How old was Natalie Portman when she made her film debut? Oscar winner talks about "Lolita phase" as a child actor
At the age of 12, Natalie Portman filmed her first movie, Léon: The Professional, which launched her career as a major Hollywood star. Through an Interview magazine interview with Jenna Ortega on April 16, 2025, Portman shared her experiences of s*xualization during her child acting days while facing industry challenges.
"I was really s*xualized, which I think happens to a lot of young girls who are onscreen," Portman told Ortega. "I felt very scared by it. Obviously, s*xuality is a huge part of being a kid, but I wanted it to be inside of me, not directed towards me," she said.
In her debut role as Mathilda, Portman took on the part of a 12-year-old who developed an unconventional attachment with an older hitman in Léon: The Professional. The actress talked about the different types of roles she had to portray in certain phases of her career.
"There was a long Lolita phase," she said, referencing Vladimir Nabokov's controversial 1955 novel Lolita, which centers on an adult man's obsession with a 12-year-old girl.
Nearly 30 years after working on the film, Natalie Portman expressed feeling "complicated" and even "cringey" about her experience with the project. She expressed discomfort regarding how her character was portrayed, according to a 2023 Hollywood Reporter interview.
Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega on child acting
In order to avoid unwanted public scrutiny, Natalie Portman deliberately shaped her public image to present herself as more bookish.
"My way of protecting myself was to be like, 'I'm so serious. I'm so studious. I'm smart, and that's not the kind of girl you attack,'" she explained. "I was like, if I create this image of myself, I'll be left alone. It shouldn't be a thing, but it worked."
Natalie Portman also spoke about the various stereotypes she encountered throughout her career, noting that she had to actively avoid being pigeonholed into certain roles.
Jenna Ortega, 22, who also began acting at a young age, expressed a sense of solidarity with Portman, acknowledging the unique challenges faced by child actors.
"As soon as someone mentions that they were a young actor, you start to look at them differently," Ortega said. "There's something really, really heartwarming but also simultaneously devastating anytime I speak to actresses from previous generations, just because their experience is so jarringly different."
In previous interviews, Natalie Portman outlined the steps she took to protect herself during her initial years in Hollywood. In a 2018 People magazine interview, she explained how she chose to hide her authentic self to prevent others from s*xualising her.
"I understood very quickly, even as a 13-year-old, that if I were to express myself s*xually, I would feel unsafe and that men would feel entitled to discuss and objectify my body to my great discomfort," she said at the time. "I felt the need to cover my body and to inhibit my expression and my work in order to send my own message to the world that I'm someone worthy of safety and respect."
During her 2023 appearance on the Awards Circuit podcast of Variety, Natalie Portman discouraged young individuals from pursuing acting careers because of her personal journey alongside her parents' protective role.
The upcoming film The Gallerist will unite Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega to explore their different experiences in handling early fame across different generations. According to Interview magazine, the upcoming Apple TV+ release of Fountain of Youth will feature Portman in the lead role on May 23, 2025.
