Natalie Portman was born on the 9th of June 1981 in Jerusalem, Israel. When she was three years old, she moved to Washington, and then on to Connecticut at age seven. Two years later, she moved again, to Long Island, New York, where she still lives today.

Portman is not her real name, but her grandmother's maiden name.

At the age of 11, she was discovered at a pizza parlor by a modeling agency. However, she opted to pursue an acting career instead.

She's an A-student, and wants to go to college, although not to major in Drama. She has considered majoring in Math. As for her future career, she's said she'd like to be an astronaut or a veterinarian, but has considered acting.

Natalie says she has terrible stage-fright, and is afraid to miss her lines in a live theater performance. She's also known to quickly get in and out of character when acting.

From what we've been told, she enjoys various forms of dancing, including ballet, jazz and tap dancing. She also enjoys reading and writing. On the set of "Beautiful Girls," she learned how to ice skate, which she also enjoys.

Her favorite musicians are Bjørk, PJ Harvey, Juliana Hatfield, Alanis Morissette and The Jackson 5.

Natalie is a vegetarian. She became a vegetarian at age eight when she witnessed doctors demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken at a medical conference with her father.