Natalie Portman

By: Senem , 8th Grade

Natalie Portman is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Shelly Stevens, an American homemaker and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli Doctor, Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants to Israel. Natalie’s paternal grandmother, from Romania, had the maiden name “Portman”. Natalie’s paternal grandfather, Zvi Yehuda Hershlag, was born in Poland in 1914, and in 1938 he moved to then British mandate of Palestine, now Israel, where he was an economics professor. Zvi’s parents died at Auschwitz. Natalie’s Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British intelligence during World War 2.

Natalie’s original Hebrew name is “Neta-Lee”, which literally translates to “A planet for me”. After a while Natalie and her parents moved to the United States where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has said that she “really loves the states…. But my heart is in Jerusalem. That’s where I feel at home.” Natalie Portman was a quite serious kid. She knew what she wanted and worked hard to get it. On school holidays, she attended theatre camps. When she was ten, Portman auditioned for the 1992 off-Broadway show “Ruthless”: A musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play. During the mid-1990’s Portman had roles in movies “Heat”,” Everyone says I Love You” and “Mars Attacks!”  She also had as a major role in “Beautiful Girls”. Natalie was the first choice to play Juliet in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, but the producers felt her age wasn’t suitable. But she got other roles in other movies.

After filming “Where the Heart is”, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her Bachelor’s degree in Physiology. In a 1999 interview, she said that with expectations of the Star Wars prequels that she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. Portman studied quite well she graduated from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day school, Hebrew university of Jerusalem, Syosset high school (1999) and Harvard college (1999-2003). Her career grew bigger and bigger as well. She starred in movies such as “Black Swan”, “Leon: The Professional”, “Thor”, “Thor the Dark World”, “V for Vendetta”, “No Strings Attached”.  She also starred in “Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”, “Where the Heart is”, “Closer”, “Anywhere but Here” and many, many more.  In 2012 she married Benjamin Millepied.  They have a son Aleph Portman Millepied.

My personal thought about Natalie Portman:

I personally think that she is a great role model. Not just because she is Jewish but she is a human being. She has come far at life. She is a very talented and lovely woman. And she is never afraid to tell the world that she is a Jew.