Natalie Portman
Portman in 2011, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Neta-Lee Hershlag
Place of Birth: Jerusalem, Israel
Date of Birth: June 9, 1981
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Natalie Portman is an Israeli and American actress, director, and producer. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Black Swan (2010). She is also known for her roles in Léon: The Professional, Mars Attacks!, the Star Wars universe, beginning with Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; Anywhere but Here, Where the Heart Is, Cold Mountain, Garden State, Closer, V for Vendetta, My Blueberry Nights, The Other Boleyn Girl, Brothers (2009), No Strings Attached, Your Highness, Thor, and its sequels; Jackie, Annihilation, Vox Lux, and May December. She has directed the short film Eve and the feature A Tale of Love and Darkness, which she also starred in. She is the first person born in the 1980s to have won the Best Actress Oscar, and thus could be considered the first millennial to have done so (Eddie Redmayne is the first millennial to have won the Best Actor Academy Award, for The Theory of Everything, 2014). She co-founded production company MountainA. She is an animal rights and environmental activist.
Natalie was born in Jerusalem, Israel, and moved with her family to the U.S. East Coast during her early childhood. Natalie’s father, Avner Hershlag, is Israeli-born; his family were Jews from Poland and Romania. Two of Natalie’s paternal great-grandparents were killed in the Holocaust. Natalie’s mother, Shelley (Stevens), is American, from Ohio; her family were Jewish emigrants from Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Natalie is able to speak Hebrew, and studied French, Japanese, Arabic, and German. She attended Solomon Schechter, a Jewish day school.
Natalie has two children with her former husband, French dancer Benjamin Millepied.
Natalie’s paternal grandfather was Zvi Yehuda Hershlag (the son of Eliezer “Leiser” Hershlag and Leah Penzak). Zvi was an economics professor and author. He was a Polish Jew, who was born in Rzeszów, Poland. Eliezer was born, in 1885, in Dembitz, Poland, the son of Israel Hershlag and Miriam. Leah was born in 1888, in Rzeszow, Poland. Natalie’s great-grandparents Eliezer and Leah were both killed in 1942 in the Holocaust, in Belzec, Poland.
Natalie’s paternal grandmother, Mania/Manya Portman, was a Romanian Jew. Natalie has stated that Mania’s mother spied for the British during World War II.
Natalie’s maternal grandfather was Arthur “Art” Stevens (born Arthur Edelstein; the son of Moses Edelstein and Helen Klar). Arthur was born in New York, to Jewish immigrant parents; Arthur’s paternal grandparents were from Austria and Ukraine, and Arthur’s maternal grandparents were from Russia. Moses Edelstein was the son of Avraham Edelstein (who was born in Kawsko, Stryj, Galicia, the son of Baruch Edelstein [the son of Yosef Edelstein and Neche Ettinger/Ettginger] and Henie Scheninger [the daughter of Abraham Seinwel Scheninger and Eidel]) and Bruche Hendel/Handel/Handler (born in Bolekhiv, Ivano-Frankivs’ka oblast, Ukraine, the daughter of Leib Hendel/Handel and Breine/Brenner Kiwak). Natalie’s great-grandmother Helen Klar was the daughter of Hershel Klar and Sarah.
Natalie’s maternal grandmother was Bernice Hurwitz (the daughter of Michael Hurwitz and Esther Schiff). Bernice was born in Maryland, as were her parents. All of Bernice’s grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe; according to one census, all of her grandparents were born in Lithuania; other censuses list all of her grandparents as having been born in Russia. Michael was the son of Simon Hurwitz and Fannie Alexander. Esther was the daughter of Aaron Harry Schiff and Lizzie/Libby.
Portman in 2006, photo credit: Erik Vanden
Sources: Genealogy of Natalie Portman – https://www.geni.com
Natalie’s maternal grandfather, Arthur Edelstein, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Natalie’s maternal grandmother, Bernice Hurwitz, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Natalie’s maternal great-grandmother, Esther Schiff (Shiff), on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Esther Schiff (Scheff), on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Natalie talks about her background, 2006 – http://www.hillel.org
I’m not sure about the Lithuanian link.
Lithuania has changed its borders so much that it’s hard to tell unless you have a city.
I have seen census from Lithuanians saying they are from Poland or Russia, which is odd.
But it says Russia in more documents than it says Lithuania.
I can’t get that link where Natalie talks about her background to work. I’m curious to see if she mentions Lithuania. I haven’t seen Lithuania mentioned before now.
Also, I’m sure this has been pointed out before. But, Portman, an English surname. Perhaps her Grandmother’s family changed their name for some reason?
I don’t know much more about the Lithuanian connection other than this census that lists four of Portman’s great-great-grandparents as having been born there. Other censuses list Russia instead. I’m not sure if Portman has mentioned it, herself.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHW6-FJ2
“Portman” can be an Ashkenazi Jewish surname as well as an English one. For example: https://familysearch.org/search/record/results#count=20&query=%2Bsurname%3APortman~%20%2Bbirth_place%3ARussia~
Birth Name: Natalie Hershlag
In other words: She probably changed it for her career.
correction; Her eyes are hazel and hazel eyes are just a light brown!
Hazel eyes are the most misunderstood eye color, true hazel eyes are eyes that are a light golden brown colour resembling that of a hazelnut (hence the word hazel), they can contain minimal green when observed in good lighting however green is by no means a requirement. There is a modern North American misconception that hazel eyes are any eye that’s green and brown or multi-coloured that appears to shift in colour (blue, grey or green with brown around the pupil) however this does not make sense due to a hazelnut not presenting any green, blue or grey whatsoever. In Europe (the origin of light eyes and hazelnuts) the true/original meaning is still used; hazel eyes = eyes that resemble the colour of a hazelnut.
source:
http://hazeleyes-wintergoddess.blogspot.com.au/2009/07/hazel-eyes.html
http://m.rateitall.com/iPhone/item.aspx?p=0&ItemID=1074601
Thank you J.J! I thought I had read that before, and it makes sense. Good researching :)
no problems just glad to be of help :) i’m very passionate when it comes to hair and eye colours as you can tell from all my celebrity corrections that are to do with such
Of course not,”hazel” eyes,is more to green,like of Kristin Kreuk,,Raven-Symoné,Zachary Levi…The Natalie’s eyes is fully brown,like of Anne Hathaway
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130929173208/lesmiserables/images/f/ff/Anne-hathaway-chanel-face.jpg
that’s brown for me, he keeps to call it hazel
Her eyes are brown. If that’s not brown I don’t know what is.
http://www.vipwallpaper.com/natalie-portman-1983-wallpaper.html
Even if hazel is “light brown” they are not light enough to be hazel.
correction; excuse me, who do you think you are? her eyes are most definitely a light honey brown resembling a hazelnut how about you look up more pictures which actually are large and clear enough to see her eye colour properly rather than a small obviously edited picture.
http://www.wallpaperswala.com/wp-content/gallery/natalie-portman/natalie-portman-hd_quality-smiling_face.jpg
http://cdn4.moviemagik.us/actors/110/81st-academy-award-natalie-portman-11474799-1768-2560.jpg
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-9vMwH9JcmO8/Tsj75MhiR5I/AAAAAAAAIjQ/h0t2T9S2Fsk/s9000/Natalie_Portman_A9600012.jpg
anne Hathaway also has hazel eyes, and in that picture you linked they look very hazel. “hazel” refers to the light golden and/or reddish brown colour of a hazelnut, the first reference to eyes being described as hazel was by William Shakespeare in which he was comparing a persons eyes to the reddish brown colour of a ripe hazelnut. In North America there is a misconception that hazel eyes are green and brown or any multi-coloured eye that appears to shift in colour which doesn’t make sense as the colour hazel is just simply light brown. If you’re going to debate that light golden/reddish brown eyes like anne Hathaway’s and Natalie portman’s aren’t hazel I suggest you do more research on the hazel eye misconception.
Ashash heres a link I found with a photo about hazel eyes: http://www.wonderquest.com/hazel-eyes-memory2.htm
Typical beautiful Jewish woman.
I fail to see that.
coming from a man named adam :}
What the hell does that mean?
Lots of Jewish guys have the name Adam…
Curly hair and olive skin are gorgeous!
Since when was Adam exclusively a Jewish name? I’m not Jewish.
As someone who is of Greek descent Im inclined to disagree.
“i happen to despise anyone who is Jewish” usually people don’t say directly bigoted things against ethnic groups on this site. Natalie is pretty.
Yeah.
correction; yes her eyes are light brown but that makes them hazel, I think it should be listed as hazel (light brown)
Are “light brown” and “hazel” really the same thing? Her eyes look clearly brown to me.
I don’t know about in Europe, but I believe in North america Hazel usually means a mixture of Brown and Green, sometimes Green with brown in the middle or eyes that look greener/browner depending on the light.
Her eyes are beautiful but to me they look more amberish-brown, not a true brown but a brown with reddish tones.
I don’t know. I don’t see any green in her eyes.
Same. So in my personal opinion, I don’t think they are hazel. More brown :P
heres a link I found about hazel eyes Ashash: http://www.wonderquest.com/hazel-eyes-memory2.htm
Thank you, leslie2.