Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman is an American actress who has acted in over 37 feature films since the age of 13. She is an only child who was born in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981, before her family moved to Syosset, New York where she spent the rest of her childhood.http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/natalie-portman/167599 Portman was discovered by an agent at the age of 11. Her film debut was a supporting role in The Professional, directed by Luc Besson and starring Jean Reno.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/

Portman has been nominated for two Academy Awards, one of which was for her supporting role in the 2004 film Closer and one for her leading role in the 2010 film Black Swan. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe award three times, winning two of them for her same roles in Closer and Black Swan. Portman has also received award recognition for her roles in Brothers, Anywhere But Here, Star Wars: Episodes I through III, Garden State and V for Vendetta.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/awards

Portman’s first acting role was at the age of 13 in The Professional, in which she played a young orphan taken in by a professional assassin who teaches her his trade.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110413/ Throughout her teenage years, she acted in films such as Mars Attacks!, Everyone Says I Love You and Beautiful Girls. In 1999, Portman played opposite Susan Sarandon in the film Anywhere But Here, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149691/

Portman's role as Queen Amidala Padme in the Star Wars trilogy began with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 1999. The second and third of the trilogy were released in 2002 and 2005, respectively.c She went on to act in Where the Heart Is (2000), Cold Mountain (2003) and the independent film Garden State (2004).

She received her first Oscar accolades for her role in Closer (2004), a film about the complexity and jealousy within relationships.c In Black Swan (2010), Portman played Nina Sayers, a perfectionist ballerina struggling to adopt the opposing roles of the White Swan and Black Swan in a production of "Swan Lake." The film was nominated for five Oscars at the 2011 Academy Awards, one of which was "Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role" for Portman.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/awards

• 1994: The Professional
• 1995: Heat
• 1996: Beautiful Girls
• 1996: Everyone Says I Love You
• 1996: Mars Attack!
• 1999: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
• 1999: Anywhere But Here
• 2000: Where the Heart Is
• 2002: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
• 2003: Cold Mountain
• 2004: Garden State
• 2004: True
• 2004: Closer
• 2005: Domino One
• 2005: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
• 2005: Free Zone
• 2006: V for Vendetta
• 2006: Paris, Je T’Aime
• 2006: Goya’s Ghost
• 2007: My Blueberry Nights
• 2007: The Darjeeling Limited
• 2007: Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
• 2008: The Other Boleyn Girl
• 2009: The Other Woman
• 2009: Brothers
• 2010: Hesher
• 2010: Black Swan
• 2011: No Strings Attached
• 2011: Your Highness
• 2011: Thorhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/maindetails

"We live in a violent world, but since the success of films like Pulp Fiction (1994), it seems every movie has some violence in it, and it's now being used as a form of comedy: audiences are now being encouraged to laugh when people get their heads blown off. I just don't like hearing people laugh at violence." — Natalie Portmanhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/bio#quotes

"You don't drink. You don't go out with your friends. You don't have much food. You are constantly putting your body through extreme pain, and you really get that understanding of the self-flagellation of a ballet dancer." — On getting ready for her role in Black Swanhttp://www.seattlepi.com/movies/431128_film42858516.html

"I've always tried to stay away from playing Jews. I get like 20 Holocaust scripts a month, but I hate the genre. That was the first thing to come my way (New York, I Love You) that really intrigued me." — Natalie Portmanhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/natalie-portman-doesnt-li_n_412984.html