Natalie Portman’s 10 Best Performances, Ranked

Natalie Portman is a very gifted actress with a lot of great appearances over the years. Here’s a look at her 10 best performances, ranked.

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Natalie Portman has risen to become one of the most accomplished and well-respected actresses of her generation. Beginning her career as a child actor in the superb Leon: The Professional, Portman has since gone on to win an Academy Award to go along with two additional nominations. We last saw her in Avengers: Endgame and Lucy in the Sky in 2019, two films that demonstrate Portman’s diverse acting ability.

Next up, Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder and the TV series What If…? Until then, let’s celebrate Natalie Portman’s 10 Best Performances!

10 Anne (The Other Boleyn Girl)

In one of her first instances playing a real-life historical figure, Portman burned up the screen opposite ScarJo in The Other Boleyn Girl.

The ravishing tale of romantic intrigue finds two rivaling siblings out to win the affection of a dashing suitor. And not just any suitor, but King Henry VIII (Eric Bana)! As the two gorgeous sisters vie for the King, they must also contend with their family’s flagrant ambition as well as a changing European landscape.

9 Evey (V For Vendetta)

Portman gives one of her most badass and physically exigent turns as Evey in the Wachowski-written sci-fi action drama V for Vendetta.

Directed by James Teague, the film imagines a future world where Britain has devolved into a tyrannical monarchy. With the help of Evey, a cunning resistance fighter called V (Hugo Weaving) mounts a plot to overthrow the dictatorship and restore societal freedom. Portman is soft and vulnerable when needed, but also strong and inviolable when the stakes rise.

8 Ann (Anywhere But Here)

Portman and fellow Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon make one of the best mother-daughter pairs of the past two decades in Anywhere But Here, the big-screen adaptation of Mona Simpson’s acclaimed novel.

Fed up with her station in life, Adele ditches her family and second hubby in dreary Bay City for sunny Beverly Hills. However, Adele takes her daughter Ann with her, whom she wants to turn into a child movie star in Hollywood. With the two at odds for the entire trip, the mother/daughter bond strengthens over time.

7 Lena (Annihilation)

In Alex Garland’s trippy and mind-boggling sci-fi horror tale Annihilation, Portman stars as a woman determined to do whatever it takes to honor the legacy of her missing husband.

When a soldier named Kane (Oscar Isaac) suddenly goes missing, her biologist wife Lena braves the mission to go into an ecological disaster area to find him. With a team of female experts, Lena stumbles upon a gravity-defying environment where the laws of physics do not apply. The further the women go, the harder it is to explain what they witness. In the end, Lena must make the ultimate decision in order to reunite with Kane.

6 Celeste (Vox Lux)

As international pop superstar Celeste, Portman owns the stage like never before in Vox Lux!

The artsy exploration of a woman’s unlikely rise to fame can be viewed as the flipside to Black Swan. While Nina is timid, unsure and lacking in confidence, Celeste is the direct opposite. She’s cool, confident, in control as an unapproachable pop music star out of touch with everyday people. A commanding performance!

5 Mathilda (Leon)

It’s almost impossible to believe Portman’s very first onscreen acting gig came in Luc Besson’s classic tale of unrequited romance. But it’s true, Leon was Portman’s first movie!

The title refers to Leon (Jean Reno), a childlike hitman with his own quirks and peccadilloes. When 12-year-old Mathilda sees her family slaughtered by a drug dealer, she seeks shelter in Leon’s apartment building. Over time, Leon begins to care for Mathilda, teach her the ways of the world and tricks of his trade, while falling in love with her. Portman brings a natural maturity to the role few other actresses could even dream about.

4 Sam (Garden State)

If Portman didn’t already have your heart, chances are she snatched it right out of your chest as the adorably quirky Sam in Garden State.

In Zach Braff’s highly-praised rom-com, struggling L.A. actor Andrew (Braff) returns home in New Jersey to bury his dead mother. When Andrew goes to the hospital for migraines, he accidentally meets Sam, a cute and lovable epileptic patient. As the two spend time together, each begins to fill the hole in the aching soul of the other.

3 Alice (Closer)

Portman earned the first Oscar nod of her career for playing the precocious Alice in Mike Nichols’ Closer. It’s still the only nomination for Best Supporting Actress that she’s received. The others were for Lead Actress!

The tale of steamy infidelity among two handsome couples afforded Portman a chance to show her sexy side as Alice, a waitress turned stripper. The movie, based on the Patrick Marber play, also features Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen (also nominated for an Oscar) in the central roles.

2 Jackie Kennedy (Jackie)

In a faraway, loopy, and overwhelmed turn as the grieving first lady, Portman has rarely given a better performance than that in Jackie. It’s no surprise that she earned her third Oscar nod for her work in the film.

Pablo Larrain’s film focuses on Jackie Kennedy’s unraveling mental state following the shocking assassination of her husband and leader of the free world, President John F. Kennedy. The movie successfully explores Jackie’s fractious mind and a whirlwind of confusing emotions in a time of unthinkable loss and grief. Simply brilliant!

1 Nina (Black Swan)

In a manically obsessed, tour-de-force turn as Nina Sayers, Portman beautifully demonstrated what a tortured artist will endure achieving near perfection. In this case, it takes self-inflicted death!

Nina is a highly stressed and overly uptight ballet dancer given the starring role as the Swan Queen in her theater’s production of Black Swan. Wracked by intense exhaustion and stress, Nina slowly becomes the black swan herself in what becomes one large virtuosic meta-remake of the title ballet. Portman rightly earned the first Oscar of her career!

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/natalie-portman-best-performances-ranked/