In many ways, the good-looking, talented, and charming Natalie Portman encompasses everything idyllic about Hollywood and the good old US of A, serving as the epitome of an all-American girl.
However, this is all very ironic, because she isn't American at all, not by birth anyway, where her mother was from the state of Ohio, but her father originally came from Israel, which is where she was born in 1981.
Since then, her Israeli and Jewish heritage rarely comes up in her work, with one notable exception being the 2005 film Free Zone , directed by Amos Gitai, the title of which comes from an area where the borders of many Middle Eastern countries meet, and people of all nationalities conduct free trade and enterprise.
As the modern debate over Hollywood and its ties with Israel rages on in the face of the relentless genocide, it's important to remember that there have always been pitfalls associated with filming in the country. Portman's links to Israel have always been one of her most criticised features, but they actual came back to bite her this time around.
