Natalie Hershlag[a], better known as Natalie Portman, was born on June 9, 1981. She is an actress, film producer, and director who holds both Israeli and American citizenship. Starting her career as a teenager, Portman has appeared in many major and independent films. She has won several awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Portman was born in Jerusalem and moved to the United States at age three. She began acting at twelve, playing the young protégée of a hitman in Léon: The Professional (1994). While still in high school, she made her Broadway debut in The Diary of Anne Frank (1997) and became internationally known for her role as Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999). From 1999 to 2003, Portman studied at Harvard University and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. During these years, she took fewer acting roles but continued to appear in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002 and 2005) and performed in a 2001 revival of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull at The Public Theater.
Profile Summary
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Natalie Portman |
| Birth Name | Natalie Hershlag |
| Date of Birth | June 9, 1981 (age 45) |
| Place of Birth | Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel |
| Citizenship | Israel; United States |
| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupations | Actress; Director; Producer |
| Years Active | 1993–present |
| Works | Full list |
| Children | 2 |
Personal Relationships
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Spouse | Benjamin Millepied (m. 2012; div. 2024) |
| Partner | Tanguy Destable (2025–present) |
Age
Natalie Hershlag was born on June 9, 1981, in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. She is 45 years old.
Biography & Early life
Natalie Hershlag was born on June 9, 1981, at Hadassah Medical Center[9] in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel, to Jewish parents. She is the only child of Shelley Stevens, an artist from Ohio, and Avner Hershlag, a gynecologist from Israel. Her maternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Austria who settled in the United States. Her paternal grandparents moved from Poland to Israel/Palestine in the late 1930s. Natalie grandfather led a Jewish youth movement in Poland and went to Palestine, hoping to bring his family later, but they were killed at Auschwitz. Her paternal grandmother, originally from Romania, worked as a spy for the British during World War II. Portman holds both Israeli and American citizenship.
Portman and her family moved to the United States when she was three. They first lived in Washington, D.C., then moved to Connecticut in 1988, and later settled in Syosset, Long Island. While in Washington, she attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Maryland. Her first language is Hebrew. On Long Island, she went to the Solomon Schechter Day School of Nassau County. She studied ballet and modern dance at the American Theater Dance Workshop and often attended the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Portman described her early life by saying, “different from the other kids. I was more ambitious. I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard.”
When Portman was ten, a Revlon agent noticed her at a pizza restaurant and invited her to become a child model. She declined but used the chance to find an acting agent. She auditioned for the 1992 off-Broadway musical Ruthless!, which is about a girl willing to do anything to get the lead in a school play. Both Portman and Britney Spears were chosen as understudies for the lead actress, Laura Bell Bundy.
Personal life
Portman speaks English, Hebrew, French, German, Japanese, and Arabic to varying degrees. In 2006, she spoke about her strong connection to her Jewish identity, especially in Israel, and said she wants to raise her children Jewish: “A priority for me is definitely that I’d like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner.”
Portman has dated Zach Braff, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Devendra Banhart. She married French dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied, and they have two children together. The couple met in 2009 while working on Black Swan and got married on August 4, 2012, in a Jewish ceremony in Big Sur, California.
In 2013, Portman lived in Los Angeles. When Millepied became director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet, the family moved to Paris in autumn 2014. Portman also showed interest in getting French citizenship. In January 2014, Millepied said he was converting to Judaism. From 2017 to 2021, Portman owned a home in Montecito and still owns a home in Los Feliz, Los Angeles. In early 2023, there were reports of Millepied having an affair, but the couple did not comment publicly. On March 8, 2024, it was announced that Portman and Millepied had divorced. In March 2025, Portman began dating French music producer Tanguy Destable and announced her third pregnancy in April 2026.
Filmography and awards
According to Box Office Mojo and Rotten Tomatoes, Portman’s most acclaimed and highest-grossing films include Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), Closer (2004), Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), V for Vendetta (2005), Black Swan (2010), No Strings Attached (2011), Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), Jackie (2016), Annihilation (2018), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022).
Portman has won many awards for her work, such as an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Net Worth
Natalie Portman has a net worth of $90 million, with most of her wealth coming from acting and producing films.
