Natalie Portman

Academy Award-winning actress, producer, and director known for Black Swan, Star Wars, and Thor.

She is a dual citizen of Israel and the United States.^[1] Natalie Hershlag was delivered at Hadassah Medical Center in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981.^[2] In July 2020, Portman was part of the ownership group that launched the NWSL team Angel City FC.^[3][4]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Birth name

Natalie Hershlag

Born

9 June 1981

Birthplace

Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

Citizenship

Israel, United States

Education

Harvard University (AB)

Occupation

Actress
director
producer

Years active

1993–present

Partner

Tanguy Destable (2025–present)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

She attended a Jewish elementary school and studied ballet and modern dance on Long Island.^[5][6] Her first major film role was in Luc Besson's action drama Léon: The Professional (1994).^[7] She played Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, beginning with Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 1999.^[8] Portman graduated from Syosset High School in 1999 and later earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Harvard University.^[9][10]

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the psychological horror film Black Swan (2010).^[11] A Revlon agent noticed Portman at a pizza restaurant when she was ten; she declined the modeling offer but used the encounter to secure an acting agent.^[12] For her stage name, Portman took the maiden name of her paternal grandmother.^[7] In the 2022 film Thor: Love and Thunder, Portman again played Jane Foster, who in this installment takes on the identity of Mighty Thor.^[13]

What the cited sources add

The same source notes that she co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Chemical Education, which made her a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.^[6] A Guardian article states that Portman turned down the lead in the 1997 remake of Lolita due to disapproving of the subject matter.^[14] The same Guardian piece reports that she studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and read Yitzhak Rabin's memoirs and a novel by David Grossman for a role.^[14] A Vulture article notes that for Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, Malick sent Portman books and movies instead of a script, and they exchanged letters.^[15]

An Elle article describes Portman serving as the godmother for the Trophée Chopard ceremony at Cannes.^[16] A Ynetnews article states that Portman was born at Hadassah Mount Scopus Medical Center and promotes the hospital voluntarily.^[17]

References

Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heath, "The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story", June 20, 2002; Kern-Rugile, "Natalie Portman: Hometown Heroine", Long Island Press, November 8, 2013; Kershner, "Natalie Portman Backs Out of Israeli Award Ceremony", The New York Times, April 20, 2018; Deitch, "Natalie Portman addresses snub of 'Jewish Nobel,' backlash", Associated Press, April 20, 2018; "Britannica Book of the Year 2012", Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2012, p. 102 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Peretz, "What Natalie Knows", Vanity Fair}}{{Subscription required, April 2006; Baird, "Frontal Lobe Activation during Object Permanence: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy", NeuroImage, August 2002, p. 1120–1126; Crean, "A 'Garden State' Of Mind", CBS News, July 30, 2004; Rosenblum, "Natalie Portman promotes Hadassah", Ynetnews, March 24, 2011 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Natalie Portman part of L.A. ownership group for NWSL expansion team in 2022", Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Henderson, "Natalie Portman calls out her own 'white privilege,' supports defunding the police", USA Today, June 9, 2020; Moniuszko, "Natalie Portman, Gabrielle Union and Joaquin Phoenix join all-star PSA for jail reform amid COVID-19", USA Today, September 24, 2020; Perez, "Natalie Portman, Gabrielle Union, Joaquin Phoenix Lead #SuingToSaveLives PSA for COVID-19 Response Coalition (Exclusive)", September 24, 2020; "National Women's Soccer League awards expansion team rights to Los Angeles", National Women's Soccer League, July 21, 2020 en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heath, "The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story", June 20, 2002; Zeman, "Natalie's Next Moves", Marie Claire, 2013-10-15; Polsky, "Portman was ever the swan growing up on LI", Newsday, February 26, 2011; Thernstrom, "The Enchanting Little Princess", The New York Times, 2004-11-07; Dr. Rafael Medoff, "Great Lives from History: Jewish Americans", Salem Press, 2011, p. 900; Collins, "Natalie Portman: The prodigy comes of age", The Guardian, January 1, 2011; Polsky, "Portman was ever the swan growing up on LI", en.wikipedia.org
Polsky, "Portman was ever the swan growing up on LI", Newsday, February 26, 2011. facts only, no text reused. newsday.com
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heath, "The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story", June 20, 2002; Collins, "Natalie Portman: The prodigy comes of age", The Guardian, January 1, 2011; Pringle, Gill. "Natalie Portman: How studying psychology helped her in her latest role" , The Independent, March 17, 2006; Zeman, "Natalie Portman Interview – Natalie Portman November 2013 Cover Story", Marie Claire, October 15, 2013 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dickerson 2002, p. 32; "Natalie Portman Profile", CNN; Culpepper, "Natalie Portman: 'Star Wars' queen", CNN, May 18, 1999; Goodwin, "America's Sweetheart", Sunday Times Magazine, April 28, 2002; Heath, "The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story", June 20, 2002; Papamichael, "Natalie Portman interview", BBC; "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)", Rotten Tomatoes, May 19, 1999; Mumford, "Natalie Portman: 'It's dangerous when you can't separate the emotion from the business'", The Guardian, Septembe en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wood, "Interview With Natalie Portman", Marie Claire, December 2, 2009; Lawrence, "School of Stars: Judd Apatow, Elaine Chao, Michael Isikoff, W.Va. First Lady?", Politics Daily; Barth, "Challenges of the Coming Century", Syosset Jericho Tribune; Hurley, "A Simple Method To Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", Journal of Chemical Education, 1998, p. 1270 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dickerson 2002, p. 32; "Natalie Portman"; "Natalie Portman Is Biggest Canary In Israel's Coal Mine", The Forward, 2018-04-21; "Professors Reflect on Natalie Portman", The Harvard Crimson, March 1, 2011; Galloway, "Natalie Portman Sounds Off on Israel, Netanyahu, French Anti-Semitism and the "False Idol" of Oscar", The Hollywood Reporter, 2015-05-06; Izadi, "At Harvard, Natalie Portman acknowledges what many of us feel: Impostor syndrome", The Washington Post, May 28, 2015; Jones, "The Seagull Opens Its Wings in Central Park Aug. 12", Pl en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Buck, Joan Juliet. "Natalie Portman: Spreading Her Wings" , Vogue.com, January 2011; retrieved January 12, 2011.; "Portman's "hyper" ballet training", Press Association, September 1, 2010; "Mary Helen Bowers on 'Ballet Beautiful'", Women's Wear Daily, June 12, 2012; Collett-White, "Natalie Portman earns early awards buzz for ballet drama", Reuters, September 2, 2010; Jolin, "Black Swan Review", Empire, July 27, 2009; Zeitchik, "'Black Swan's' risks pay off", Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2011; "Black Swan (2010)", Box Office Mojo; Duke en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ryan, "Up and Coming: Natalie Portman; Natalie Portman (Not Her Real Name)", The New York Times, February 25, 1996; Peretz, "What Natalie Knows", Vanity Fair}}{{Subscription required, April 2006; Heath, "The Private Life of Natalie Portman: Rolling Stone's 2002 Cover Story", June 20, 2002; Dickerson 2002, p. 32; Hirschberg, "Screen Goddess: Natalie Portman", The New York Times, December 2, 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Natalie Portman" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Feinberg, "Toronto: 'Lucy in the Sky' Is In Awards Season Jeopardy Despite a Strong Natalie Portman Turn", The Hollywood Reporter, September 12, 2019; "Marvel What If? Series Reveals Huge Cast, Jeffrey Wright as The Watcher", Collider, July 21, 2019; Scheck, "'Dolphin Reef': Film Review", The Hollywood Reporter, March 30, 2020; Gartenberg, "Natalie Portman will take up Thor's hammer in Thor: Love and Thunder", The Verge, July 20, 2019; Vary, "Mighty Natalie Portman: How She Emerged From the Marvel Sidelines to Wield Thor's Hammer", June en.wikipedia.org
Allardice, "Dangerous liaisons", The Guardian, January 7, 2015. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Siegal, "Christian Bale and Natalie Portman on 'Embracing the Unknown' in Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups", Vulture, February 9, 2015. facts only, no text reused. vulture.com
Levy, "The Natural", Elle, March 5, 2008. facts only, no text reused. elle.com
Rosenblum, "Natalie Portman promotes Hadassah", Ynetnews, March 24, 2011. facts only, no text reused. ynetnews.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Natalie Portman (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.