She entered our lives as the 'Mathilda' of the movie "Léon": Who is Natalie Portman?

Her real name is Neta-Lee Hershlag, she was born on June 9, 1981 in Jerusalem, Israel. Born as the only child of a Jewish family of Polish, Austrian and Russian origin, Portman's mother is Shelley Stevens, an American housewife, and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli-born gynecologist. Portman's native language is Hebrew.

3 year old Portman and her family moved to Washington, then to New York in 1990. While living in New York, Portman attended the Solomon Schechter Day School in Nassau County, where she studied ballet and modern dance at the American Theater Dance Workshop. Additionally, she regularly attended Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts she. When Portman was ten, a Revlon company representative saw her at a pizza restaurant and offered her to be a child model. Turning down the offer, Portman used this opportunity to find an acting rep. The 1992 off-Broadway "Ruthless!" was a musical from the school play. She also auditioned for the lead role.

After the play was over, Portman auditioned for the action-thriller drama film "Léon: The Professional" (1994), directed by Luc Besson. She auditioned for the lead role and played Mathilda, an orphaned boy who befriends a middle-aged hitman. In the movie, she shared the lead role with Jean Reno and Gary Oldman. To protect her privacy, she used her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name. Due to the overt sexual and violent nature of the script, her family was reluctant to play the role, but the director had it accepted after removing the nudity and murders. Portman was praised for her performance.

After the movie, Portman went back to school and took part in the short film "Developing" directed by Marya Cohn during the summer break of 1994. Additionally, director Michael Mann offered her a role in the detective film "Heat" (1995), starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and Portman accepted the offer.

She starred in director Ted Demme's ensemble romantic comedy-drama film "Beautiful Girls" (1996). Later, she took part in the production of the musical "Cabaret" (1996). Also in the same year, Portman  took short roles in Woody Allen's musical "Everybody Says I Love You" and in Tim Burton's comic book science fiction comedy "Mars Attacks!". 

Portman was signed to play the role of Anne Frank in the Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank, which was screened at the Music Box Theater from December 1997 to May 1998. The experience was tiring for her as she went to high school during the day and played games at night. She received mixed reviews for her performance.

In 1997, Portman began filming the role of Padmé Amidala in the "Star Wars" trilogy, the first big-budget production directed by George Lucas. The first movie in the series, "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace", was released in 1999 when Portman was a senior in high school. Having trouble shooting in tough places in Algeria, Portman did not attend the premiere of the movie so she could study for her high school finals. Despite the critical disapproval of the film, it became the second highest-grossing film of all time up to that time, with huge worldwide earnings. It also made Portman an international star.

Portman graduated from Syosset High School in New York in 1999. Portman then turned down the lead role after learning of a scene in the comedy-drama movie "Anywhere but Here" (1999), but the film's director Wayne Wang and fellow lead actress Susan Sarandon requested that the script be rewritten. So, she accepted the other lead role. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.

Portman's only on-screen appearance the following year came in "Heart Is," a romantic drama film shot in Texas and directed by Matt Williams. She then reduced to acting roles over the next few years, beginning to attend Harvard University to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology. Having studied advanced Hebrew literature and neurobiology, Portman also served as a research assistant to Alan Dershowitz. In the summer of 2001, she returned to Broadway to appear in Chekhov's drama "The Seagull," directed by Mike Nichols and starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Also that year, Portman made a guest appearance in the comedy "Zoolander".

In 2002, she reprized her role in "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones", which she filmed in Sydney and London. Portman graduated from Harvard in 2003, and her only film that year was a role in an epic period war movie called "Cold Mountain."

In 2004, Portman starred in "Garden State," a romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Zach Braff. She shared this with Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen in the romantic drama movie "Closer," based on the play of the same name directed by Mike Nichols. This was Portman's first sexually explicit adult role. The film grossed heavily for its production budget, and Portman was praised for her performance. Additionally, she earned a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

"Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith" was Portman's debut in 2005, the final installment in the trilogy of the series. The film became the second highest-grossing film of the year, grossing over $848 million. She later appeared as a Jewish-American girl in "Free Zone", a drama film directed by Israeli Amos Gitai. She studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to prepare for the role she. Critics disliked the film for its harsh approach.

Portman's final film in 2005 was Evey Hammond in the political thriller "V for Vendetta", based on the comic book of the same name directed by James McTeigue. Intrigued by the provocative nature of the script, Portman worked with a dialect coach to speak with a British accent. She got her head shaved in a scene where her character was tortured, and she took this as an opportunity to free herself from the show. Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle described it as Portman's "strongest performance" to date and won the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her performance.

Starting 2006 by presenting an episode of the television sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live", Portman starred in an episode of the anthology film "Paris, je t'aime", which consists of eighteen short films directed by Tom Tykwer. Later that year, she starred in the biographical drama film "Goya's Ghosts" directed by Miloš Forman, about painter Francisco Goya. While the film received generally negative reviews, Portman was congratulated.

Portman began 2007 when she appeared in the romantic drama "My Blueberry Nights", the first English-language film directed by Wong Kar-wai. She worked with a poker coach for the role of the gambler in the movie. Her next film, "Hotel Chevalier" (2007), a short film directed by Wes Anderson, was co-starring with Jason Schwartzman. Wanting to work in different genres, Portman acted as a magical toy store employee in the children's movie "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium".

Scarlett Johansson and Portman played rival sisters Mary and Anne Boleyn in the historical romantic period drama film "The Other Boleyn Girl" (2008). The movie had a moderate box office receipt. Serving as a jury member at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Portman also founded her own production company, named 'Handsome Charlie', named after her late dog. It was the romantic comedy short film "Eve", Portman's directorial debut.

Portman's film debut in 2009 was in the drama film "The Other Woman", based on Ayelet Waldman's novel Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, and the adaptation was poorly received. She then appeared in an episode of the fake perfume commercial "Greed" directed by Roman Polanski and an episode of the romantic-comedy drama anthology film "New York, I Love You". She then starred in the psychological drama war movie "Brothers", a remake of the movie of the same name, with Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Portman played the lead role as the Swan Lake in "Black Swan," a psychological horror drama directed by Darren Aronofsky. Trained by professional ballerina Mary Helen Bowers, Portman worked five to eight hours a day for six months and lost 20 pounds (9 kg). She was appreciated for her performance, she. The film emerged as a hit, grossing worldwide against a production budget. It made Portman the winner of several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Portman later served as executive producer and lead role for "No Strings Attached"(2011), a romantic comedy film starring as a young couple with Ashton Kutcher. The film was a commercial success while receiving negative reviews. In the same year, an American stoner accepted the role in the comic fantasy film "His Majesty". Critics had mixed reviews of the film, and it proved to be a box office failure. Portman's final appearance in 2011 was her role as Jane Foster, a scientist and love interest of the lead character, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie "Thor." Variety magazine's Richard Kuipers praised Portman's "excellent work in a poorly written role", making it the 15th highest-grossing film of 2011, earning $449.3 million worldwide.

In 2012, Portman was ranked number one on Forbes magazine's list of "The most trusted stars in Hollywood." Her only film that year was the music video for Paul McCartney's "My Valentine", in which she appeared with Johnny Depp. The following year, she reprized her role in its sequel, "Thor: The Dark World." The film became the 10th highest-grossing film of 2013 with its worldwide gross. Forbes magazine also listed her on 2014's Celebrity 100 list, estimating her income at $13 million.

In 2015, Portman starred in Terrence Malick's experimental drama film "Knight of Cups," with a cast that included Christian Bale. In the same year, she produced and co-wrote the drama, as well as the role of the Hebrew film "A Tale of Love and Darkness", based on her autobiographical novel of the same name. Portman's potential as a filmmaker was appreciated.

Portman portrayed Jacqueline Kennedy in the biopic "Jackie" (2016), directed by Pablo Larraín, about her life immediately after her husband's murder in 1963. Working with a dialect coach to embrace Kennedy's unique speaking style, Portman was praised for her performance and earned a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She also produced the comedy horror film "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" directed by Burr Steers and starred in the French-Belgian drama film "Planetarium" directed by Rebecca Zlotowski.

In 2018, Portman starred as a biologist and ex-military in the science fiction psychological horror film "Annihilation," based on a novel. Portman, who studied movement with dancer Bobbi Jene Smith for the action scenes, was praised for her performance. Her next appearance was in the musical drama movie "Vox Lux" with Raffey Cassidy as a troubled pop singer. She worked with Benjamin Millepied for the dance routines that reached their peak. The film received mixed reviews from critics, while Portman's performance was unanimously praised.

The following year, she played a psychologically troubled astronaut in the psychological drama film "Lucy in the Sky" directed by Noah Hawley. While the film was poorly received, Portman's performance was critically acclaimed. Later, she talked about the Disney+ nature documentary film "Dolphin Reef". And she voiced Jane Foster in the animation anthology series "What If...?". In 2022, Portman reprized the role of Foster in the sequel "Thor: Love and Thunder." She was named one of the 50 greatest players of all time by Empire magazine in a poll conducted in 2022.

Portman and production partner Sophie Mas founded the production company MountainA in 2021. Their first project will be "Lady in the Lake," a mini-series adaptation of the novel of the same name, starring Portman. Portman will also co-star with Julianne Moore in the romantic drama film "May December," directed by Todd Haynes.

Private life

Portman met French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied while working together on the set of Black Swan in 2009. Later, the couple, who started dating, got married on August 4, 2012, in a Jewish ceremony in California. The couple has two children.

In 2010, Portman signed with the company Dior and took part in many advertising campaigns. Later, she was the face of Miss Dior, one of the company's fragrances inspired by Catherine Dior, and featured in campaign videos for the fragrance she. She introduced Rose N'Roses, a new version of the fragrance in 2021.

Portman is a feminist and became a vegetarian at the age of eight. Portman, who became vegan in 2009, is an animal rights activist. In 2017, she was crowned with the Continuing Commitment Award by the Environmental Media Association Awards. Not wearing animal products, Portman launched her own animal-friendly shoe brand in 2007. Embracing the Oscar for her performance in Black Swan, Portman became the first actress born in the 1980s to receive this award.

In addition, Portman supported those struggling with poverty and provided both financial and moral support. Portman, who has been involved in many charities, organizations and events, is also known for this aspect. Portman is fluent in Hebrew and English, as well as Spanish, French, German and Japanese. In addition to, she is also learning Arabic. She has dual citizenship from the United States and Israel.