If you're trying to motivate your 17-year-old through the exams, 18-year-old actress Natalie Portman is a terrific role model to put forward. Since her role as Queen Amidala in
Star Wars, she can write her own ticket in Hollywood and doesn't have to go to university - yet she has chosen to limit her film career in favour of the demanding Ivy League.
She's also learning to be independent from her parents, who have a reputation for being loving but also very protective. "I think I have the worst combination of things to have protective parents. I'm an only child, I'm Jewish and I'm an actress. My parents are always worried when I go out, because I could be bothered by somebody. So, to be independent this year was obviously shocking - and liberating. I love being able to set my own curfew and make my own decisions," she says.
Her acting is limited to summer holidays from university. After co-starring last fall with Susan Sarandon in Anywhere But Here, Portman steps into another literary coming-of-age story,
Where the Heart Is. And when her semester ends in May, she'll be heading to Australia to recreate her role as Queen Amidala in the next
Star Wars. For more on Natalie Portman, try
entertainment.msn.com
