Natalie Portman

The Jerusalem-born daughter of a fertility doctor and an artist went on to study psychology at Harvard, and, if the 2005 nod for her role in Closer is anything to go by, it doesn't seem to have damaged her career in the slightest.

Born on June 9, 1981, Natalie has long been on the serious side, deciding to become a vegetarian at the ripe old age of eight, taking time to learn three additional languages (French, Hebrew and Japanese) and making her Broadway debut while earning near-perfect marks as a full-time high school student. "I feel I'm a positive role model by not putting my education on hold," she said at the time. "I'm showing girls my age it's not dorky to want to study and go to school instead of just partying."

Natalie has also gone her own route in her film career in fact, one can learn almost as much about her from the films she has turned down as from the ones she's accepted. She appeared in the musical comedy Everyone Says I Love You and wacky sci-fi hit Mars Attacks, but passed on Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet because, at 15, she wasn't comfortable with the on-screen love affair with 22-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio. She also rejected two other sexy film offers: the steamy teen seductress in Lolita and Christina Ricci's sexually-charged part in The Ice Storm because it was "too dark".

Susan Sarandon felt so strongly about including the highly principled young actress as her co-star in Anywhere But Here that she had the script revamped removing a nude scene in order for Natalie to sign on. "More young actresses have to say no to being exploited," says Natalie. "The same producers and directors aren't asking young actors to do these kinds of things."

Natalie "seems older than she is" and "has a natural grace" says Susan, while "controlled" and "cerebral" are the adjectives that come to mind for Anywhere But Here director Wayne Wang. And all of those complicated qualities came into play when the brainy brunette was chosen to play Queen Amidala in the final three Star Wars sagas. "I wanted somebody who could be commanding, but who could still be young," says George Lucas. "I was looking for somebody who was smart and strong and a terrific actress and Natalie met all those qualifications."

Though she's found a level of success which many aspiring actresses can only dream of, it's clear Natalie won't settle for just being a beautiful Hollywood starlet. "You don't get to use your brain that much you do for certain roles, but not most," she says. "Acting's more of a hobby for me. There's such a big world beyond Star Wars and beyond films."