Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman (born Neta-Lee Hershlag on June 9, 1981) portrayed Padmé Amidala in the prequel trilogy. Portman won an Academy Award for her starring role in the 2010 film Black Swan and was additionally nominated for her work on the 2004 film Closer and the 2016 film Jackie.
==Biography==
Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1981. She adopted "Portman"—her maternal grandmother's maiden name—as her stage name in order to protect her family's identity, and starred in the 1994 film Léon: The Professional and a Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Portman was cast by director George Lucas for the prequel trilogy; Beginning in 1997, Portman played the role of Queen Padmé Amidala for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which was released in 1999, when the actress was eighteen years old. 
Keira Knightley was cast as Queen Amidala's handmaiden Sabé partly due to her resemblance of Natalie Portman; during the filming of The Phantom Menace, even their mothers could not tell the two apart when they both appeared with make-up applied. While Portman studied for her bachelor's degree in psychology at Harvard University, she spent her summer break filming for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, which was released in 2002. She began filming for Star Wars: Episode III The Revenge of the Sith'' in 2003. At the time, she said that her character of Padmé Amidala "embodies the true meaning of feminism" since "it's about having access to all the same things but then making decisions from your particular point of view" and despite the fact Padmé was a leader to her people, she chose to be compassionate and value democracy instead of being consumed by the pursuit for power. In a 2007 interview, she said that though she was pleased with her Star Wars work, she had no plans to work with that universe again. In 2023, however, she expressed openness to returning.
==Works==
===Filmography===
Year	Title	Contribution(s) 	Notes
1999	 	Queen Amidala/Padmé Naberrie 	
2002	 	Padmé Amidala, CordéStar Wars Chronicles: The Prequels	Uncredited as Cordé; portrayed Cordé prior to the explosion
2005	 	Padmé Amidala 	
===Bibliography===
Year	Title 	Format 	Contribution(s)
2017	The Phantom Menace Read-Along Storybook and CD 	Young reader	Padmé Amidala
2017	Attack of the Clones Read-Along Storybook and CD	Young reader	Padmé Amidala
2017	Revenge of the Sith Read-Along Storybook and CD 	Young reader	Padmé Amidala
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace Scrapbook
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*Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels
*Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – The Official Collector's Edition
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==Notes and references==
==External links==
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Category:Actors who have portrayed Padmé Amidala
Category:Star Wars prequel trilogy actors