Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. Her mother, Ruth (née Greenfield), was an artist and sculptor, and her father, Jack D. Greenfield, was an architect. Natalie's parents divorced when she was three years old
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She has dual American-Israeli citizenship. When she was five years old, her family moved to the United States, where they lived in San Diego until 1986. Natalie started acting professionally at age twelve.
She first appeared on Broadway at age seventeen in the play "For Love Alone". She made her film debut in the 1991 comedy "Boys on the Side", co-starring with Matthew Modine and Peter Dobson.
Since then, she has starred in films such as "The Prince of Tides", "The Horse Whisperer", "Gattaca", "A Bittersweet Life" and "Hilary and Jackie". She earned critical acclaim for her portrayal of a mentally ill girl who develops a relationship with a troubled adolescent boy in the 1999 film "The Ice Storm".
Other films include the 2001 science fiction thriller "A Beautiful Mind", starring Russell Crowe, the 2003 adaptation of the musical "Into The Woods" with Johnny Depp and Emily Blunt, and the 2005 psychological thriller "W.", directed by Sam Mendes.
Natalie is currently filming two films, both of which are based on books by actress Bette Davis: The Whistleblower (based on Davis's 1992 memoir) and Mr. Jones (based on Davis's 1939 novel).
Both are scheduled for release in May 2010.
While at Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in drama in 2001, she also took classes from writing teachers Paul Rudnick and Michael Cunningham at Harvard's Professional Writing Program (also known as PWP).
In July 2007, Natalie married Israeli filmmaker Benjamin Millepied; they have one child together named Jacob Benjamin Millepied born September 23rd 2010.
Her first starring role after becoming a mother was portraying Queen Elisabeth I of England in Stephen Frears' The Queen (2006). In late 2008, she began work on Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller Black Swan (2010), which saw her portraying a ballerina who struggles with obsessive-compulsive disorder. In February 2010 it was announced that Portman would play CIA officer Victoria Nuland in Bradley Cooper's directorial debut Proof