Natalie Portman

Born: 9 June 1981 Birthplace: Jerusalem, Israel Best Known As: Queen Amidala in the Star Wars series Natalie Portman is best known as Queen Amidala in the George Lucas film Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Portman made her mark as a coming-of-age actress in the mid-1990s, co-starring in The Professional (1994), Heat (1995, with Al Pacino) and Mars Attacks (1996, with Jack Nicholson). Her talent landed her in Woody Allen's movie Everyone Says I Love You (1996) and on Broadway starring as Anne Frank in 1997 revival of The Diary of Anne Frank. The same year Portman portrayed Amidala, she began undergraduate studies at Harvard University; she graduated in 2003. Her other films include the Star Wars sequels Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005), Cold Mountain (2003, with Jude Law) and Garden State (2004, starring Zach Braff). Portman is not the actress's actual last name; she reportedly adopted her grandmother's maiden name of Portman to protect her off-screen privacy.