Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman has been in show business since her pre-teen years when a Revlon modeling scout tried to persuade her to pursue modeling at the tender age of ten. While Portman turned down the modeling opportunity, she did leverage it to get herself an acting agent, and, two years later, landed her first feature film in the action-packed Leon: The Professional. Portman blew audiences away as 12-year-old Mathilda, a young girl hell-bent on vengeance, who falls into the care of a hardened hitman and eventually becomes his disciple. Since then, she has starred in a wide variety of movies spanning several genres.
Despite having a successful acting career from a young age, Portman continued with her education while simultaneously pursuing acting. She has previously described herself as an ambitious, hard-working, and very serious child who knew what she wanted. Portman made her Broadway debut while still in high school and starred in the popular Star Wars prequel trilogy while working towards a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Harvard University. Portman currently has several projects on the horizon including the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, which will be released on July 8, 2022. Portman will reprise her role as Jane Foster in the film, and it has been confirmed that the movie will follow Jane’s cancer storyline from the comics and that she will become Mighty Thor. In anticipation of her latest action role, we have created a list of Natalie Portman’s best action movies, ranked.
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6 Mars Attacks
Tim Burton Productions
Tim Burton’s action-packed science fiction satire Mars Attacks boasted a huge ensemble cast and was based on the Topps Brand Mars Attacks Trading Cards. It is a devilishly funny guilty pleasure that pays homage to the Ed Wood style B movies of yesteryear. The plot resembles that of another popular alien invasion film Independence Day, which was released the same year. The stories are so similar that one could reasonably assume that Mars Attacks is meant as a parody of the former, however, any similarities are purely coincidental. In a small but memorable role, Portman plays Taffy Dale the rebellious teenage daughter of the fictional President of the United States, who finds love amid the madness. With the announcement of the upcoming Beetlejuice 2, Burton fans are hoping to see a return of Mars Attacks as well.
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5 Thor and Thor: The Dark World
Marvel Studios
Thor and Thor: The Dark World are the first two films in the MCU Thor franchise. Chris Hemsworth stars as the Asgardian god who, after defying his father, is banished to Earth as a mere mortal. While Thor’s hammer Mjolnir accompanies him to Earth, it is cast with a spell that allows only the worthy to wield it. Portman co-stars as astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster. Portman reprises her role for the sequel wherein her character Jane absorbs an unearthly weapon into her called the Aether while amid a war between the Asgardians and Malekith, leader of the Dark Elves. Portman is also confirmed to return once again as Jane in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, and fans cant wait to see her transformation into her superhero counterpart Mighty Thor.
4 Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
20th Century Fox
Natalie Portman starred as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. Padmé was the first the Queen of Naboo and later its advocate for democracy as Senator. After an attempted assassination, she was sent back to Naboo under the protection of Anakin Skywalker, and the two were eventually married in secret. When Padmé became pregnant, she told her husband, and his subsequent fear of losing her and his unborn children lured him over to the dark side. He believed becoming a Sith would earn him unyielding power that would protect her during childbirth. Despite his hopes, Padmé died shortly after giving birth to twins Luke and Leia Skywalker. Portman has not yet introduced her kids to the Star Wars prequel trilogy as she states to yahoo!: “It’s so fun to be part of something that kids relate to so much. I haven’t shown my kids the movies yet — I think it’s so weird for them to think of me as anything other than their mom.”
3 Annihilation
Skydance Media
Annihilation is a science fiction action thriller written and directed by Alex Garland about an expedition into a restricted disaster zone surrounding a meteorite crash site. Upon entering what is known as “The Shimmer,” the all-female explorers discover that all plant and animal life has been fused together as if part of a DNA splicing experiment. The film is expertly written by Garland, and underneath the outer premise it cleverly addresses deeper themes. According to Empire magazine, the film’s themes include “depression, grief, and the human propensity for self-destruction,” which is why it earns its place as one of Portman’s best action movies.
2 V for Vendetta
Silver Pictures
V for Vendetta is a dystopian action film based on the DC Vertigo comics series of the same name. It follows an anarchist named simply V and his attempts to bring down a fascist regime that has yielded power in the UK. V tries to encourage a revolution through acts of terrorism to wake up the public. Caught in the crossfires is Evey Hammond (Portman) who unwittingly gets involved with V, but soon realizes they are more alike than originally thought. V for Vendetta is one of Portman’s best action movies because of her connection and commitment to the material. Portman campaigned for the role because she was a huge fan of the graphic novel source material. Moreover, she had her head shaved on camera for the prison scene. Portman told Vanity Fair: “Shaving my head, it was a great experience in life, not just in film. It’s surprising how something so simple can make you feel like, what a big deal so many gender expectations are on you, and how different people treat you and how different people look at you just from your hair, which is kind of crazy.”
1 Leon: The Professional
Les Films du Dauphin
In her best action movie The Professional, Portman bursts onto the screen as 12-year-old Mathilda, an unhappy child in a troubled family. When her whole family is murdered by corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield, Mathilda takes refuge with her neighbor and hitman Leon. The pair form an unlikely bond and Leon eventually comes to mentor the young girl who wants to avenge the death of her four-year-old brother. Portman’s parents were initially reluctant to allow her to accept the role due to the sex and violence in the original script, however, director Luc Besson agreed to remove the nudity from the film as well as the murders perpetrated by Portman’s character for her to secure the role. Nonetheless, the film has been heavily criticized for the central relationship between Leon and Mathilda being overtly sexualized. Portman herself recently opened up to Dax Shepherd on his podcast Armchair Expert about how being sexualized as a young girl affected her career choices afterward (via IndieWire).
