Natalie Portman: A Biography
By Sarah Lilton
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
ABOUT THE BOOK
Born in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981, Natalie Hershlag grew up to be Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman. An only child, she moved to the United States with her parents, Avner Hershlag and Shelley Stevens in 1984. Her father, an Israeli fertility doctor, and mother, an artist from Ohio, gave their only child a strong upbringing in Long Island, New York where they stressed education and travel. Natalie’s first language is Hebrew, but she has spoken English since she was a toddler.
Natalie visited Israel twice a year as a child, and thanks to her father she still has dual citizenship. She attended Conservative Jewish day school through the seventh grade “to preserve my Hebrew and my sense of Israel more than anything religious,” Natalie told the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix.
As a child growing up on Long Island, she found her classmates treating her differently after she began getting work as an actress. It started as early as her first film role in Leon: The Professional in 1994. “In seventh grade, I cried every day when I came back from shooting The Professional,” she told the Jewish News agency in 2002. Years later, she would find the same isolation due to her fame while attending college.
Because of her parents, Natalie chose to attend the Ivy-League Harvard University when most of her counterparts were finding themselves in the tabloids by getting in trouble. Natalie drew upon her Israeli background when she penned an op-ed piece in her college newspaper objecting to a law student’s essay condemning Israel. She objected to his assertion that the Middle Eastern country is a “racist colonial occupation ... (in which) white Israeli soldiers destroy refugee camps of the brown people they have dispossessed.”
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
Family is important to Natalie. When she won her Golden Globe for Black Swan, she made a point to thank her grandmother Bernice, who lives in Cincinnati. In fact, it is this branch of Natalie’s family that could be responsible for Natalie’s foray into acting. Bernice’s husband Art, who changed his last name from Edelstein to Stevens, started the family showbiz tradition by starring in his own ads for his windows company, according to an article in The American Israelite.
Natalie’s parents, Avner and Shelley, who met at a Jewish Center at Ohio State University, strived to maintain a strong extended family for their only child even after their move to New York. Bernice told the Cincinnati Enquirer in a quote that was included in the American Israelite that she visited her daughter’s family in New York several times a year and, “even though Natalie and I have never lived in the same city — we bonded when she was a baby.”
The family had settled in the New York area after moving from Israel and Natalie experienced a serene upbringing. As a youth she attended exclusive and competitive theater camps like Stagedoor Manor and Usden Camp in the Catskills. She was discovered by a Revlon agent when she was 10 at a Long Island pizza parlor and acting in movies like Heat and Mars Attacks! early in her career.
Natalie starred as Anne Frank on Broadway in 1998, a role she found extremely personal. “I grew up with the Holocaust, because my grandparents lost their entire families,” Natalie told the Jewish News. She even found a similar story to Anne’s in her own family. “My grandfather's 14-year-old brother was also hidden, but one day he couldn't take it anymore and he ran outside and was shot.”
She found the role so emotional that she often found herself crying offstage. She told the Jewish News that “It's a stunning realization when you come to see how much historical memory affects you,” she says...
...buy the book to read more!
Sarah Lilton
Sarah Lilton is an experienced author and researcher, and a member of the Hyperink publishing team.
Related to Natalie Portman
Related ebooks
The Girl in the Velvet Swing: by Simon Baatz | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerican Like Me: Reflections on Life Between Cultures by America Ferrera | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Lanford Wilson's "Burn This" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Pearl Cleage's "What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Alice Walker's The Color Purple Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Study Guide for Ntozake Shange's "for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invention of Wings - 101 Amazing Facts & True or False?: GWhizBooks.com Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Summary of The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Sui Sin Far's "Mrs. Spring Fragrance" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRachel Maddow: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir by Beck Dorey-Stein | Conversation Starters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Study Guide for E.L. Doctorow's "Ragtime" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInfinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Susan Power's "The Grass Dancer" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Interestings - 101 Amazing Facts You Didn't Know: GWhizBooks.com Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDoris Day: A Biography of the Famous American Actress and Singer Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5From the Corner of the Oval: A Memoir by Beck Dorey-Stein | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Anne Tyler's "Average Waves in Unprotected Waters" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Wendy Wasserstein's "Workout" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuest for Truth: Here and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHalle Berry A Short Unauthorized Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Joyce Carol Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings"A Study Guide for Angie Thomas's ""The Hate U Give""" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Invention of Wings - 101 Amazing Facts & Trivia King!: GWhizBooks.com Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st-Century Memoir by Madeleine Albright Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Study Guide for Sharon Pollock's "Blood Relations" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Women of Warrior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biography & Memoir For You
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Autism in Heels: The Untold Story of a Female Life on the Spectrum Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elon Musk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Reacher Reading Order: The Complete Lee Child’s Reading List Of Jack Reacher Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Stolen Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Girls Don't Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: the heartfelt, funny memoir by a New York Times bestselling therapist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5People, Places, Things: My Human Landmarks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Solace of Open Spaces: Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World's Most Beloved Neighbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Garlic and Sapphires: The secret life of a restaurant critic in disguise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Just Mercy: a story of justice and redemption Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mommie Dearest Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ivy League Counterfeiter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Rediscovered Books): A Triumph Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Mob: The Fight Against Organized Crime in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Billion Years: My Escape From a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Natalie Portman
1 rating0 reviews