Natalie Portman: A different breed of film star

05-05-2007 07:15

Ever since she arrived on the scene with an astonishing performance in 'Léon' aged just 12 Natalie Portman has had the knack of leaving those who encounter her enthralled.The distinctively featured actress has a tendency to induce a fascinated response akin to obsession. It is a presence which has beguiled audiences and directors alike and without which Portman would not have risen to where she is today. It has also been a source of grief for the 25-year-old.Portman's could so easily have been an all too familiar story of child stardom gone wrong. A less robust and thoughtful soul may not have been able to reconcile themselves to becoming what the actress recently termed a "paedophile magnet" when only just into their teens. Her role as a Lolita-esque orphan who befriends Jean Reno's hitman in 'Léon' brought much unwanted and often inappropriate attention which it was a feat of level-headedness to endure. The chastening experience of receiving explicit fan mail from adult fans, along with her academic, art house bent, led Portman away from the body exploitation inherent to young, stunning women starting out in Hollywood.When her second movie 'Beautiful Girls' called for nudity Portman headed for the exit, only to be persuaded to return when the offending sections of the script were cut.Unlike most young stars Portman was not being propelled by pushy parents eager for a bit of vicarious attention. She recalls their initial reaction to her foray into the movies as a worldly wise, "We know what happens to child actors, they end up in rehab".Unimpressed by what Hollywood had to offer, Portman's parents let her take film roles on the proviso that her school work would never suffer. The daughter of a serious-minded Israeli doctor and a well-to-do Jewish American housewife, she was never likely to live out the child-star nightmare of becoming a pre-teen crack addict bent on self-destruction.