Born as Natalie Hershlag on June 9th, 1981, Natalie spent few years of her childhood in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Jewish father, Avner Hershlag, an infertility specialist and Jewish American mother Shelly Stevens.
Natalie took her grandmother’s maiden name ‘Portman’ as her stage surname. After doing a few theatre shows and off-Broadway musicals, she finally bagged a role of an orphaned girl who becomes friends with an assassin in the 1994 film ‘Léon’. She had a major role in ‘Beautiful Girls’ co-starring Uma Thurman and also starred in ‘Heat’, ‘Everyone Says I Love You’ and ‘Mars Attacks!’ She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in the Broadway production of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’. She was contacted by Robin Gurland the casting director for the new Star Wars films to the play the female lead. She signed a three film contract and in 1997, the productions for the first of the Star Wars trilogy, ‘Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace’, commenced. She graduated from Syosset High School in 1999, the same year that the film was released. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her supporting role in ‘Anywhere But Here’ (1999) co-starring Susan Saradon. Her next ventures were ‘Star Wars: Episode II- Attack of the Clones’ (2002), ‘Cold Mountain’ (2003), ‘Garden State’ (2004) and ‘True’ (2004). She went home with a Golden Globe for her supporting role in ‘Closer’ co-starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.
Natalie graduated in 2003 with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Harvard University and currently studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 2005, she appeared in the final of the new ‘Star Wars trilogy Revenge of the Sith.’ She shaved off her head for her role in ‘V for Vendetta’ released in 2006. |
