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 think two Michael Hurwitzes may be conflated. The Michael who is son of Israel and Bessie appears in 1910 with siblings William, Lewis, Samuel, Nora, and Harry.
The Michael who was married to Esther Schiff has an obit that lists his siblings as Emmanuel, Abraham, Jennie, Rose and Edith. Not a single corresponding name in the bunch.
The Baltimore Sun; Publication Date: 4 Mar 1953; Publication Place: Baltimore, Maryland, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/373898937/?article=d69deef0-ff3e-4f0f-ae5a-71ab3baea73c&focus=0.500811,0.033694837,0.6133597,0.089346334&xid=3355
Do you have the correct parents for Michael Hurwitz? His marriage record shows his parents as Simon Hurwitz and Fannie Alexander.
Ancestry.com. U.S., Marriages performed by three Rabbis in Boston, Chicago and Massachusetts,1861-1956 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Fun act, I love how people say no “Asian” has ever the best Actress award while completely glossing over Natalie. She was born in and has citizenship to an Asian country (Israel) and her native language, Hebrew is an Asian language. She is Asian, no ifs or buts. But I guess because she looks European and doesn’t have a surname like “Chan” means that she has absolutely no right to claim being “Asian”.
@alexgxo You are right. People have to be more specific about what they are saying. They have to say “East Asian” instead of saying only “Asian”.
Asia is diverse. She looks more arab or middle eastern than chinese. Seriously….
“She looks more arab or middle eastern than chinese. Seriously….”
You sound full blown clueless and retarded.
Natale Portman is nearly a clone of WASP Keira Knightly.
Seriously.
You’re being deliberately obtuse.
Thanks what. So you think all asians are chinese?? Narrow minded and more stupid
Moron, and you even shame yourself with a profile pic?
She does look like my mother
Is your mother Lebanese or Jewish?
My mother is Jewish
She looks Lebanese.
her pigmentation is definitely lighter than the average Lebanese woman, also her features are more European than anything. Lebanon is in Middle East and Lebanese people look Middle Eastern for the most part.
Levantine Christians, or Maronites, tend to look like Natalie Portman.
Middle Eastern isn’t a homogeneous race. Kuwaitis and Yemenis for instance do NOT look like Lebanese and Kurds. Just the same way Indonesians don’t look like Japanese people.
It’s true Lebanese Christians are a bit different from the Arabs, but Natalie looks completely European.
The only Kurd I know is a guy from Eastern Turkey who works at a kebab restaurant next to my house. He almost looks South Asian, and he’s much more exotic than his Istanbul-born Turkish boss (who is also quite swarthy and hairy)
Not at all.
This site tends to choose unflattering and unusual pictures of most stars.
Portman would be quite atypical for the Levant, outside of Jews in Israel…
Her look also is found in the British Isles. and Keira Knightley can easily be Portman’s sister.
Most Jews in Israel don’t look like Natalie Portman. There are exceptions of course..
Did you fail geography class?
Middle Easterners ARE as “Asian” as the Japanese and Indonesians. All those countries ARE ASIAN COUNTRIES. They are ALL ASIAN PEOPLE.
But for some reason people decided that “Asian” is a race and that only East Asians with some exceptions including other parts of Asia are “Asian”.
I’ve known some Lebanese Christians and they didn’t look like Natalie Portman. Darker hair, rounder eyes, more prominent noses and thick eyebrows. The stereotypical Middle Eastern traits. They weren’t brown like Saudis, but Portman looks French.
You have no clue what an Arabian looks like.
Such an ignorant and embarrassing post.
Yes, she looks Lebanese
No she doesn’t.
Moron.
She looks like WASP Keira Knightly’s sister.
You can easily Google a side by side pic.
I will do it for you clown:
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2004c5f2f89d855882c3853d825256ab