Natalie Portman was born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981 in Jerusalem, Israel. Her father is a fertility specialist as well as a physician and her mother is an actress. When Natalie was only 3 years old her family moved to Washington, DC. The Hershlags did not stay in DC very long as they eventually settled in Syosset, New York which is on Long Island. Natalie is a very devoted family person and refuses to compromise anything she loves or wants out of life for acting. She still lives near her family in Syosset and her mother is her professional agent and manager. Natalie began using her acting name of Natalie Portman in 1994 when she landed a role in the critically acclaimed movie Leon. Natalie was originally discovered in a pizza parlor in Syosset at the age of 11 and the person that originally discovered her wanted her to consider a career in modeling. Natalie turned down the chance to become a model and instead decided to pursue a career in acting.

After Leon Natalie’s parents were becoming concerned because the provocative role she played in the movie was starting to follow their daughter and she was being cast as a Lolita type character in subsequent movies. Natalie began to turn down roles because of their content or because the script was deemed to be too dark. She has always maintained that she wanted to be a positive role model for young women and that is why she continually turns down roles in movies that could advance her career but more than likely at the expense of her image. Natalie had originally turned down the role in the 1999 movie Anywhere But Here because there was a nude scene she would be required to do and she was completely against it. Hollywood superstar Susan Sarandon threatened to pull out of the movie if Portman was not in it so the script was rewritten and the nude scene was removed. Prior to her appearance in Anywhere But Here Natalie Portman made her mark by starring in the first installment of the second half of a movie franchise she had never seen before.

It is hard to imagine anyone not seeing the Star Wars movies but prior to taking on the role of Queen Amidala in the 1999 smash hit Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace Natalie Portman had never seen the Star Wars trilogy before. She went on to play her role as Queen Amidala to the delight of critics and her appearance in the three newest Star Wars movies made Natalie Portman a Hollywood superstar. In 2004 she was nominated for an Oscar for her work in the movie Closer and she currently has a full slate of movies ready for release in the coming months. But Natalie Portman maintains that the public will be seeing less of her as the years go on. She is studying to be a psychologist at Harvard University and her ultimate career goal is to be a doctor just like her father. Natalie Portman can take on any role she wants but she chooses to limit her film work and pursue another career and she does so with no regrets. She is truly a free spirit and a very mature person that can succeed at anything she sets her mind to and focuses on.