Spotted in a Long Island pizza parlor at age 11 by a modeling rep, Portman landed the role of an assassin's sad-eyed sidekick in 1994's The Professional one year later. Unlike most of her Hollywood peers, Portman (who uses a stage name to protect her family from media attention) took a break from acting — to study psychology at Harvard. She says her parents keep her grounded. ''I value my private life and security way more than getting parts by flashing my boobs on some magazine or being a sex symbol in films,'' she told EW in 2000. Her commitment to craft paid off in 2011 when she scored a Best Actress Oscar for her convincing turn as a ballerina suffering a mental breakdown in Black Swan. —Chris Nashawaty
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