Natalie Portman Trivia Quiz

Answer: June 9, 1981

Natalie was born Natalie Hershlag in Jerusalem, Israel on June 9, 1981 to Avner and Shelley Hershlag. She shares a birthday with my favorite actor, Johnny Depp (1963) as well as Michael J. Fox (1961). Her family moved to Washington, D.C. when Natalie was three years old and then to New York, where she spent her childhood.

Answer: Harvard University

Natalie graduated from Harvard in 2003, with a Bachelor's degree in psychology. In 2005, Natalie pursued graduate studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel. She was credited as a research assistant for Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz's "The Case for Israel".

In March of 2006, she made an appearance as a guest lecturer for the Terrorism and Counter-terrorism course at Columbia University where she discussed themes from her 2006 film, "V for Vendetta". In addition to speaking English and Hebrew, Natalie also studied and/or can speak (to some degree) French, Japanese, German and Arabic.

Answer: Mathilda

Originally, Natalie was turned down for the role of Mathilda (a young girl who seeked the help of a professional assassin in getting revenge for her brother, who was killed by a crooked cop) for being too young, but after she gave a brilliant performance in auditions, Luc Besson (director) decided to cast Natalie in the role.

Answer: True

Although a decoy was used to play Queen Amidala in some scenes, Natalie did appear as both characters throughout the film. Her voice was digitally enhanced to distinguish between Queen Amidala and Padmé. At the time of the film's release, the producers ran a disinformation campaign to suggest that Natalie played the Queen and Padmé at all times throughout the movie.

In reality, Sabe (played by Keira Knightley) was the Queen's decoy. Perhaps because of this campaign, it was said to be difficult to figure out which actress was playing the Queen. Entire websites were devoted to figuring out whether it was Natalie or Keira playing Queen Amidala at any given point.

When fully dressed and in make-up, Natalie and Keira so resembled each other that even Keira's mother, upon visiting the set, had trouble identifying which was her daughter. One trick I've learned (as a huge fan of both actresses) was to look at the eyebrows. Natalie's were noticeably straighter than Keira's, who had more of an arch. Natalie received multiple award nominations (but no wins) for her role in this film, not all of which were honorable. Those nominations included: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress (2000); Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actress - Action (2000); Csapnivalo Awards Golden Slate for Best Female Performance (2000); YoungStar Award for Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film (1999). On a negative note, she was also nominated for a Razzie Award (which "dis"honors the worst achievements of the movie year) for Worst Screen Couple (2000), a nomination shared with Jake Lloyd (who portrayed Anakin Skywalker).

Answer: True

Susan Sarandon had co-star approval for this film and stated that she would pull out unless Natalie was cast in the role of Ann August. Sarandon played Adele August, mother to young Ann August (Natalie), who traveled to Las Angeles in hopes that her daughter would catch the acting bug. For this film, Natalie received her first Golden Globe Award (2000) nomination in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

In the same year, she was also nominated for the Young Artist Award (2000) for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress.

Answer: Wal-Mart

"Where the Heart Is" was based on the best-selling novel by Billie Letts. This film also starred James Frain as Forney, the eccentric but extremely smart young man who delivered Novalee's baby girl, Americus, in Wal-Mart. Novalee made friends with two local women (Stockard Channing as Sister Husband, a religious but promiscuous woman and Ashley Judd as Lexie, a single mother with four kids who had trouble finding a decent man) and the Wal-Mart photographer (David Keith). For this performance, Natalie was nominated for the Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress - Film (2000), and the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Leading Young Actress (2001). Natalie won the YoungStar Award for Best Young Actress - Performance in a Motion Picture Comedy (2000).

Answer: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Once again, Natalie was nominated for a number of awards for her performance as Senator Padmé Amidala in this 2002 film. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (2003) nomination was for Best Actress. (She was no longer relegated to the category of "younger actress".) Other than the one Teen Choice Award that Natalie won for her role, she was also nominated that year (2002) in the category of Choice Chemistry in a Film with co-star Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker).

The people behind the Razzie Awards obviously didn't agree and nominated Natalie and Christensen for Worst Screen Couple (2003). Natalie picked up another nomination at the Razzies that year for Worst Supporting Actress.

Answer: Ada

Natalie appeared in "Cold Mountain" as Sara, a supporting character that Inman (Jude Law) met when he traveled home to Cold Mountain. Though she originally auditioned for the role of Ada Monroe (the woman who Inman left behind when he went to fight in the Civil War), the role was given to Nicole Kidman. Renée Zellweger played Ruby Thewes. Though Natalie was not nominated for any awards for her performance in this film, the movie itself picked up Best Film nominations at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Awards, BAFTA Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Empire Awards, Golden Globe Awards and the PGA Golden Laurel Awards (all in 2004).

Answer: True

Zach Braff has said in multiple interviews, as well as on the DVD commentary, that although his ideal actress to play Sam was always Natalie Portman, he never thought she would agree to it. This film is about a troubled young man, Andrew (Braff), who returned home to New Jersey for his mother's funeral, and Sam (Natalie) was the one upside to being back in the town that he'd left behind so many years ago.

Her performance in "Garden State" led to nominations (though no wins) at the IFTA Awards for Best International Actress (2005), the 2005 MTV Movie Awards for Best Female Performance and Best Kiss (with Zach Braff), Satellite Awards for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (2005), and the 2005 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actress - Drama (together with her performance in 2004's "Closer"), Choice Movie Liar, Choice Movie Liplock (with Zach Braff) and Choice Movie Love Scene (with Zach Braff).

Answer: Closer

"Closer" (2004) starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law and Clive Owen as well, and was directed by Mike Nichols, who also directed Natalie in the stage play "The Seagull." The movie was about two London couples and their adventures in swapping partners. Law played Dan, a mediocre obituary writer who met Alice (Natalie) when he saved her life on a busy London street one day.

After moving in together, Alice inspired Dan to write a book and while being photographed for the book jacket, Dan met Anna (Roberts) and instantly developed feelings for her. Upon being rejected, Dan tried to play a cruel joke on her, unknowingly setting her up with a dermatologist names Larry (Owen).

At the 2005 Golden Globe Awards, Natalie picked up the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Her co-star, Clive Owen, picked up a Golden Globe in the supporting actor category. Other awards that Natalie won for her performance as Alice included the National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble (shared with Owen, Law and Roberts) and the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress (both in 2004).

She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (2005). Natalie was also nominated in the same category at the BAFTA Awards (2005), Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards (2005), Online Film Critics Society Awards (2005), and the Satellite Awards (2005). Her 2005 nomination for Choice Female Actress at the Teen Choice Awards was for her performances in "Closer" and "Garden State".

Answer: V for Vendetta

Natalie was chosen for the role of Evey over other young actresses such as Scarlett Johansson and Bryce Dallas Howard. Set in futuristic, totalitarian Britain, Evey (Natalie) was rescued one night by a masked vigilante known only as V (Hugo Weaving). She found herself an unlikely ally in his plot to bring freedom and justice back to society.

She has stated that she looked forward to shaving her head for the movie, as she had wanted to do that for a long time. As for the English accent, Natalie worked with dialectologist Barbara Berkery (who has worked with Geoffrey Rush, Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow). Natalie picked up another Teen Choice Award nomination in the category of Choice Actress: Drama/Action Adventure Movie (2006).

Answer: "Léon" (1994)

Mathilda (Natalie) returned from grocery shopping to find crooked cop Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman) at her family's apartment, minutes after her father and little brother were murdered. Not wanting Stansfield to realize she was a family member (and chance being killed as well), Mathilda continued down the hall, pretending she lived in a different apartment, that of Léon.

He reluctantly let her inside and from there, the two formed a bond. After finding out that Léon was a professional assassin (or "cleaner"), Mathilda desperately seeked his help in getting revenge for her brother. The movie was released as "The Professional" in the USA.

Answer: Garden State

After being estranged from his family for a decade, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), returned home for his mother's funeral. While in town, he visited the doctor's office to check on intense headaches he'd been having. While in the waiting room, he met Sam (Natalie).

This was the first full conversation the two had, aside from when Sam told Andrew to kick the seeing-eye dog in the balls, since the dog was bothering Andrew.

Answer: Closer

Natalie certainly earned her Golden Globe in this film, starring beside (and not getting swallowed in the shadows by) Jude Law (Dan), Clive Owen and Julia Roberts. Many of her lines were quick comebacks and one-liners, but she had her share of heartfelt scenes, particularly the scene where Alice found out that Dan is leaving her for Anna, which was the same scene shown as the nominee clip at the Golden Globe Awards in 2005.

Answer: Americus

Natalie did a great job in "Where the Heart Is" playing a strong female character that didn't let the setbacks in life hold her back permanently. Novalee raised a daughter with the help of the local townspeople, not accepting handouts from the neighborhood, but allowing them to pitch in when needed. Though it would be expected (and understandable), Novalee did not have a moment of complete self-pity, where she thought her life was over.