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Natalie Portman: Recent News

Aug 27, 2009

Natalie Portman Says She Likes 'Dirty Rap' Music

The actress dishes on career and cartoons in an interview conducted by Jake Gyllenhaal

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Mar 09, 2009

Natalie Portman: Snapshot

Name: Natalie Portman
Date of Birth: June 09, 1981
Birth Place: Jerusalem, Israel

There's more to Natalie Portman than Queen Amidala. With a psychology degree from Harvard, an Oscar nod for her role as an intriguing stripper in Closer, and a critically acclaimed turn on Broadway in The Diary of Anne Frank, Portman has proven she is just as talented and intelligent as she is stunningly beautiful.

While Portman has been linked to actors Gael García Bernal and Jake Gyllenhaal, she continues to keep her offscreen life relatively private. In 2007, the busy actress filmed five films in less than two years, including The Other Boleyn Girl with Scarlett Johansson.

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Natalie Portman: Video

Red Carpet Look Book

From film ingenue to glamorous leading lady, this star brings a hip sense of style to the red carpet

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Natalie Portman: Five Fun Facts

At age 9, Natalie Portman was discovered by a Revlon scout at a pizza parlor. "I kept my cool," she told the AP in 1999. "I told him that I wanted to act."
Although they seemed an unlikely pair, Natalie Portman and Britney Spears rang in 2003 together, cohosting a New Year's Eve party for 40 friends – including Keri Russell and Sam Rockwell – at Manhattan's Hudson Hotel.
In addition to speaking English, Natalie Portman is fluent in Hebrew and French.
Natalie Portman has been a vegetarian since childhood. "My mom dropped the turkey one Thanksgiving," the actress told PEOPLE. "It was sad. We all had to do so much work to keep her from crying, but it wasn't a big deal for me. I was like, 'See, if you were a vegetarian...'"
Natalie Portman lost the role of Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet to Claire Danes because producers thought she seemed too young to star opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.

Natalie Portman: Biography

1994: November 18
The Young Professional
"She was camera-ready when she arrived," Todd Thaler, casting director for The Professional, tells PEOPLE. Portman lands the role of a kid who charms a middle-aged hit man. "They literally could have gone into production without a stitch of rehearsal."
1997: December
Taking on Anne Frank
Portman tackles the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway. The actress earns critical praise in the $1.6 million revival. "There is ineffable grace in her awkwardness, and her very skin seems to glow with the promise of miraculous transformations," writes The New York Times critic Ben Brantley.
1999: May 19
Star Wars Calling
Portman wins the role of Queen Amidala in the blockbuster Star Wars prequel and worries about the attention she'll get from avid fans. "I thought it would be awful," Portman says to PEOPLE after the first installment, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. "But I can still walk down the street alone and not worry about anyone accosting me."