hostages held by Hamas and condemned their actions. She also advocated for Israeli children who have been kidnapped, urging support for their release. Additionally, she publicized information about Dror Israel on Instagram to raise funds for children near the Gaza border and called on the Red Cross to address ongoing breaches of International Humanitarian Law within Israel. On November 12, 2023, she took part in the '' March for the Republic and Against Antisemitism'' in Paris in response to the rise in antisemitism since the start of the Gaza war.

Personal life

Portman is a polyglot, and speaks English, Hebrew, French, German, Japanese and Arabic, to various degrees.{{cite book , last=Maher , first=John C. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDskDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22neta+lee+hershlag%22&pg=PT66 , title=Multilingualism: A Very Short Introduction , date=May 18, 2017 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-103807-5 , via=Google Books In 2005, Portman bought an apartment in Richard Meier's glass tower at West Village for $5.7 million. In 2008, she listed it for sale at $6.55 million.{{Cite web , last=Aleksander , first=Irina , date=July 31, 2008 , title=Natalie Portman Moving Out of Meier’s Glass Tower , url=https://observer.com/2008/07/natalie-portman-moving-out-of-meiers-glass-tower/?utm_source=chatgpt.com , access-date=March 8, 2025 , website=The Observer , language=en-US In 2006, Portman expressed a strong connection to her Jewish identity, particularly in Israel, and shared her desire to raise her children Jewish: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner." Portman has discreetly dated actors Zach Braff, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Devendra Banhart. She married French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, with whom she shares two children. The couple met in 2009 while working together on ''Black Swan'',{{cite web , date=May 1, 2010 , title=Benjamin Millepied: Lord of the Dance , url=http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/men-of-the-moment/201006/benjamin-millepied-nyc-ballet-choreographer-natalie-portman-boyfriend?currentPage=2 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606031357/http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/men-of-the-moment/201006/benjamin-millepied-nyc-ballet-choreographer-natalie-portman-boyfriend?currentPage=2 , archive-date=June 6, 2010 , access-date=May 1, 2010 , work= Details and wed on August 4, 2012, in a Jewish ceremony in Big Sur, California.

In 2013, she was living in Los Angeles. After Millepied was appointed director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet, the family relocated to Paris in the autumn of 2014, where Portman also expressed interest in obtaining French citizenship. In January 2014, Millepied announced that he was in the process of converting to Judaism. In 2017, she bought a Montecito mansion, which she sold in 2021 for $8 million. In early 2023, reports surfaced alleging an extramarital affair by Millepied. The couple never publicly addressed the claims. On March 8, 2024, it was officially announced that Portman and Millepied had divorced.

Filmography and awards

{{Main, Natalie Portman filmography, List of awards and nominations received by Natalie Portman, l2=awards and nominations

Portman's most acclaimed and highest-grossing films, according to the online portal Box Office Mojo and the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, include '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999), '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002), '' Closer'' (2004), '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005), ''V for Vendetta'' (2005), ''Black Swan'' (2010), '' No Strings Attached'' (2011), '' Thor'' (2011), '' Thor: The Dark World'' (2013), '' Jackie'' (2016), '' Annihilation'' (2018), and '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' (2022).{{cite web, url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=natalieportman.htm, title=Natalie Portman, publisher=Box Office Mojo, access-date=August 9, 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190812105457/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=natalieportman.htm, archive-date=August 12, 2019, url-status=live

Portman has received numerous accolades for her work, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

See also

* List of actors with Academy Award nominations
* List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories
* List of Israeli Academy Award winners and nominees
* List of Jewish Academy Award winners and nominees

Notes

{{reflist, group=lower-alpha

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last= Dickerson , first=James L. , year=2002 , title=Natalie Portman: Queen of Hearts , publisher= ECW Press , isbn=9781550224924
* {{cite book , last= Dickerson , first=James L. , year=2012 , title=Natalie Portman's Stark Reality: A Biography , publisher=Sartoris Literary Group , isbn=9780985513597

External links

{{sister project links, d=Q37876, c=category:Natalie Portman, n=no, b=no, v=no, voy=no, m=no, mw=no, s=no, wikt=no, species=no
* {{IMDb name
* {{IBDB name
* {{iobdb name

{{Natalie Portman
{{Navboxes
, title = Awards for Natalie Portman
, list =
{{AcademyAwardBestActress 2001–2020
{{BAFTA Award for Best Actress 2000–2019
{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
{{Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
{{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
{{Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
{{Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
{{GoldenGlobeBestActressMotionPictureDrama 2001–2020
{{GoldenGlobeBestSuppActressMotionPicture 2001–2020
{{Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
{{IndependentSpiritBestFemaleLead 2000–2020
{{Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress
{{San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
{{Saturn Award for Best Actress
{{ScreenActorsGuildAward FemaleLeadMotionPicture 2001–2020
{{St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
{{Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress

{{Los Angeles NWSL team

{{Portal bar, Biography, Film, Israel, United States

{{Authority control

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portman, Natalie

1981 births
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American Jews
20th-century Israeli actresses
20th-century Israeli Jews
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American Jews
21st-century Israeli actresses
21st-century Israeli Jews
Actresses from Jerusalem
Actresses from Los Angeles
Actresses from New York City
Actresses from Washington, D.C.
American animal rights activists
American child actresses
American film actresses
American film producers
American people of Austrian-Jewish descent
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American stage actresses
American television actresses
American veganism activists
American women film producers
Angel City FC founders
Angel City FC owners
Best Actress Academy Award winners
Best Actress BAFTA Award winners
Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School alumni
Harvard University alumni
Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead winners
Israeli animal rights activists
Israeli child actresses
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Israeli expatriates in the United States
Israeli film actresses
Israeli film producers
Israeli people of American-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Austrian-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent
Israeli stage actresses
Israeli television actresses
Jewish American activists
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American film people
Jewish Israeli actresses
Living people
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners
People from Long Island
Syosset High School alumni
People with multiple citizenship
Jewish women activists