Barbara Streisand

Barbra Streisand (born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, filmmaker and actress. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award.

She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and one of the best-selling solo recording artists with more than 71 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list and the only female recording artist in the top ten. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an Oscar for a leading role and also recording on a #1 pop single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female recording artist; a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. Streisand also has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest Top 10 albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Her RIAA tally shows she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States.

Streisand was born to a Jewish family, Emmanuel and Diana (née Rosen), on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the second of two children. Fifteen months later, Emmanuel died of a cerebral hemorrhage and the family went into near-poverty. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. Soon Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She originally wanted to be an actress and appeared in summer stock and in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including Driftwood (1959), with the then-unknown Joan Rivers. (In her autobiography, Rivers wrote that she played a lesbian with a crush on Barbra's character, but this was later refuted by the play's author.) Driftwood ran for only six weeks. When her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, helped her create a club act—first performed in The Lion, a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960—she achieved success as a singer. One early appearance outside of New York City was at Enrico Banducci’s hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. In 1961, Streisand appeared at the Town and Country nightclub in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but her appearance was cut short; audiences did not understand her revolutionary singing style.

In 1962, after several appearances on PM East/PM West, Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in the small but star-making role of Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Following her success in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Streisand made several appearances on The Tonight Show in 1962. Topics covered in her interviews with host Johnny Carson included the empire-waisted dresses that she bought wholesale, to her “crazy” reputation at Erasmus Hall High School, soon enough she got engaged.

Streisand has recorded 35 studio albums, almost all with the Columbia Records label. Her early works in the 1960s are considered classic renditions of theater and cabaret standards, including her slow version of the normally uptempo Happy Days Are Here Again. She performed this in a duet on The Judy Garland Show. Garland referred to her on the air as one of the last great belters. They also sang There's No Business Like Show Business with Ethel Merman joining them.

Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.

As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S.—only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.

After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple Platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a nomination for Album of the Year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, Lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released—the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.

In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 - making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.

On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date.^{[citation needed]} At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two #1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A 2-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in early 2000.

In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.

Streisand's most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.

Streisand's 20-concert tour set record box-office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.

A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.

In February 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Streisand as the #2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has become deeper over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century.

On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.Streisand, like fellow divas Bette Midler and Celine Dion, was offered a $100 Million contract to perform in Las Vegas. Under the contract, Barbra would have been slated to perform for 3 years. She turned them down, while an insider said she has plans to tour in the Summer 2010.

Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! directed by Gene Kelly (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).

During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976; this was the first time a woman had received this award.

Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).

In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.

Streisand has long been an active supporter of the Democratic Party and many of their causes. Streisand said, "The Democrats have always been the party of working people and minorities. I've always identified with the minorities." Streisand has personally raised $15 million for organizations through her live performances. The Streisand Foundation, established in 1986, has contributed over $16 million through its grants to "national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women’s issues and nuclear disarmament." In 2006, Streisand donated $1 million to the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation in support of President Bill Clinton’s climate change initiative.

In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts and she has been nominated for over 56 Grammy Awards, of which she won 15. She's been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times.

Barbra Joan Streisand (Brooklyn, New York, USA, 1942.) amerikai színésznő, énekesnő, zeneszerző, rendező, forgatókönyvíró, producer.
New Yorkban, Brooklynban született ortodox zsidó családban. Édesapja korán meghalt, és Barbra-nak nagyon hiányzott édesapja. Ez adott indíttatást első rendezéséhez (Yentl). Anyja nem nézte jó szemmel lánya színészi álmait, és folyton becsmérelte Barbra külsejét. Sidney Poitier-vel és Paul Newmannal az első sztárok között volt az 1970-es években, akik saját produkciós irodát alapítottak.

Szerepeiben főként akaratos, elszánt asszonyokat alakít, drámai és komikus szerepek megformálásában egyaránt élen jár. A legtehetségesebb amerikai énekesnők egyike.

1997-ben eljegyezte magát a másodvonalbeli filmek sztárjával, James Brolin-nal, akivel kapcsolatban nem titkolja, hogy a hiányzó apafigurát is pótolja számára. Egyetlen vágya, hogy partnerével a lehető legtöbb időt töltse együtt.

Hollywood leggazdagabb üzletasszonyai közé tartozik, egyes becslések szerint 180 millió dolláros vagyonnal rendelkezik.

Rendszerint együtt ünnepli születésnapját barátnőjével, Shirley MacLaine-nel, akivel egy napon született. Közeli barátnője Donna Karan, divattervező. Elliot Gouldhoz fűződő kapcsolatából született egy fia, Jason, akiről azt állítják, hogy homoszexuális. Állandó munkatársa koncertjei karmestere és filmjei zeneszerzője, Marvin Hamlisch.

Winona Rider

Winona Laura Horowitz[1] (born October 29, 1971), better known under her professional name Winona Ryder, is an American actress. She started her career in 1986. Although Ryder made her screen debut in Lucas (1986), her first significant role came in 1988 with Beetle Juice as Lydia Deetz, a Goth teenager, in a performance that gained her critical and commercial recognition. After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder continued her career with the cult film Heathers (1989) in a prominent and critically acclaimed performance. Her subsequent roles have won her not only critical praise but numerous film awards. In 2000, Ryder received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.[2]
Ryder is known for her relationship with actor Johnny Depp throughout the early 1990s. She also received noteworthy media attention for her participation in the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Polly Klaas in 1993, who was from Ryder's hometown of Petaluma, California. Ryder also received worldwide attention after her arrest on December 12, 2001 for shoplifting from a Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills, California.

Born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, she was named after the nearby city of Winona.[3] She was given her middle name, Laura, because of her parents' friendship with Aldous Huxley's wife, Laura Huxley. Her mother, Cynthia Palmer (née Istas), is an author, as well as a video producer and editor.[3] Her father, Michael Horowitz, is an author, editor, publisher and antiquarian bookseller.[3] Ryder's mother is a Buddhist and her father is an atheist.[4] Regarding her ancestry, Ryder has described herself as "Jewish",[3][5][6] her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia, and relatives of hers died in The Holocaust. Ryder has one sibling, a younger brother, Uri, an older half-brother, Jubal, and an older half-sister, Sunyata. Ryder's family friends included her godfather, LSD guru Timothy Leary, beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick.[3]
In 1978, when Ryder was seven years old, she and her family relocated to Rainbow, a commune near Elk, California, where they lived with seven other families on a 300-acre (1.2 km²) plot of land. As the remote property had no electricity or television sets, Ryder began to devote her time to reading and became an avid fan of J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.[7][3] She developed an interest in acting after her mother showed her a few movies on a screen in the family barn. At age 10, Ryder and her family moved on again, this time to Petaluma, California. During her first week at the Kenilworth Middle School, she was bullied by a group of her peers who mistook her for an effeminate, scrawny boy.[3] As a result, she ended up being homeschooled that year. In 1983, when Ryder was 12, she enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater in nearby San Francisco, where she took her first acting lessons. Ryder graduated from Petaluma High School with a 4.0 GPA in 1989.[8] She has also revealed that she suffers from aquaphobia due to the trauma caused by an incident in which she nearly drowned at age 12.[3] This caused problems when she had to act in some of the underwater scenes in Alien Resurrection (1997) and the scenes had to be reshot numerous times

In 1985, Ryder sent a videotaped audition, where she recited a monologue from the novel Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger, to appear in the film Desert Bloom. She was rejected and the part went to Annabeth Gish.[7][3] Despite her rejection, David Seltzer, a writer and director, soon noticed her talent and cast her in his 1986 film Lucas. When asked how she wanted her name to appear in the credits, she suggested "Ryder" as her surname as a Mitch Ryder album which belonged to her father was playing in the background.[7] Her next movie was Square Dance (1987), where her teenage character creates a bridge between two different worlds — a traditional farm in the middle of nowhere and a large city. Ryder won acclaim for her role, and The Los Angeles Times called her performance in Square Dance "a remarkable debut".[9] Both films, however, failed to gain Ryder any notice, and were only marginally successful commercially. Director Tim Burton decided to cast Ryder in his film Beetle Juice (1988), after being impressed with her performance in Lucas.[10] In the film, she plays gothic teenager Lydia Deetz. Lydia's family moves to a haunted house populated by ghosts played by Geena Davis, Alec Baldwin, and Michael Keaton. Lydia quickly finds herself the only human with a strong empathy toward the ghosts and their situation. The film was a success at the box office, and Ryder's performance and the overall film received mostly positive reviews from critics.[11]
Ryder landed the role of Veronica Sawyer in the 1989 independent film Heathers. The film, a satirical take on teenage life, revolves around Veronica, who is ultimately forced to choose between the will of society and her own heart after her boyfriend (Christian Slater) begins killing popular high school students. Ryder's agent initially begged her to turn the role down, saying the film would "ruin her career".[3] Reaction to the film was mostly lukewarm,[12] but Ryder's performance was critically embraced, with The Washington Post stating Ryder is "Hollywood's most impressive inge'nue [sic] ... Ryder ... makes us love her teen-age murderess, a bright, funny girl with a little Bonnie Parker in her. She is the most likable, best-drawn young adult protagonist since the sexual innocent of Gregory's Girl."[13] The film was a box office flop, yet achieved status as a predominant cult film.[14] Later that year, she starred in Great Balls of Fire!, playing the 13-year-old bride (and cousin) of Jerry Lee Lewis. The film was a box office failure and received largley divided reviews from critics. In April 1989, she played the title role in the music video for Mojo Nixon's "Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child".[15] In 1990, Ryder was selected for four film roles. In Edward Scissorhands (1990), she played the leading female role alongside her then-boyfriend Johnny Depp. The film reunited Tim Burton and Ryder, who had previously worked together on Beetlejuice in 1988. Edward Scissorhands was a significant box office success, grossing US$56 million at the United States box office and receiving much critical devotion.[16][17] Later that year, she withdrew from a role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III (after traveling to Rome for filming) due to exhaustion.[18] Eventually, Coppola's daughter Sofia Coppola was cast in the role. Ryder's third role was in the family comedy-drama Mermaids (1990), which co-starred Cher and Christina Ricci. Mermaids was a moderate box office success and was embraced critically. Ryder's performance was also acclaimed; critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "Winona Ryder, in another of her alienated outsider roles, generates real charisma."[19] For her performance, Ryder received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.[20] Ryder then performed alongside Cher and Christina Ricci in the video for "The Shoop Shoop Song", the theme from Mermaids. Following Mermaids she starred in the lead role in box office flop Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1991).

In 1991, Ryder played a young taxicab driver who dreams of becoming a mechanic in Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth. The film was only given a limited release at the box office, but received critical praise.[21] Ryder then starred in the dual roles of Count Dracula's reincarnated love interest Mina Murray and Dracula's past lover Princess Elisabeta, in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a project she brought to director Francis Ford Coppola's attention.[3] In 1993, she starred in the melodrama The House of the Spirits, based on Isabel Allende's novel. Ryder played the love interest of Antonio Banderas' character. Principal filming was done in Denmark and Portugal. The film was poorly reviewed and a box office flop, grossing just $6 million on its $40 million budget.[22] Ryder also starred in The Age of Innocence with Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis, a film based on a novel by Edith Wharton and helmed by director Martin Scorsese, whom Ryder considers "the best director in the world".[23] Her role in this movie won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress[20] as well as an Academy Award nomination in the same category.[24]
Ryder's next role was in the Generation X drama Reality Bites (1994), directed by Ben Stiller, playing a young woman searching for direction in her life. Her performance received acclaim and the studio hoped the film would gross a substantial amount of money, yet it flopped.[25] Bruce Feldman, Universal Pictures' Vice-President of Marketing said: "The media labeled it as a Generation X picture, while we thought it was a comedy with broad appeal."[25] The studio placed TV ads during programs chosen for their appeal to 12–34-year-olds and in interviews Stiller was careful not to mention the phrase "Generation X".[25] In 1994, Ryder was handpicked to play the lead role of Josephine March in Little Women, an adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel. The film received widespread praise; critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film was the greatest adaptation of the novel, and also remarked on Ryder's performance: "Ms. Ryder, whose banner year also includes a fine comic performance in 'Reality Bites,' plays Jo with spark and confidence. Her spirited presence gives the film an appealing linchpin, and she plays the self-proclaimed 'man of the family' with just the right staunchness."[26] She also received an Best Actress Oscar nomination the following year.[24] She also made a guest appearance in The Simpsons episode "Lisa's Rival" as Allison Taylor, whose intelligence and over-achieving personality makes her a rival of Lisa's. Her next starring role was in How to Make an American Quilt (1995), an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Whitney Otto, co-starring Anne Bancroft. Ryder plays a college graduate who spends her summer hiatus at her grandmother's property to ponder on her boyfriend's recent marriage proposal. The film was not a commercial success, nor was it popular with critics.

Ryder made several film appearances in 1996, the first in Boys. The film failed to become a box office success and attracted mostly negative critical reaction. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times stated that "Boys is a low-rent, dumbed-down version of Before Sunrise, with a rent-a-plot substituting for clever dialogue."[29] Her next role was in Looking for Richard, Al Pacino's documentary on a production of Shakespeare's Richard III, which grossed only $1 million at the box office, but drew moderate critical acclaim.[30][31] She also starred as the lead in The Crucible, alongside Daniel Day-Lewis and Joan Allen. The film, an adaptation of Arthur Miller's play, centered on the Salem witch trials. The film was expected to be a success, considering its budget, but became a large failure.[32] Despite this, it received acclaim critically, and Ryder's performance was lauded, with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone saying, "Ryder offers a transfixing portrait of warped innocence."[33] In December 1996, Ryder accepted a role as a humanoid robot in Alien Resurrection (1997), alongside Sigourney Weaver, who had appeared in the entire Alien trilogy. Ryder's brother, Yuri, was a major fan of the film series, and when asked, she took the role. The film became one of the least successful entries in the Alien film series, but was considered a success as it grossed $161 million worldwide.[34] Weaver's and Ryder's performances drew mostly positive reviews, and Ryder won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Actress. Ryder then starred in Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), after Drew Barrymore turned down Ryder's role, in an ensemble cast.[3] The film satirizes the lives of several celebrities.
In 1999, she performed in and served as an executive producer for Girl, Interrupted, based on the 1993 autobiography of Susanna Kaysen. The film had been in project and post-production since late 1996, but it took time to surface. Ryder was deeply attached to the film, considering it her "child of the heart".[3] Ryder starred as Kaysen, who has borderline personality disorder and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for recovery. Ryder starred alongside Whoopi Goldberg and Angelina Jolie. While Ryder was expected to make her comeback with her leading role, the film instead became the "welcome-to-Hollywood coronation" for Jolie,[35] who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. Jolie thanked Ryder in her acceptance speech.[36] The same year, Ryder was parodied in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The following year, she starred in the romantic comedy Autumn in New York, alongside Richard Gere. The film revolves around a relationship between an older man (Gere) and a younger woman (Ryder). Autumn in New York received mixed reviews, but was a commercial success, grossing $90 million at the worldwide box office.[37][38] Ryder then played a nun of a secret society loosely connected to the Roman Catholic Church and determined to prevent Armageddon in Lost Souls (2000), which was a commercial failure. Ryder refused to do commercial promotion for the film.[3] Later in 2000, she was one of several celebrities who made a small cameo appearance in Zoolander. On October 6, 2000, Ryder received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located directly in front of the Johnny Grant building next to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 2,165th recipient of this honor.

Ryder had a moderate hiatus after her shoplifting incident in 2001 (see below). The book Conversations with Woody Allen reports that in 2003 film director Woody Allen wanted to cast Robert Downey, Jr. and Ryder in his film Melinda and Melinda, but was unable to do so because "I couldn't get insurance on them ... We couldn't get bonded. The completion bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them. [...] We were heartbroken because I had worked with Winona before [on Celebrity] and thought she was perfect for this and wanted to work with her again."[39][40]
In 2002, Ryder appeared in two films. The first was a romantic comedy titled Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler. This was her most commercially successful movie to date, earning over $126 million in the United States alone.[41] She played a cynical reporter for an unscrupulous television program. The second film was the science fiction drama S1m0ne in which she portrayed a glamorous star who is replaced by a computer simulated actress due to the clandestine machinations of a director, portrayed by her Looking For Richard costar Al Pacino.

In 2006, after her hiatus, Ryder appeared in Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, a science fiction film based on Philip K. Dick's critically acclaimed 1977 novel. Ryder starred alongside Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey, Jr., and Woody Harrelson. Live action scenes were transformed with rotoscope software and the film was entirely animated. A Scanner Darkly was screened at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival. Critics disagreed over the film's merits; Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times found the film "engrossing" and wrote that "the brilliance of [the film] is how it suggests, without bombast or fanfare, the ways in which the real world has come to resemble the dark world of comic books."[42] Similarly, Matthew Turner of ViewLondon, believing the film to be "engaging" and "beautifully animated", also praised the film for its "superb performances" and original, thought-provoking screenplay.[43] Ryder also recently appeared in the comedy The Darwin Awards, starring alongside Joseph Fiennes. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006.[44]
Ryder also confirmed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly she is reuniting with Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters for the surreal black comedy Sex and Death 101 (2007).[45] The story follows the sexual odysseys of successful businessman Roderick Blank, played by Simon Baker, who receives a mysterious e-mail on the eve of his wedding, listing all of his past and future sex partners. "We will be doing a sequel to Heathers next." Ryder stated. "There's Heathers in the real world! We have to keep going!"[45]. In a more recent interview Ryder was quoted as saying on the speculation of a Heathers sequel: "I don't know how much of the movie is official; it's a ways away. But it takes place in Washington and Christian Slater agreed to come back and make an Obi-Wan-type appearance. It's very funny."[46]
Ryder also appeared in David Wain's comedy The Ten, alongside Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Famke Janssen, Oliver Platt, and Adam Brody. The film centers around ten stories, each of them inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2007 on January 10, 2007,[47] with a theatrical release on August 3, 2007. Ryder will play the female lead opposite Wes Bentley and Ray Romano in Geoffrey Haley's offbeat romantic drama The Last Word.[48] She has also signed up to appear as a newscaster in the upcoming movie version of The Informers,[49] will join Robin Wright and Julianne Moore in Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, which is scheduled to start filming in April 2008 in Connecticut,[50] and will appear in Paramount Pictures' and director J. J. Abrams's Star Trek (2009), as Spock's mother Amanda Grayson, a role originally played by Jane Wyatt.

Ryder has had many high-profile relationships with actors. She was engaged to actor Johnny Depp for three years beginning in July 1990. She met Depp at the Great Balls of Fire! premiere in June 1989, two months later they began dating.[52] During their relationship, Depp had a tattoo placed on his arm reading "Winona Forever", which he had altered to "Wino Forever" after their separation.[53] Ryder later had serious relationships with Soul Asylum's Dave Pirner, and actor Matt Damon.[54] Ryder also told W Magazine in a June 2002 issue that she is close friends with comedian and actor Jimmy Fallon.[55] She was also close friends with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, until they reportedly "grew apart" in the late 1990s.

Winona Laura Horowitz, 1971. október 29-én a Minnesota állambeli Winonában született (innen kapta keresztnevét). A hippi, szabadszellemű Michael és Cindy Horowitz lánygyermeként jött a napvilágra, ami nagyban meghatározta azt, hogy Winona gyermekkora nem volt szokványos. A Horowitz-család egy technikai vívmányokat nélkülöző kommunában telepedett le a kaliforniai Northernben, ahol Winonának és testvéreinek még tv-nézési lehetőségük sem volt.

A fiatal Winona helyette egy moziban nézett filmeket, amelyben édesanyja dolgozott, és bevetette magát a szépirodalom olvasásába. A klasszikus filmek nézésének volt köszönhető, hogy a lányt komolyan el kezdte érdekelni a filmezés, illetve a Zabhegyező hőse, Holden Caulfield volt a másik örökre meghatározó élmény Winona számára, ami szintén az alternatív filmszerepekre fordította a figyelmét.

8 éves korában, Winona szülei úgy döntöttek, hogy visszaköltöznek a kaliforniai Petalumába. Bár vékony alkatú volt, Winona mégis verekedős fiúnak hatott az első pár hétben az iskolában. Emiatt otthon volt kénytelen befejezni a tanulmányait, majd későb jelentkezett az American Conservatory Theater-be San Franciscoban. Mialatt az American Conservatory Theater színpadán szerepelt, Winonát felfedezte egy tehetségkutató, aki elvitte egy meghallgatásra a Desert Bloom c. filmhez, amelyben a főszerepet a legendás Jon Voight játszotta. Nem kapta meg a szerepet, de a felvétele zöld utat jelentett a Triad Artists-hoz. Az ügynökségnek köszönhetően, Winona szerepet kapott az 1986-as Lucas c. filmben. Bár nem volt egy jelentős film, mégis mérföldkövet jelentett Winona karrierjében, mivel ekkor szerepelt először úgy, mint Winona Ryder (egy Mitch Ryder albumról kérte a névváltoztatást). Ezt számos felejthető filmszerep követte, míg Winonára végül felfigyeltek az 1988-as Tim Burton rendezte komédiában, a Beetlejuice-ban nyújtott alakítása után. A szellem-barát, dark tinédzser szerepe elindította Winona "sötét" szerepeinek sorát, amelyeket mintha rászabtak volna. A Heathers c. film, amelyben Winona szintén dark szerepet játszik egy nagyon "sötét" filmben, Winona rajongóinak a kedvenc filmje.

Miután feltűnt a Great Balls of Fire! c. filmben, Winona ismét egy Tim Burton-filmben játszott, Edward Scissorhands szerelmét alakította, és ez volt egyik legemlékezetesebb szerepe. Ugyanabban az évben Cher lányát játszotta a Mermaids c. filmben. Ezek után Winona új szakaszba lépett, amelyben jóval érettebb szerepeket játszhatott és nagyobb hatású filmekben tünhetett fel. Játszott egy független filmben, a Night on Earth c. Jarmush-filmben, majd ismét meghatározó szerepet kapott - Michael Corleones lányát alakíthatta a The Godfather 3. részében. Sajnos, Winona kénytelen volt otthagyni a filmfelvételeket egy súlyos fertőzés miatt. Viszont aláírt egy szerződést a Creative Artists ügynökséggel, és megkapta Francis Ford Coppola rendezte Bram Stoker's Dracula c. film forgatókönyvét. A híres rendező beválogatta a szereplőgárdába és ráosztotta a vérszívó gróf szerelmének a szerepét. Winona teljesen felnőtt és karrierje szárnyalt. Ismét jelentős szerephez jutott, amikor Daniel Day Lewis partnereként játszott a The Age of Innocence c. filmben. Alakítását a Legjobb Mellékszereplőnek járó Oscar-djíra való jelöléssel jutalmazták.

Miután visszatért a modern valóságba Gen-Xer szerepében a Reality Bites c. filmben, Winona ismét régi időket idéző filmekben szerepelt, a The House of Spirits és a Little Women filmadaptációkban nyújtott alakításaiért a Legjobb Színésznő Oscar-díjára jelölték. A Little Women c. filmet Polly Klaas emlékének dedikálta, akit szülővárosában raboltak el és öltek meg. Miután szerepelt olyan filmekben, mint a How to Make an American Quilt; Al Pacinoval a Looking for Richard-ban; a The Crucible adaptációjában; a sci-fi Alien Resurrection-ben; valamint Woody Allen sztárokat felvonultató Celebrity c. filmjében Leo DiCaprio, Famke Janssen és Charlize Theron mellett, Winona főszerepet játszott és executive producer volt a Girl, Interrupted c. filmben, az üstökös Angelina Jolie-val. Annak ellenére, hogy Winona a hollywoodi mozikban már a 80-as évek közepe óta játszik, első talk show-beli megjelenése a Jay Leno vezette The Tonight Show-ban volt, amelyben a Girl, Interrupted-ről volt szó. Nemrégiben láthattuk a szentimentális Autumn in New York c. romantikus filmben, a sokkal idősebb Richard Gere partnereként, illetve a Lost Souls c. thrillerben. 1997-ben a People Magazine a Világ legszebb 50 embere közé sorolta, de biztosan állíthatjuk, hogy nemcsak a People tekinti Winonát gyönyörűnek, és erről barátjai és szerelmei hosszú listája is tanúskodik. A színésznő 3 évig volt eljegyezve Johnny Depp-pel, hosszan tartó viszonya volt David Pirnerrel, és együttjárt olyan hírességekkel, mint Christian Slater, Daniel Day Lewis, David Duchovny, Chris Noth, Matt Damon és Beck.... És nemcsak Winona szépségét dicsérhetnénk, hanem különböző filmszerepei széles palettáját, természetes báját és ragyogó tehetségét, mindazt, amit biztosítja, hogy még sokáig láthatjuk őt a mozivásznon.

Natalie Portman

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.
In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's The Seagull, alongside Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.[1] In 2005, Portman received a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress in the drama Closer. In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury.[3]
The 65th Venice International Film Festival organizers have announced that the fest's shorts competition will kick off September 1, 2008, with Portman's directorial debut, Eve.

Portman was born Natalie Hershlag (Hebrew: נטלי הרשלג‎) in Jerusalem, Israel.[5][6] Her father, Avner Hershlag, is an Israeli doctor specializing in fertility and reproduction (reproductive endocrinology).[7][8] Her mother, Shelley Stevens, is an American homemaker who now works as her agent.[7] Portman's maternal ancestors were Jews from Austria and Russia and her paternal ancestors were Jews who immigrated to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather's parents died in Auschwitz and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for the British during World War II.[9]
Portman's parents 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.

Although she says her family was not religious,[10] Portman attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove, New York. She graduated from a public high school, Syosset High School.[1] Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I so she could study for her high school final exams.[11]
In June 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College with a bachelor's degree in psychology. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of the Lowell House[12] and wrote a response letter to the Harvard Crimson that was considered very well-written, in response to an anti-Israeli essay.[13]
Portman pursued graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 2004.[10] At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz's research assistant (he thanks her in The Case for Israel). She was also a research assistant in a psychology lab, and in March 2006, appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film V for Vendetta.[14]
In addition to being bilingual in Hebrew[15] and English, Portman has studied[16] French,[17] Japanese,[17] German[18] and Arabic.[19]
As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that 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.[20] In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe Activation During Object Permanence" during her psychology studies at Harvard.[21] Due to her scientific publications, Portman is among a very small number of professional actors with a defined Erdős–Bacon number.

Portman has been a vegetarian since childhood[28] and is an advocate for animal rights. She does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney", she says.[29] It has been reported that she will appear alongside actress Elissa Sursara in a PETA PSA to support the groups anti-fur campaign at some point throughout 2009.[30] In 2007, Natalie Portman traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna, to film a documentary titled Gorillas on the Brink. Later at a naming ceremony, Portman named a baby gorilla Gukina, which means 'to play'.[31] In 2007, she launched her own brand of vegan footwear.[32] Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids.[33]
Portman has been involved with the 2004 presidential campaign of Democratic candidate John Kerry and with antipoverty activities. In 2004 and 2005 she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in poor countries.[34] In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS program Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria she discussed microfinance.[35] Host Fareed Zakaria said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes", but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff".[36] In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday Morning Program This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and their children in third world countries.[37] In the Fall of 2007, Portman visited several university campuses, including Harvard, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.[38]
On the concept of the afterlife, she comments "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live."[9] She has said that she feels more Jewish in the Holy Land and that she would like to raise her children in the Jewish religion: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner... I get much more Jewish in Israel".[39] During the 2008 Democratic primaries, Portman supported Senator Hillary Clinton for President, but said that she "likes Obama as well".[40] She later campaigned for Obama during the general election.[41]
Portman has had romantic links with actors including Gael Garcia Bernal and Jake Gyllenhaal.[42] In the May 2002 issue of Vogue, Portman called actor/musician Lukas Haas and musician Moby her close friends.[43] She was linked to Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, but he claims they are friends.[44] She reportedly dated Nat Rothschild, of the famous multi-billionaire banking family.[45] After starring in the video for his song "Carmencita", she began dating Venezuelan folk singer Devendra Banhart.

Portman started dancing lessons at the age of four[1] and she performed in local troupes. At the age of ten, a Revlon agent asked her to become a child model,[47][1] but she turned down the offer, to focus on acting. In a magazine interview, Portman said that she was "...different from the other kids. I was more ambitious, I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."[48] Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps. When she was ten, she auditioned for Ruthless!, a play about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play, and she was chosen as the understudy for Laura Bell Bundy.[10] In 1994, she auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson's film Léon (aka The Professional). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy;[1] in the Director's Cut of the film on DVD she is credited as Natalie Hershlag. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, and marked her feature film debut at age 13. That same year she appeared in the short film Developing, which aired on television.

During the mid-1990s, Portman had roles in the films Heat, Everyone Says I Love You, and Mars Attacks!, as well as a major role in Beautiful Girls.[1] She was also the first choice to play Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, but producers felt her age wasn't suitable enough.[47] In 1997, Portman played the role of Anne Frank in a Broadway adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank. She initially turned down the lead role in the film Anywhere But Here, after learning it would involve a sex scene, but director Wayne Wang and actress Susan Sarandon demanded a rewrite of the script; Portman was shown a new draft, and she joined the project.[1] The film opened in late 1999, and she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ann August.[49] Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon called Portman "astonishing", and noted that "[u]nlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky."[50] In the late 1990s, Portman was cast as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. The first part, Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, opened in early 1999, and the popularity of the film made Portman well known to audiences.[1] She then signed on to play the lead role of a persevering teenaged mother in Where the Heart Is.

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.[51] 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 Seymour Hoffman.[1] The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.[52] 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]
In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies Garden State and Closer.[1] Garden State was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in Closer saw Portman win a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.[53][54]
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."[55] She kept her hair short for most of 2005, had a fauxhawk, and briefly sported a full mohawk in late August, saying that it was "kind of wonderful to throw vanity away for a bit".[56] 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.

Portman appeared on Saturday Night Live on March 4, 2006,[58] hosting the show with musical guest Fall Out Boy and special guest star Dennis Haysbert. In a SNL Digital Short,[59] she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rapper (with Andy Samberg as her Flava Flav-esque partner in Viking garb) during a faux-interview with Chris Parnell, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on pot and cocaine.[60] In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist (her father's profession).
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.[61] 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."[62]
Portman has commented on V for Vendetta's political relevance, and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "Being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion".[63] Both Goya's Ghosts and Free Zone received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie."[61] In late 2006, Portman filmed The Other Boleyn Girl, a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn; Eric Bana and Scarlett Johansson co-starred in the film. She was also named one of the hottest women of film and TV by Blender Magazine.[64]
In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai's road movie My Blueberry Nights. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because "[f]or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman,...but she's not coasting on her looks;...She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table".[65] Portman had a small role in the 18th season of The Simpsons as the voice of Bart Simpson's first girlfriend, Darcy.[66] She also appears in Paul McCartney's music video "Dance Tonight" from his 2007 album Memory Almost Full, directed by Michel Gondry.[67] Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson short film Hotel Chevalier, opposite Jason Schwartzman, in which she performed her first nude scene.[68] She is scheduled to star opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film Brothers, a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name.[69] In May 2008 Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury.
Natalie Portman (született Natalie Herschlag, 1981. június 9.) Golden Globe-díjas egyesült államokbeli filmszínésznő. Magánélete védelmében nem a születéskori nevét, hanem nagyanyja leánykori vezetéknevét használja. Gyermekszínészként kezdte karrierjét a 90-es években, az ezt megelőző években pedig táncolt és modelkedett. Első szerepét a Léon, a profi c. filmben kapta, melyben Jean Reno partnere volt, de az igazi ismertséget az új Csillagok háborúja-trilógia hozta meg számára, melyben Padmé Amidala szerepét alakította. Portman többször is hangoztatta, hogy "...szívesebben vagyok okos, mint híres", ezért a a Csillagok háborúja filmek forgatásával egyidőben a Harvard pszichológia szakán tanult, majd 2003-ban főiskolai végzettséget szerzett. [1]
2001-ben a Csehov A sirály c. darabjában szerepelt, többek között Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, és Philip Seymour Hoffman oldalán. 2005-ben a Közelebb c. filmben nyújtott alakításáért Golden Globe-díjat kapott. 2008-ban A másik Boleyn lány c. alkotásban, Boleyn Anna szerepében láthatják a nézők.

1981-ben született Natalie Hershlag néven, az izraeli Jeruzsálemben egy orvos–művész házaspár egyetlen gyermekeként. Édesapja Avner Hershlag termékenységkutató, édesanyja Shelley Stevens. Portman anyai rokonai osztrák és orosz zsidók voltak, apai rokonai Lengyelországban, illetve Romániában éltek, később pedig Izraelbe emigráltak. Apai nagyapjának szülei Auschwitzban haltak meg, romániai születésű dédanyja pedig a britek kémje volt a második világháborúban.[2]
Családja nem sokkal születése után az Egyesült Államokban, többszöri költözködés után New Yorkban telepedett le. Állítása szerint, habár igazán szereti az Egyesült Államokat, mégis Jeruzsálemben érzi igazán otthon magát. Mivel egyedüli gyermek, különösen szoros viszony fűzi őt szüleihez, akik minden premierjén részt vesznek.

Portman nagyon jó tanuló volt az iskolában; végig színjelesre teljesített. "A tudományok, az irodalom vagy a nyelvek számomra sokkal izgalmasabbak, és sosem érdekelt, hogy az egyetem választása esetleg kerékbe töri a karriert. Inkább leszek okos, mint filmsztár!" [3], mondta egyszer egy interjúban. Habár elmondása szerint szülei nem voltak vallásosak, mégis egy New York-i zsidó általános iskolába járt. Középiskolai tanulmányait a Syosset Középiskolában végezte. Portman nem tudott elmenni a Csillagok háborúja I: Baljós árnyak bemutatójára, mivel középiskolai záróvizsgáira készült. [4] Középiskola után beiratkozott a Harvardra, ahol pszichológiát tanult, de hallgatott emellett történelmet, filozófiát és teológiát is. 2003 júniusában diplomázott. A Harvardon a Lowell-ház tagja volt [5], és egyik alkalommal egy cikket írt a Harvard Crimsonba (iskolaújság), egy antiizraeli írásra reagálva. [6] Portman az egyik harvardi professzor asszisztense volt, 2006 márciusában pedig vendégelőadó volt a Columbia Egyetemen, ahol a terrorizmusról tartott előadást, a V mint vérbosszú c. filmje kapcsán. Angol nyelven és héberül [7] folyékonyan beszél, franciául,[8] japánul és németül bizonyos fokig.[9] Nemrég arabul kezdett tanulni.

Portman 8 éves kora óta vegetáriánus és az állatok jogainak szószólója. Nem eszik állati eredetű ételt, és nem visel sem szőrmét, sem tollat, sem bőrt. 2007-ben Natalie piacra dobta saját tervezésű cipőit, amelyeket alternatív természetes anyagokból készítenek. A bevételt teljes egészében jótékony célra fordítja, mellyel többek között az állatvédőknek próbál segíteni. Szintén 2007-ben egy hegyi gorillákért folytatott kampány keretében Portman Ruandába utazott, hogy dokumentumfilmet forgasson egy stábbal a gorillákról. A természetfilmet az Animal Planet nevű csatorna sugározta. A munka során Portmannek alkalma nyílt arra, hogy az egyik példányt saját maga nevezze el. Portman a Gukina nevet adta az egyik kisgorillának, mely magyarul azt jelenti: játszani.
Portman nagyon sok felé adakozik, de nem a hagyományos értelemben. "Azt az elvet vallom, hogy ne enni adj annak, aki éhes, hanem tanítsd meg halászni." Portman a FINCA - Foundation for International Community Assistance-ot támogatja adományaival. A szervezet egészen új, speciális módon támogatja a szegényeket: kezdőtőkét biztosít számukra, hogy utána saját kisvállalkozásuk segítségével, a maguk erejéből állhassanak talpra. 2007-ben Portman ellátogatott olyan egyetemekre, mint például a Harvard Egyetem, a UCLA, a UC Berkeley, a Standford, Princeton, New York Egyetem és a Columbia Egyetem. Beszédében arra bíztatta a fiatalokat, hogy csatlakozzanak a Village Banking Campaign-hoz, és adományaikkal támogassák a rászoruló családokat és közösségeket.

Portman 4 éves korában kezdett el táncolni. 10 éves volt, amikor egy ügynök felfigyelt rá, és modellmunkákat ajánlott neki. Később azonban rádöbbent, hogy a színészet sokkal inkább érdekli, mint a modellkedés. Egy interjú során, Portman azt nyilatkozta: "...különböztem a többi gyerektől. Sokkal ambíciózusabb voltam és tudtam, hogy mit akarok elérni, épp ezért nagyon keményen dolgoztam. Nagyon komoly gyermek voltam." [10] Portman az iskolai szünidők alatt színházi táborokban vett részt, és olyan darabokban játszott, mint például a Kabaré vagy a Szentivánéji álom. 1994-ben Jean Reno oldalán megkapta Mathilda szerepét a Léon, a profi című filmben. A nagyközönség ekkor figyelt fel rá, és a kritikusok is elismerően nyilatkozott a tehetségéről. Portman ekkor vette fel nagyanyja leánykori nevét, és a továbbiakban ezen a néven szerepelt a filmekben. Minderre azért volt szükség, mert meg akarta óvni a saját és családja életét a sajtó kíváncsiskodásától.

A 90-es évek közepétől kezdve Natalie előtt nyitva állt a nagyvilág; olyan filmekben szerepelt, mint például a Szemtől szemben, a Gyönyörű lányok, a Varázsige: I Love You és a Támad a Mars!. Emellett ő volt az első, akit felkértek a William Shakespeare Rómeó és Júlia c. drámájából készült film, a Rómeó+Júlia főszerepére, de ezt elutasította, mert a szerelmi jelenetek, valamint a közte és Leonardo DiCaprio közti korkülönbség elrettentette. Ezek után a Lolita szerepét nem vállalta el, a Jégvihart túl komornak találta. 1997-ben Portman az Anne Frank naplójából készült Broadway-adaptációban alakította a címszereplőt. A Mindenütt jó c. film főszerepét is le akarta mondani, mert nem volt hajlandó meztelenül a kamerák elé állni, de miután átírták a forgatókönyvet, mégis leforgatta a filmet. Az ebben a filmben nyújtott alakításáért Golden Globe-díjra is jelölték. [11] A 90-es évek vége felé George Lucas Luke Skywalker és Leia hercegnő édesanyjának szerepét kínálta fel a számára az eredeti Star Wars-trilógia cselekményét megelőző részekben. Portmant ez az alakítása tette igazán ismertté. Az új trilógia első részét 1999–ben mutatták be. Ezek után nem sokkal egy leányanya szerepét alakította az Ahol a szív lakik c. filmben.

Az Ahol a szív lakik c. film után, Portman beiratkozott a Harvard Egyetemre, pszichológia szakra. Egy 1999-es interjújában megjegyezte, hogy a Star Wars filmeket leszámítva nem szeretne semmilyen filmben szerepelni, mert az elkövetkező években a tanulásra szeretne koncentrálni. [12] 2000 júniusától szeptemberig a Csillagok háborúja II: A klónok támadása c. epizódot kezdte el forgatni. 2001 júliusában Csehov A sirály c. darabjában alakította Gina szerepét, és olyan színészekkel játszott együtt, mint Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline és Philip Seymour Hoffman. Ugyanebben az évben Zoolander – A trendkívüli c. filmben tűnt fel cameo szerepben, sok más hírességgel együtt. 2002–ben Portman egy kis szerepet kapott a Hideghegy c. filmben Jude Law és Nicole Kidman oldalán.
2004–ben olyan filmekben tűnt fel, mint a Garden State vagy a Közelebb. Az utóbbi filmben nyújtott alakításáért Portman Golden Globe-díjat kapott. Ugyanezért a szerepért Oscarra is felterjesztették legjobb női mellékszereplő kategóriában, de a díjat abban az évben Cate Blanchett vihette el. [13][14]
2005–ben a Csillagok háborúja III: A Sithek bosszúja c. filmben utoljára öltöttae magára Padmé Amidala szerepét. Nem sokkal a bemutató (május 19.) előtt leborotváltatta a haját a V mint vérbosszú című film főszerepének kedvéért. Ebben Hugo Weaving oldalán egy fiatal lányt játszott, aki egy alternatív jövőben, véletlenül keveredik bele a fenyegető brit diktatúra ellen szőtt konspirációba. 2005-ben Portman a Free Zone, illetve a Goya kísértetei c. filmekben tűnt fel. Ez utóbbit 2006-ban mutatták be.

2006–ban Portman részt vett a Berlini Nemzetközi Filmfesztiválon a V mint vérbosszú c. film kapcsán. Ebben a filmben Evey Hammondot alakította, akit a titokzatos V megment a diktatúrát kiszolgáló rendőrségtől. A szerep kedvéért Portmannak el kellett sajátítania a brit akcentust (a történet Angliában játszódik), és le kellett borotváltatnia a haját. 2006 áprilisában a Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium c. gyerekeknek szóló filmet kezdte el forgatni. Elmondása szerint, rendkívül izgalmas feladat volt számára, hogy gyerekekkel dolgozhatott együtt. 2006 végén elkezdődtek a A másik Boleyn lány c. film forgatási munkálatai, melyben Portman Boleyn Anna szerepét kapta meg, noha először Mary szerepét kínálták fel neki. A Marie Claire Magazinnak úgy nyilatkozott: "Anna sokkal jobban izgatott, mint a kiszámítható, egyenes Mary. Nagyobb kihívásnak éreztem ezt az elvetemült, bonyolult, romlott embert eljátszani, mert én nem ilyen vagyok."
Szintén 2006-ban, Portman Wong Kar-wai My Blueberry Nights - A távolság íze c. filmjében szerepelt. Ebben egy bájos szélhámost, Leslie karakterét alakította. Emellett egy kisebb szerepet kapott a Simpson család 18. évadjában, melyben Bart Simpson barátnőjének, Darcynak kölcsönözte a hangját. [15] 2007-ben Wes Anderson rövidfilmjében, a Hotel Chevalierben tűnt fel, melyben először vállalt el egy meztelen jelenetet. 2008-ban Portman lett a 61. Cannes-i Filmfesztivál legfiatalabb zsűritagja.