(Credits: Far Out / Stephanie Branchu / Fox Searchlight Pictures / BAC Films)
Sat 14 March 2026 21:45, UK
Natalie Portman has been a part of Hollywood for over three decades and has grown up and evolved as an actor due to her remarkable selection of roles.
She may have begun as the snarky kid from Léon: The Professional and Beautiful Girls, but she became a sci-fi heartthrob in the Star Wars prequels, a bona fide movie star, a decorated actor with an Oscar on her mantle, and an activist for prominent political and social causes.
It’s not often that a child star succeeds in being taken seriously once they grow older, and it’s even less frequent that an actor praised for her beauty can transform herself into playing vastly different characters. What isn’t a surprise is that Portman’s selections of the greatest performances in history reflect the same versatility that she has as a star, with her first pick being Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence, which is a favourite among many performers because of the raw, unfiltered realism that the late actress offered in her collaborations with her husband, John Cassavetes.
A Woman Under the Influence is a haunting portrayal of destruction, which is a subject that Portman channelled into Black Swan, the psychological horror film that earned her the Oscar for ‘Best Actress’, and she followed up picking an equally unhinged performance in the form of Isabella Huppert’s role in The Piano Teacher, the controversial Lars Von Trier film about a music instructor with sadistic, sexual fantasies.
To deal with intimate topics in a way that is shocking, but not exploitative, is not an easy task, which may be why The Piano Teacher was instantly reclaimed as a modern masterpiece. Portman attempted to do something similar in the Mike Nichols film Closer, adapted from the popular stage show of the same name, which earned her an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’.
That she also cited Julianne Moore’s performance in Todd Haynes’ psychological drama Safe is fascinating because she would later find herself working alongside them both, co-starring with the former in Haynes’ most recent film, May December, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival before being acquired by Netflix. Ironically, the film’s plot revolves around Portman’s character, an actress, becoming obsessed with the woman played by Moore so she can play her in a movie.
Nicole Kidman’s performance in Gus Van Sant’s scathing dark comedy To Die For was also recommended by the actor, and it’s a film that has only grown more relevant over time due to its loaded commentary on the cult behind prominent media figures and the effect that violence has on a captive audience. While they did not share any scenes with one another, Portman and Kidman both appeared in the 2003 Civil War epic Cold Mountain.
Her last pick was the only film released once she had truly acquired global fame, as Alexander Payne’s Election came out only a year after she starred in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Reese Witherspoon’s performance was a groundbreaking moment of a former child star graduating into a more mature, self-aware role, and it may have been one that Portman was able to relate to, given their similar career paths. If anything, Witherspoon hasn’t taken advantage of her talents in recent years because of how much time she has spent making television, and might do herself a favour if she attempted to model her career off of Portman’s.