The 15 Best Natalie Portman Movies, Ranked

From ‘Thor’ to ‘Black Swan,’ the Oscar-winning actress has shined in blockbusters and art-house favorites alike.

Famous since she was 13 , Natalie Portman has weather her very public stardom with unflinching seemliness . Despite spectacular find performances inLéon : The Professional , Heat , andMars Attacks ! , she stay on something of a lightning rod cell . Cinephiles incline to disagree on whether Portman is becharm or distancing , effortless or strain . Offscreen , she has cultivated an unknowability that give to the disparate reactions her work make . But for those who prize Portman — and we at Thrillist certainly do — that only enhance her enthralling mystique . The far-flung snickering about theStar Warsprequels , which arrived right as she was entering adulthood , seems to have hearten Portman , prompting the increasingly daring choices that continue to this day . Thor : Love and Thundermay not be the boldest of Portmanian crusade , but it is reason enough to rank her 15 must - see performance .

15. TheStar Warsprequels (1999-2005)

Natalie Portman was one of the few constants running through the three films that make up theStar Warsprequel trilogy , play the now iconic queen - turned - senator Padmé Amidala and provide the accelerator for one of cinema ’s most famous blackguard turns . Padmé is mainly remembered for her outfit , outrageousandenviableand downrightweird , her tomentum always in some kind of somberness - defying updo . But do n’t underestimate her intensity level of character or her bright negotiating skills . As Padmé , Portman exercised her eldritch ability to reign a elbow room , front down the chilling aliens and stop even Jedi knight in their track . Her acting , like everyone else ’s , was bluntly criticized at the time of the movies ' release for being too wooden for the flowery dialogue , but it ’s not knockout to see Portman ’s earnestness and acuate convictions strain through the cracks . — Emma Stefansky

14.No Strings Attached(2011)

Shortly afterBlack Swancame this somewhat misbegotten rom - com fromGhostbustersdirector Ivan Reitman andNew Girlcreator Elizabeth Merriweather asterisk Ashton Kutcher as a dispiritedly romanticist nepo babe and Portman as an aloof doctor with a relationship allergic reaction . The wind ' chemistry as a not - dyad who met as stripling at summertime camp and pop up in each other ’s adult life , leading to an eventual friends - with - benefit office , is not on the button sorcerous , but quotation perish to both of them for putting in the effort . And though Portman got shaft with a thinly drawn graphic symbol , she manages to jiggle out some very funny melodic phrase ( " She has a boyfriend … named Bones?").No Strings Attachedno doubt feel its age , but largely thanks to its supporting players — including Lake Bell , Mindy Kaling , Greta Gerwig , Jake Johnson , and Kevin Kline — it holds up well enough as a breezy watch.—Leanne Butkovic

13.Knight of Cups(2015)

Like many a Terrence Malick film , Knight of Cupsonly kind of has a plot of land . Based on seven different tarot cards , it follows Hollywood screenwriter Rick ( Christian Bale ) as meanders his way through the Los Angeles sunlight in a fog of executive director , back lots , celeb - filled parties , and , of course , many women . Portman plays one of the ones get in Rick ’s crossfire ; her character , Elizabeth , is a matrimonial womanhood take an involvement with him . It ’s mostly a portion of breathy vox - over , but as always , Portman wreak dignity to even the smallest purpose ( see also : Malick’sSong to Song ) . — Kerensa Cadenas

12. TheThormovies (2011-2022)

Playing " the girlfriend " in a superhero picture show is the musical genre ’s most thankless role : all of the maudlin breakup scenes and none of the fun action , unless you ’re the damoiselle in distress . Hoping to break that pattern , Marvel hired Natalie Portman to play brilliant physicist Jane Foster opposite Chris Hemsworth ’s godly Thor in Kenneth Branagh ’s 2011 origin movie — but it was n’t until the unfairly drag through the mud sequel , Thor : The Dark World , that Jane became an built-in part of Thor ’s mythos . Sidelined inThor : Ragnarokbut brought back for an galvanising return inThor : Love and Thunder , Portman is the improbable and often funny foil for Hemsworth ’s Shakespearian theatrics , marrying science and deception in a dance of opposites.—ES

11.Where the Heart Is(2000)

To be plainspoken , Where the Heart Ismight be a speculative movie . Based on a novel by Billie Letts , it has an flakey assumption — a stripling gets abandon by her bad musician swain at a Walmart in Oklahoma and then gives parturition in said Walmart — that ’s effectively anchored by Portman , who plays the ridiculously named Novalee Nation . It ’s corny and over - the - top , but there ’s something about its secret charms that make the movie worth revisit , mostly due to Portman and vista partner Ashley Judd and Stockard Channing . pick up it on Lifetime at the right moment and it might just make you tear up a bit . — KC

10.Garden State(2004)

Look . On the one hired man , Natalie Portman ’s performance inGarden Statemight have set adult female back a couple of years and been a net negative for the universe . On the other hand , Portman ’s Sam had an inexplicable hold on many who learn Zach Braff ’s launching feature of speech at a tender age . Sam is a consummate male phantasy : a bubbly epileptic who will salve the damage dude Hero of Alexandria by instruct him to bosom weirdness and hear to The Shins ' purportedly life - changing music . At the same sentence , Portman is incredibly gushing in the role , overcoming some of the inherent frustrations of the personation . Sure , she erroneously teach us that boys would be concerned if girl made eldritch interference all the time , but she also give heart and depth to an original that would have otherwise been a ended tragedy . — Esther Zuckerman

9.V for Vendetta(2005)

In the ensuing year between this movie ’s spillage and our current import , as we ’ve watch political conspiracy theories go from a transgressive " us " thing to a dangerous " them " affair , embraced by redpilled Redditors and voiceless edgelords willing to overturn the actual , real - liveliness politics , it ’s easy to forget how trulygoodthis movie is , led almost only by Natalie Portman ’s galvanizing performance . As Evey Hammond , a mousy employee of fascist dystopian Britain ’s state - run news broadcast web , Portman holds her own opposite Hugo Weaving ’s masked revolutionist , bang only as V , dressed in a black cloak and face obscured by a cartoonish Guy Fawkes rictus grin . Though Portman is put through the dead ringer — famously having her nous shaved , in one take , on camera — she is the perfect humanizing agent for the tongue - sharp , take - no - prisoners ideology ofV for Vendetta ’s vision of revolution : a fuse that can be lit by anyone , anywhere . — ES

8.Cold Mountain(2003)

Cold Mountainarrived at a polar meter in Portman ’s career . TheStar Warsprequels had ended one year in the beginning , leaving skeptics marvel whether her wooden good turn as an intergalactic queen regnant signaled fluky things for her future . This Civil War melodrama proved them awry . Portman ’s office is small , but she blazes through her section with the anguish of a char who has been os - crushingly animalise by men and the armed combat they ’ve waged . The performance get down up an otherwise relatively sedate period piece , furnish an ideal bridge to the critical rebirth expect her on the other side . — Matthew Jacobs

7.Léon: The Professional(1994)

Portman possesses a contradictory persona that fits in just flop with the musical style films of her other career . She ’s beautiful in a delicate sort of elbow room , but there ’s a hard edge to it that she uses to her advantage . Her film debut was as Mathilda Lando , the young daughter of an abusive father who is off by a drug - nut DEA broker ( Gary Oldman ) after he let out the man has been steal from the cocaine stash he ’s being paid to keep safe . Mathilda assay sanctuary in the flat of her neighbor Léon ( Jean Reno ) , a hitman who reluctantly takes the little girl under his annexe , learn her the tricks of the trade . As Mathilda , Portman is penny-pinching , small , and elfin , with a murderous fury boiling beneath the surface that will keep your middle glued to her every move . — ES

6.Anywhere but Here(1999)

In hindsight , it ’s easy to see that Natalie Portman was always going to be Natalie Portman . But when revisiting her young workplace , it ’s noteworthy just how honest she ’s always been . That applies toAnywhere but Here , where she ’s couple with Susan Sarandon as her kooky mother who moves them to Los Angeles to have her daughter pursue an acting life history she does n’t require to do . Portman is understandably the fledged one of the two , behaving beyond her years as the nipper of someone she deeply loves but whose action she ca n’t quite justify . — KC

5.Closer(2004)

Some of Portman ’s good line reading are in Mike Nichols’Closer , specifically during a chargedscene she shares with Clive Owen . remain firm in a posh London artistic production gallery , Owen ’s dashing skin doctor asks whether the novel her case ’s boyfriend ( Jude Law ) has pen is based on her . " Some of me , " she coos , cigarette perch between her fingers . What does the book exit out , he asks . Portman pause , her mascara - heavy bedroom eyes unflinching . Out add up two words—“the truth , " mouth like a come - on — and a soft leaning of the head that ’s impudent and deliriously sensual . As Alice , a former stripper cycling in and out of personal loss , Portman masks exposure with a slick ease , result in a bewitching tour of her depth as a performer . She earned her first Oscar nominating address for the role , and deservedly so . — MJ

4.Annihilation(2018)

It ’s tough to give a compelling performance in a scene that is quite literally indescribable , eldritch , alien . But that ’s exactly what Portman does inAnnihilation , toy a stony yet rummy biology professor and Army vet who harmonize to an expedition into " the Shimmer , " a tract of land that has been irrevocably changed following the crash of an artefact from out space . Alex Garland ’s adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer ’s mystifying novel does little to explain anything that ’s go on , swear on ensemble performances from some of our most talented actress to get across the bizarre beats of the movie ’s meander plot . Portman grounds these component in a determined sense of realism before she , too , succumbs to the strangeness in one of the best and most bone - chilling last to hail out of sci - fi cinema in the past decade . — ES

3.Vox Lux(2018)

Vox Luxdidn’t make enceinte waves beyond indie - moving-picture show diehards , but Brady Corbet ’s movie is arguably one of Portman ’s most controversial performances . Here at Thrillist , we ’re coming down steadfastly on the side of pro - Celeste . Corbet ’s outre and alienating take on the world of pop euphony — Vox Luxadmittedly seems to detest popping music — is broken into two parts . In the first , Raffey Cassidy plays Celeste , a vocalizer who rises to fame in the aftermath of a local disaster . In the second , Portman take over her station as the adult translation of the character , now hardened by life and having somehow develop a thicker Staten Island accent . Portman bathes in this abrasiveness , bucking any desire for empathy with huge swings . Plus , she sings and dances . It ’s laborious to say no to something as gonzo as this . — EZ

2.Black Swan(2010)

She was arrant . Portman had been doing fantastical work for years before Darren Aronofsky ’s ballet thriller came along , but it wasBlack Swanthat propelled her to a new echelon . As Nina Sayers , an ambitious New York City ballerina drive to madness , Portman combines the lithe animalism that she has always used to her reward with an uncertain duskiness brought out by Aronofsky ’s chaotic twirl onSwan Lake . Portman throws her whole body into the role . you may finger her enfeeblement watching it , but she also fundamentally sympathize the material — yes , this is serious while at the same time being campy fun . Hey , it bring home the bacon her an Oscar for a reason . — EZ

1.Jackie(2016)

Some people criticize Portman ’s grownup performances for seeming too mannered , but that exact quality is what makesJackieso electrical . Its field , the deep Jacqueline Kennedy , was the paradigm of mannered , a guard and apprehensive renown — like Portman herself — who played an outsized role in mythologizing her married man ’s legacy . The breathy , almost unplaceable mid - Atlantic accent and hardened regard that Portman adopt to present Kennedy in Pablo Larraín ’s refreshingly unconventional biopic are overwhelming in their enchantment . Larraín often shoots her in extreme closing curtain - up , demanding sexual interrogation of the role ’s self-contradictory emotions , and Portman rises to the challenge , filtering Kennedy ’s linear perspective on JFK ’s character assassination through a well of resentments both utter and not . There will be other great Portman operation , but there wo n’t be another Camelot . — MJ

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