I was really into dancing, taking six classes a week, and my real dream was to be in a Broadway show.
More quotes from Natalie Portman
I’m always on the phone because I’m usually not with the people I want to be with.
Where I live, nobody who’s fourteen is having sex and doing major drugs. And I think if you see it in the movies, you may be influenced by it. I think it’s so important to preserve your innocence.
My father has a general rule. He says if I haven’t done it in real life I shouldn’t do it on-screen.
Awards are so unnecessary, because I think we get so much out of our work just by doing it. The work is a reward in itself.
I always ask myself, would I want someone to do something that wasn’t comfortable for them just to please me? And the answer is no.
They tell me: ‘OK, this is where we’re going to push up your cleavage,’ and I’m like, ‘What cleavage?’
I’m pretty hard on myself in general.
There are movies where we are interested in seeing people’s lives without agreeing with what they’re doing.
Ninety per cent of how you learn is watching great people. When you are surrounded by good actors it lifts your performance.
Young actors often don’t think of the consequences of doing nudity or sex scenes. They want the role so badly that they agree to be exploited, and then end up embarrassing family, friends, and even strangers.
When I was 7 years old, I put on shows for everyone at my grandpa’s funeral. I was always the little entertainer.
I was like a total cliched ’80s child. I had Barbies, obviously, as well as My Little Ponies and Cabbage Patch Kids, but I used to destroy them. I used to draw all over their faces and cut off their hair.
If you’re an actress or a musician, everyone thinks you’re hot.
I was definitely different from the other kids… I was more ambitious. I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked really hard. I was a very serious kid.
There’s so much else to do in the world. To just be interested in doing films would limit my life.
Breast implants gross me out. I don’t think they’re attractive at all.
I love milk so much! I make a point of drinking a glass of milk every day. So now anyone who did those milk ads with the milk mustaches, they’re my heroes.
The only place I am recognized all the time is in L.A. and otherwise, it’s only about once a day. I feel pretty anonymous.
I’m afraid of everything. But maybe when you’re afraid of everything, it sort of seems like you’re scared of nothing.
I’ve stood up to producers before, and even a director. I saw them being abusive. A lot of people on the set are scared to say stuff when they’re not being treated right.
There’s always pressure, from other people and yourself. If you’re happy with the looks you’re born with, then what are you going to do your whole life?. We keep thinking up new things and finding better ways of doing things because we’re not happy with what we’re given.
I’m not convinced about marriage. Divorce is so easy, and that fact that gay people are not allowed to marry takes much of the meaning out of it. Committing yourself to one person is sacred.
I like acting for now. But after seeing Apollo 13, what I really want to do is to be an astronaut. I’m dying to go to a space camp next summer!
I loved school so much that most of my classmates considered me a dork.
I tend to lean toward strong female stories. I want to make things that don’t already exist out there.
My dad’s a doctor, and when I was 8, I went to one of his medical conferences where they were demonstrating laser surgery on a chicken. I was so mad that a chicken had to die, I never ate meat again.
Smart women love smart men more than smart men love smart women.
Well, right now, I’m very fascinated with 1920s Berlin. I mean, probably the more interesting thing would be to go to the beginning of civilization or precivilization – like polytheistic times. It would be interesting to see what came before modern religion and culture – what circumstances created the environment or the need for it.
I think school is so much harder than real life. People are so much more accepting when they are adults.
I speak fluent Hebrew and even dream in Hebrew when we visit there, once or twice a year.
I am not someone who sacrifice all for the cinema, my life will be always more important.
When a guy tells me I’m cute, it’s not something desirable. Cute is more like what you want your pet to be.
I was really into dancing, taking six classes a week, and my real dream was to be in a Broadway show.
I remember how to be a person by being around them.
I was really excited to get to shave my head – it’s something I’d wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse. It was nice to shed that level of vanity.
I don’t love studying. I hate studying. I like learning. Learning is beautiful.
I’m a Gemini, so I change my mind every day.
It scares me to think that one day I’m not going to be in school anymore.
It’s always strange being a kid on the set, because you’re treated like an equal when you’re working. But then when you break, the other actors go back to their trailers to take naps and drink beer, and I have to, like, go do school.
I don’t think I’ve ever been in love, I’m sure I will be some day. I’ve had enormous crushes, although I’ve never been into the Brad Pitt thing.
I usually dress very casual. Whenever I go out with my friends, I’m always like, ‘Can’t I just wear sweatpants?’
When I was in nursery school, the teachers asked me, y’know, ‘What does your dad do for a living?’ So I said ‘He helps women get pregnant!’ They called my mom and they were like, ‘What exactly does your husband do?’
I don’t have a normal job, so I really appreciate having friends who are writers and artists. It’s fun to have a group of people you can call in the middle of the day to go for a hike.
Cute is when your personality shines through your looks. Like, when you see someone’s personality in the way they walk and you just feel like hugging them every time you see them.
Star Wars hasn’t changed my life at all.
I’m going to college. I don’t care if it ruins my career. I’d rather be smart than a movie star.
The best part about being friends with your parents is that no matter what you do, they have to keep loving you.
Going to a party, for me, is as much a learning experience as, you know, sitting in a lecture.