The "Black Swan" lead has a bachelor's degree from Harvard — making her the first alum to win an Academy Award — and took graduate courses at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She enrolled at Harvard as Natalie Herschlag, her birth name, for the anonymity, but her professors noted that she was an exceptional student.

Portman speaks six languages and has twice been published in scientific journals. As she once told the New York Post, "I'd rather be smart than a movie star."