Natalie was born in Jerusalem, Israel in 1981 to a
MD. (Infertility specialist), and her mother who is an artist. Natalie was a onely
child and her family left Israel when she was 3 and moved to the United States
for reasons marked private. Portman's family had to move a lot when they first
got America because of her father's practice. First they moved to Washington then
they moved to Connecticut when she was 7. Then they finally moved to Long Island
New York where they still live today. When Portman's family decided to move from
Jerusalem to the United States they would never have thought that just eight years
later Natalie would be discovered by a Revlon model scout in a pizza parlor in
Long Island.
Soon after this young beauty was discovered she quickly
got an agent. This quickly led to her movie debut in 1994 called the "The
Professional" (a.k.a. "Leon.") A story about a hit man takes in
a young girl without a home after drug dealers kill the rest of her family. The
death of her little brother motivates Natalie's character to ask if he can help
her become a hit man. Young Natalie's part in this movie won her Best Actress
in a Drama for "Leon." This made many eyes turn her way and became known.
Portman, actually Natalie's stage
name is her Grandmothers maiden name. Natalie was afraid to use it, because it
could disgrace her Grandmother's name if her performance in "Leon" was
unsatisfactory. An unsatisfactory performance it was not, and so much in fact
that she was asked to do a short film in 1995 with Francis Conroy, and Jon De
Vries. The film was called "Developing" which is about a single mother
dealing with breast cancer and while trying to come with together with her daughter
finally on good terms. While Nina (played by Natalie Portman) is trying to cope
with her mothers disease and understand what advice her mother tries to give her
on life. Natalie's performance in this short
film brought her to another call for a part as Al Pacino's step daughter in the
1995 drama, "Heat," about a criminal who was just released from prison;
decides to pull off a number of robberies in Los Angeles. Even though Natalie's
performance was short in the movie, and even though she played along big names
she didn't go unnoticed. After "Heat" opportunities started to knock
on Natalie's door. | 
