Did you know that Natalie Portman went to Harvard? Or that she's Israeli? Or that she believes acting in "Star Wars" nearly ruined her career?
This is her story.
This is her story.
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00:00For me, you know, turning 40 while I was playing a superhero was pretty,
00:04a pretty magnificent way to mark the milestone.
00:12I came from a family of academics and was very concerned with being taken seriously.
00:30I was so excited at 13 when the film was released and my work and my art would have a human response.
00:40I excitedly opened my first fan mail to read a rape fantasy that a man had written me.
00:46A countdown was started on my local radio show to my 18th birthday,
00:50euphemistically the date that I would be legal to sleep with.
00:53Movie reviewers talked about my budding breasts in reviews.
01:03I rejected any role that even had a kissing scene and talked about that choice deliberately
01:08in interviews. I emphasized how bookish I was and how serious I was and I cultivated
01:14an elegant way of dressing.
01:23When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars Episode I, I knew I would be starting
01:34over in terms of how people viewed me. I feared people would assume I had gotten in just for
01:39being famous. I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn't smart enough to be in
01:44this company and that every time I opened my mouth, I would have to prove I wasn't just a dumb actress.
01:53I really see it as this young woman's
02:11coming of age and that she becomes a woman. She starts out a girl and becomes a woman
02:17by finding her own artistic voice and sort of killing the child's version of herself.
02:33It's so special to get to go to the premiere and see the passion that people have for these
02:38movies and to see people dressed up in character and just caring so much about it is so rare and
02:45so unique. I've been a vegetarian since I was nine and I became vegan almost eight years ago.
02:58I learned that the biggest thing I could do to have an impact on the planet's health
03:03was to become vegan.
03:26You are representative for your people whether you want to or not.
03:30You are asked a lot of things all the time just by virtue of being
03:35Israeli and even by virtue of being Jewish.
04:00You know it's something I think women are a lot of really uncomfortable talking about
04:05and it's really important to make sure that you do talk about it because that's how we
04:10we all get to where we where we should be.
04:21We've been living in a system and all have been complicit in a system and accepting a system that
04:27is harassing and abusing and causing so much pain for so many marginalized people and
04:36it's time to change it.
04:40So
04:53when I was reading the books I was struck by how the classic stories had overwhelmingly
05:00male characters and thinking what am I telling my kids both my son and my daughter
05:06about who's in whose stories are important to tell.
05:25It was such a cool opportunity to get to play a superhero especially the mighty Thor is so
05:32incredible and then to have her also have this human side that has weaknesses that has
05:38vulnerabilities that has fears you know was an incredible like I felt like it was something
05:45that I could relate to more than someone who's just tough and badass all the time.