Portman's parents Sasha Cohen met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University where her mother was selling tickets. Her father returned to Israel, but the two corresponded and were married when her mother visited Israel a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved from Israel to the United States, where her father pursued his medical training. The family first lived in Washington, D.C., where she attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, but relocated to Connecticut in 1988, and then settled permanently in Long Island, New York, in 1990.^[1] Portman has said that although she "really love[s] the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."^[9] She is an only child and very close to her parents,^[1] who are often seen with her at her film premieres.

The 65th Venice International Film Festival organizers have announced that the fest's shorts competition will kick off September 1st, 2008, with Natalie Portman's directorial "nathalie portman" nude debut, Eve.^[4]

2005 saw the worldwide release of the final Star Wars prequel, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on May 19. The film was the highest grossing film of the year, and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Shortly before the film's opening, Portman shaved her head for her role in the film adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel V for Vendetta, released in March 2006. Her shaved head was first seen publicly at the Revenge of the Sith premieres. "Making a dramatic change that isn't reversible is always a worthy experience", she said of the drastically different hairstyle, "and that sort of gave me the courage to do it."^[54] She kept her hair short for most of 2005, had a fauxhawk, Sasha Cohen and briefly sported a full mohawk in late August, saying that it was "kind of wonderful to throw vanity away for a bit".^[55] Also in 2005, Portman filmed Free Zone and director Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts. Forman had not seen any of her work, but thought she looked like a Goya painting so he requested a meeting.^[56]

Natalie Portman (Hebrew: נטלי פורטמן‎; born Natalie Hershlag June 9, 1981) is an Israeli-American actress. Portman began her career in the early 1990s, turning down the opportunity to become a child model in favor of acting. Her first role came in the 1994 independent film Léon. She became well known when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.^[1] Portman, who stated that she would "...rather be smart than be a movie star,"^[2] completed a bachelor's degree in psychology at Harvard College while she was working on the Star Wars films.

V for Vendetta opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak with an English accent, and had her head shaved.^{photos sexi class="reference">[60]} Maxim magazine named Portman #33 on its annual Hot 100 list, citing her V for Vendetta hairstyle as a huge accomplishment proving "you don't need hair to be hot."

After filming Where the Heart Is, Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology.^[1] She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the Star Wars prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying.^[50] During the summer break, from June to September 2000, Portman filmed Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in Sydney, including additional production in London. In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Mike Nichols, playing the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Philip HIGHSCHOOL MUSICAL Seymour Hoffman.^[1] The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.^[51] That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearances in the comedy Zoolander. In 2002, the film opened around the world. Portman was cast in a small role in the film Cold Mountain alongside Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.^[1]

As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers which were published in professional scientific journals. Her 1998 high school paper on the "Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen" was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search.^[21] In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence" during her psychology studies at Harvard.^[22] Due to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdős–Bacon number.^[23][22][24]^{photo nathalie id="cite_ref-24" class="reference">[25]}^[26][27][28] An individual's Erdős–Bacon number is the sum of one's Erdős number—which measures the "collaborative distance" in authoring mathematical papers between that individual and Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős—and one's Bacon number—which represents the number of links, through roles in films, by which the individual is separated from actor Kevin Bacon. These numbers are the primary measures of the small world phenomenon in academia and entertainment, respectively.