Natalie Portman | Natalie Hershlag

Award-winning actress Natalie Portman was born Natalie Hershlag in Jerusalem, Israel in 1981. Her father was a gynecologist and an Israeli national while her mother was an American citizen. Portman holds both an American and Israeli citizenship because of her parentage. When she was 11, she was found in a fast food restaurant and was invited to be a child model, but she refused.

Early on in her career, she decided not to use her real family name to protect her family’s privacy. We all know this could be a problem for big stars like her. She might have also invested in a state of the art home security system to make sure her family members residing both in Israel and in the United States are safe. She took her grandmother’s maiden name “Portman” instead for her stage name. The first time she used this name was on The Professional.