NATALIE PORTMAN — STAR AND LEADING WOMAN

Natal­ie Port­man made her sen­sa­tion­al debut as a teenag­er in the 1990s in Léon: The Pro­fes­sion­al, and was 15 when she per­formed oppo­site Al Paci­no, who played her step­fa­ther in Heat in 1995. That same year, she played the youngest role in Beau­ti­ful Girls along­side Uma Thurman.

But it was in play­ing the Queen of Naboo in George Lucas’ Star Wars: The Phan­tom Men­ace (1999) that she made a last­ing impres­sion as a sov­er­eign devot­ed to her peo­ple, and also as a world-renowned actress. At only 18, she had already col­lab­o­rat­ed with such greats as Michael Mann, Woody Allen and Tim Burton.

After study­ing at Har­vard, she made one ambi­tious film after anoth­er, from Antho­ny Minghel­la’s Gold Moun­tain (2003) to Mike Nichais’ Glos­er (2004), which offered one of her most inter­est­ing roles, as the first film that treat­ed her as a woman.

ln 2007, she por­trayed a pok­er play­er along­side Norah Jones in Wong Kar­ wai’s My Blue­ber­ry Nights. Ali of these roles are marked by her ambiva­lent pres­ence, a blend of strength and fragili­ty (V for Vendet­ta, 2006, and The Oth­er Boleyn Girl, 2008).

Her thirst for dis­cov­ery led her from Amos Gitaï’s com­mit­ment with Free Zone to the Mar­vel Uni­verse with Thor: Love and Thun­der, by way of Ter­rence Mal­ick­’s asceti­cism (Knight of Gups, Song to Song).

Her career took a piv­otai turn in 2011 with Black Swan, Dar­ren Aronof­sky’s thriller in which she played a schiz­o­phrenic bal­le­ri­na. Her por­tray­al earned her the Gold­en Globe and the Acad­e­my Award for Best Actress.

ln 2017, she was nom­i­nat­ed for an Oscar again for her per­for­mance in Pablo Lar­rafn’s Jack­ie.

ln 2014, the actress moved behind the cam­era and direct­ed A Tale of Love and Dark­ness, an adap­ta­tion of the nov­el by Amos Oz.

Natal­ie Port­man has tack­led one demand­ing role after the next, shap­ing a pro­tean and ded­i­cat­ed career. Through­out her jour­ney, she has been able to prove her abil­i­ty to por­tray all types of char­ac­ters with depth and accuracy.

The great actress­es, from Gar­bo to Diet­rich, from Ava Gard­ner to Meryl Streep and Jes­si­ca Chas­tain by way of Mar­i­lyn Mon­roe, have all con­tributed to cin­e­ma’s mythol­o­gy … So has Natal­ie Portman.

lt’s high time for the Deauville Fes­ti­val to present her with a Deauville Tal­ent Award. On this occa­sion, she will present the pre­miere of Todd Haynes’ May Decem­ber, which played in competition.