Saints Alive > Actors

- Natalie Portman is a great student

- Despite being a great student, according to her biology teacher, Natalie would rather skip class that dissect an invertebrate. She was heard telling her lab partner her excuse: "I'm going to Manhattan". Without a doubt, she is too kind : she can't even lie properly ;-)

- Natalie on why she became a vegetarian: "My dad took me to a medical conference where there was a demonstration of animal testing, laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again. Then in Sixth Grade, we dissected a fish. I got so sick, I never ate fish again." She's not however, a 'pure' vegetarian: "I eat dairy and egg products, but I only use skim milk products because I heard that, for whole milk, they give steroids to cows to make the milk richer, and that makes their urinating painful. It's gotta be skim milk."

-"I'm kind of conservative. I've never tried smoking, I don't drink, I've never tried any drugs. I don't condemn people who do, I've just never wanted to. I don't really like high school parties." "My closest friends are very straight, compared to a lot of other kids. I've been working since I was 11, getting paid. But on the other hand, there's a lot of things I haven't experienced that a lot of other kids have." It's not entirely true, Natalie has a vice : "I'm, like, addicted to chocolate."

- According to a university newspaper interview (Univercity), she now uses e-mail to communicate with her parents while studying in university away from home.

-Natalie is about 1 meter 62 (5 feet, 4 inches) tall.

- Her dog is named Noodles, half poodle / half schnauzer.

 

- She enjoys musicals, jazz, tap-dancing, ice skating, ballet, reading, writing and going out with friends.

- Natalie: "I have the greatest friends in the world. They're fun, nice, and they have never acted weird about my being an actress."

- "My best friend, Rachel, is my soul mate. She's so amazing and so cool. We're always saying the same thing at the same time. We read each other's minds and feel each other's feelings. We can have deep, intellectual discussions and then, the next second, be laughing about stupid things." She explains:"I am more a teenager than anyone else I know. One minute I feel really adult and the next minute I say: "Let's play hide-and-seek!"

- Her favorite artists are : Alanis Morissette, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Juliana Hatfield, Portishead, Moby, Slick Rick, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, The Bangles and the Jackson Five...

- "I met Juliana Hatfield at a Sam Goody record store because she was there for World AIDS Day. I like her song Ugly. She was at the counter and I went up and I'm like, "oh my god !". I'd love to meet Bjork. My dad took me to her concert. It gave me chills to ear her singing. I want to be like her when I grow up because she's just like a child."

- "The word coconut makes me uncomfortable. There are some beautiful words, though. For example, I just love the way clutter sounds."

- When she was younger, she used to describe her dad as someone who helped women get pregnant :-)

- Natalie doesn't watch much television: "Because I don't have the time. When I do, I love to watch Ellen, that's my favorite show, and Friends."

- "A few years ago (she was 11), I was in a pizza parlour in Long Island after my gym class, and some lady came up to me and asked me to model for Revlon. So I got a modeling agent, but then Revlon didn’t do the ad I told them that that was OK, I didn’t want to be a model anyway: I wanted to act. So the modeling people put me in touch with an acting agent, and it went from there"

- Natalie didn’t want to model because :"One year, a local dance supply company came to my dance class looking for girls to be in its catalog. I did it and I hated it. It was so boring! So not stimulating!" She nevertheless signed a contract in the fashion industry three years later with the ISAAC line, whose slogan was: "Inside every woman there's a star". During her photo shoots, Natalie was endlessly compared to Audrey Hepburn, the Belgian-born American actress who captivated Hollywood from 1950 to 1970. Personally, I share their point of view, not just at the physical level but because Audrey Hepburn dedicated her last years to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (or UNICEF) as a special ambassador from 1988 to 1993. Hence, we know Natalie has a great potential for generosity :) It's actually quite astonishing because Luc Besson discovered Natalie the year Audrey passed on... I'm beginning to believe in reincarnation...

- "When I was little, I always said I wanted to be an actress when I grow up, and I have been taking dance lessons since I was four. I was the youngest person in this modern dance troupe in Washington, D.C. I was always on stage and singing and dancing, at school, at camp, at home. I used to use mixers as microphones and direct shows with my cousins. I was this really bossy five-year-old, and I would be like: "You stand here, and you stand here, and you sing," or, "I'll sing and you just lip it." I was a really bossy kid, you know."

- "I look a lot like my family and I have Mediterranean features. Right now I'm tan, so I feel so Israeli. I like having something special about me. I'm not that average blond-haired, blue-eyed American girl. My grandmother's really, really beautiful. She's a really strong woman, she's been through a lot, and she's maintained a real great spirit with her. I love looking at pictures of her when she first came to Israel in the 1930s and the 40s. She was so glamorous, with her hair and her suits. "

- She admits: "I'm a Gemini, so I changed my mind every day." Here's a little summary of the careers she is considering pursuing :

- She's had hair issues since she was seven years old,  when her hair turned into "big banana curls": "It takes me hours to blow-dry my hair. My hair's not just curly : it's crazy curly. It's as if it hasn't decided what to do. It's a mess. For school, I just pull it back into a ponytail."

- "I went out on the first audition for The Professional and the casting director said: "No, you're too young, go home." So I went home, and I didn't feel bad about it because I mean auditions are like that, if you're not right, I mean, what can you do? So, I totally forgot about it and two weeks later they called me back in and said that the director wanted it younger, and then I had to go back again and read on camera. It was the "piggy scene", where I say, "I've seen better days." And then I read for Luc, and I think it was one of the best auditions I did in my life. He said, "See ya soon." So I went home and I was like, "I got it !" I was really excited, I was jumping off the walls. Except for understudying in an off-Broadway play (Ruthless), this was my first real job."

- Here's the answer to the question we'd all ask to the great Luc Besson :) "Nearly 2000 girls auditioned from across Europe and the United States when Natalie's photo caught my eye. She had that something special I always look for in an actress. We did some takes in a New York hotel room with a black and white camera. She was relaxed and confident. She was incredibly photogenic I was immediately seduced. How could anyone, at 12 years of age, have a demeanor so honest, so determined ? She was so impressive. I wanted to test her abilities by asking her to play the most difficult scene in the movie, when Mathilda bursts into tears when Léon asks her name. I said to myself: "This girl is incredibly gifted. I've only known her for ten minutes and she's already aggressive." I knew it had to be her, but her parents were very difficult to convince. In the script, she smoked and had a gun. But Natalie knew what she wanted and finally convinced her mother to consent. Still, she never compromised her convictions. She refused to let her character kill someone or appear nude. On the set, I was very impressed by her professionalism. She was focused, but still relaxed, as if acting were natural. She already knew how to play the game." And to conclude, what we all wanted to hear ;-) " I'm convinced she's going to be a big star. And we'll meet again."

- Natalie :"I don't think you can learn to act. It's like life, there's no technique to living." Still, there's something, perhaps a little trick 'made by Natalie' that can change your life I'm sure ;-) "You know people are really comfortable around you when they can pick their nose in front of you."

- Luc Besson on the negative reaction to the Director's Cut of LÉON (The Professional) in pre-release in the United States: "The dinner scene is an incredibly tender moment. Natalie was just 11 years old when that was filmed. Her mother didn't want her to drink any Champagne but she had a few sips in hiding. We started filming the scene and suddenly, she burst into uncontrollable laughter ! It was like crystal. They didn't approve... What a hypocrisy! Our society is overwhelmed by love and sexuality. Progress and modernization perverts it. Nude women to sell that no-name shampoo doesn't bother anyone but this scene... yes!"

- "I am very fortunate to have started my career with such great directors. Often, actors will make their first film with director so and so, and we're too excited to worry about what work they've done or if they even have any talent. I was so grateful it was Luc Besson. He taught me everything I know about being a actress."

- Natalie responds when asked if her parents are too strict or controlling :"They've never gone overboard. My parents just want me to be happy. They want to make sure stardom doesn't go to my head. I love them. I prefer to go on vacation with them rather than with kids of my own age. Before every film, my parents meet the producer to discuss each scene, which would annoy a lot of people. But they only do it to protect me. They don't want anything to portray a sexual image of me that might make me feel uncomfortable. I refused the role of Lolita for that reason. I want to walk down the street without having men undress me in their minds." She adds:" [...] I find it difficult to play roles that I haven't experienced in real life." Draw your own conclusions ;-)

- A few opinions and predictions about Natalie :

- On anorexia and bulimia in young actresses: "It's not a problem for me. I couldn’t be anorexic because I like food too much, and I couldn’t be bulimic because I hate throwing up too much. But I do have a lot of friends who are on constant diets, and that’s scary. Most people aren’t naturally model-skinny and trying to be is just unhealthy. On the other hand, there are some young actresses around now who are quite voluptuous, people like Kate Winslet and Christina Ricci, who have beautiful figures. So there’s hope."

- Jean Reno on The Professional (LÉON): "The first private screening (just Luc Besson and Jean Reno watching) is, for me, the fondest memory. The Professional was still in editing, a work-in-progress without the sound and without the music. The movie was extremely tender and emotional but less an American product. It was enormous, at  the limit of bearable. It's like the ocean pouring itself over you. At the end of the screening, Luc turned the lights on and looked over at me. I was overwhelmed with emotion. He turned the lights off and left me alone for a few minutes. It was a feeling much more profound than with Nikita (original French version of La Femme Nikita) or Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue). It's a like part of my history and there forever."

- When asked about the first time she and Jean Reno met : "Luc invited us both to his suite at the Essex House, and Luc cooked for us. He made us spaghetti." Just a little anecdote :o)

- "I think the way a character looks is so important for a film, because it really tells you so much about who the character is. In The Professional, I had a very sleek, French haircut, which was appropriate for the mood of the film. Then, in Beautiful Girls, I was dressed like a normal kid, an average suburban girl." "At school I'm really a comfortable dresser, I just need to be in clothes I can get through class in." After playing in The Professional, Natalie could be seen wearing the big brown boots that Mathilda had in the film. "I often wear my shoes from the movies, because they are the only things that don't get recognized."

- "There are a lot of people I admire. I really admire Elizabeth Glaser, the AIDS activist. And Itzhak Rabin, he was such a hero. I was born in Israel and I go there lot, all my dad's family is there. I'm not religious at all, but Israel is such a spiritual place. And people talk until they're blue in the face about moral issues and what should happen in the country. I hope there will be peace there. Israelis and Arabs are cousins, we have the same descendants. Yet there's this hatred. It's just ridiculous that people kill other people in the name of religion. No religion advocates killing." This goes to Natalie's religious convictions, probably due to her education: "Ethically and politically, I come from a very liberal environment. It's not a Puritan family but I was raised with the idea that I must respect my life. This means I intend to live my life like a normal person and not like a celebrity."

- Unfortunately, many members of her family were killed by the Nazis in the Second World War :"Most of them died in Auschwitz. My dad’s parents, his little brother... his whole family except for him and two brothers. What’s so tragic is that we had so very many people in the family that I’ll never get to meet. You can’t imagine how sad that is."

- She turned down Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer to take the role in The Diary of Anne Frank. However, she was replaced by Nathalie Paulding in the role on June 2nd, 1998 due to her obligations to the famous Star Wars: Episode 1.

- The Diary of Anne Frank was the subject of an Oscar-winning film by George Stevensand has been translated into 55 languages. It's one of the most read books in the world, selling over 24 million copies. It was re-edited in 1995 with nearly 30% of added text, removed originally by Anne's father and the German editor. These added passages were included in the play Natalie was in.

- Natalie has traveled to many places, including Japan (where she is a big star since her role in The Professional), Amsterdam (where she visited Anne Frank's secret annex and bought her book), Australia and of course, Paris ;-)

- Natalie wasn't very intimidated about her role in Star Wars : "Because I was born in Israel  (my father is an Israeli) Star Wars wasn't as iconic as it was in most American households, It's not as rooted in me personally as it is with a lot of American teenagers. My friends made me realize what a big deal it was". She reveals: "I'm more excited about my high school graduation than about playing in the biggest movie of the decade." Apparently, being in a Star Wars movie hasn't gone to her head...

- Natalie has been accepted to Harvard (Boston) and Yale: two of the most prestigious universities in the United States. But school is not her only worry: "I can't believe I'm going to have to learn to do my laundry and even iron when I go off to college in September."

- To write to Natalie: "Natalie Portman, c/o Star Wars Fan Club, P.O. Box 111000, Aurora, CO 80042, USA" or here: "Natalie Portman, c/o ICM 8942 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90211, USA". Another address from the September issue of Teen magazine: Natalie Portman, c/o ID PR, 3859 Cardiff Ave. Culver City, CA 90232, USA.

-Natalie's performance in The Professional drew critical acclaim and earned her a nomination for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the Young Star Awards, guided by The Hollywood Reporter. She was also nominated in May of 1998 at the FANY (FAns of NY Theatre) Awards for her role in the play The Diary of Anne Frank. The Golden Globes 2000 had the honesty (we know how biased these can be) of nominating Natalie Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for Anywhere But Here.