As I googled Natalie Portman, I found out that she is even a poker plyer. Sha had a poker movie called, My Blueberry Nights. Here's Portman's blog about her poker scene in the movie:
As a poker player, poker author and movie lover, I almost always find myself cringing as I watch dramatic renditions of poker games on the screen. It’s not just the hands themselves that defy credibility, invariably pitting royal flushes against four aces, it’s the language — the classic “I call your fifty and raise you a hunnerd” string bet — and the clumsy way the players handle the chips and cards. Until Rounders, I had never seen a movie in which poker actually resembled the game I know.
So I was thrilled when, a couple of years ago, I was asked to be the poker consultant on My Blueberry Nights, the first American movie by the acclaimed Chinese director Wong Kar-wai. One of the movie’s plotlines features Natalie Portman as a seasoned poker pro, and Mr. Wong, whose films have a romantic, moody beauty, characterized by multilayered visuals and gorgeous sweeping camera work, was curiously adamant that the poker be authentic. He needed someone to help make sure Ms. Natalie Portman looked and sounded like the real thing.
When I arrived for our interview, Mr. Wong stood up to greet me. He was extremely tall with dark sunglasses and a coolly affable, almost courtly manner. He insisted right off that I address him more familiarly as Kar-wai, and though his English was only fair, I was able to understand him when he said, “People must believe Natalie is a professional poker player.”
I assured him I could make that happen. If there was one thing I knew, it was what professionals looked like, how they thought, how they talked and how they carried themselves. Aside from having written two books about poker, I had played for many years as a semipro in the underground New York poker scene and had also frequently attended the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas (with a number of cashes in bracelet events to show for my efforts).
While I tried to arrange a time with Natalie (scheduling with a movie star can be tricky), Kar-wai decided he wanted me to take him on a tour of the New York underground poker clubs so he could get a feel for the world. So, on a Thursday night we met downtown, and I took him and production designer William Chang first to an Italian-American social club and then to a club in the East 30s. We stayed in the social club for all of five minutes, as it apparently did not impress either man much, what with its bad fluorescent lighting and bare white walls. At the club in the East 30s, we were frisked by a large black gentleman standing guard outside the interior doorway before being allowed to enter. I quickly bought into one of the $2-$5 no-limit games so that Kar-wai and William could stand behind me and watch and get a sense of the poker. But after three hands, Kar-wai whispered into my ear, “We’re leaving. We’ve seen enough.”
The door opened and there stood Natalie in blue jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers, petite and fresh-faced and otherworldly beautiful. I could feel sweat flowering under my arms. She flashed a shy smile, gave me an unexpected peck on the cheek and beckoned me in. Her living room was sparsely furnished and had a spectacular view of the Hudson River. Around the corner, by the kitchen nook, a woman about my age was sitting on a stool.
It turned out that Natalie had no real foundation in poker. So we sat at the regulation green felt poker table the prop department had delivered to her apartment, and I started with the basics — the object of the game, hand values and so on. She was a quick study. Once she got a handle on the rudiments, we played a few hands. I wanted her to have a working understanding of the game even though I knew that, ultimately, her grasp of how to play would be less important than her body language and physical movements. Toward that end, Kar-wai and I both felt it would be useful if she watched video of some of the professional game’s top women players. I had brought along a DVD of the World Poker Tour Ladies Night, featuring Annie Duke, Isabelle Mercier, Kathy Liebert and Jennifer Harman among others.
“Notice the way Jennifer Harman lifts up her cards,” I pointed out as we watched the DVD together. “The way she counts out her chips. You see how nothing is rushed. It’s all part of a process. Perhaps Jennifer’s thinking about how to extract the maximum amount out of this hand. Or perhaps she’s thinking about how much she needs to bet here to get her opponent to fold.”
Natalie Portman nodded politely but her eyes began to glaze over. I could see I was trying to do too much, too quickly. For the purposes of a movie, as I said, all she really needed was to look like a pro; she didn’t need to think like one. “Why don’t you just watch this a couple of times without me when you have a chance,” I said, “and maybe pick one of the players to model yourself after.”
Source: Natalie Portman.com
About Natalie Portman: Today Natalie Portman is one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood and she keeps getting film roles that are popular at the box office and allow her to flex her powerful acting muscles. Early film roles in films like Heat, Beautiful Girls, William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet and Mars Attacks! made her gain popularity and would eventually to one of the biggest roles a young actress can ask for, Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
Natalie Portman's 2008 projects include The Other Boleyn Girl. She also ranked No. 15 on AskMen.com's annual Top 99 women of 2008. With so many blockbusters under her belt, not to mention her stunning presence, why wouldn't she have made our list of leading ladies to look out!
