Though she had a small claim to fame prior to Star Wars, Natalie Portman came to international attention with her appearance in The Phantom Menace as Padme Amidala. Since then, her career has taken her all the way to the Academy Awards, winning Best Actress for her performance in Black Swan. If you had told me in 1999 that she would one day win an Oscar, I would have laughed it off as a ridiculous notion. Never have I been happier to be wrong.
