How Star Wars actors’ careers have changed through the decades

6. Natalie Portman

While we’d heard references to Luke and Leia’s mother before, as Padme, Natalie Portman was one of the few big characters in the prequels we hadn’t seen on screen before. The role was a central figure of the trilogy who had to explain why Anakin Skywalker would go against the Jedi Order and forsake everything he’d learned.

Before being cast in The Phantom Menace, Portman had worked a bit as a child actor, most prominently in Mars Attacks!, but her career picked up as she made more heartfelt teen movies in between the first and second prequel.

Like her co-star Hayden Christensen, her career stalled a bit during the prequel era due to the backlash over the films, leading her to take smaller roles or work in independent films until she was finally cast in V for Vendetta, which released the same year as Revenge of the Sith, and launched her as a dramatic actress in her own right.

Portman has worked steadily since, taking on bold projects that have earned her critical acclaim like Black Swan and Jackie as well as working in other tentpole franchises like Thor, which will see her return in 2022. She has also taken up an interest behind the camera, writing, directing, and producing a few films, most notably New York, I Love You.