Natalie soars as Lindsay stumbles
NATALIE Portman’s best actress victory over the daunting likes of Annette Bening at last month’s Oscars was a personal triumph for her. But it also serves to highlight, by point of stark contrast, the instructive difference in her career when compared to that of another impressive former child star actress, Lindsay Lohan.
Both stars are lovely and gifted young thespians, but after their initial successes, they’ve taken wildly different paths—Natalie to the heights of Oscar glory, and Lindsay into the klepto courtroom and rehab.
What has spelled the big difference? Parenting seems to be a key factor. Lohan’s father and mother were constantly at odds, “stage-parenting” her into a state of utter confusion, while Natalie’s folks motivated her not just to work hard to become a good actress, but also to further her studies by taking time off from her stellar career to study psychology at Harvard University, where she got her degree in 2003. A starlet at Harvard? That’s one for the books in Hollywood!
Even better, Natalie did theater (Chekov’s “The Seagull” at New York City’s prestigious Public Theater), and won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress for her performance in “Closer.”
More: In 2006, Natalie served as the youngest member of the 61st Cannes Film Festival jury. She also debuted as a director in the short film “Eve,” which opened the 61st Venice Film Fest.
Aside from winning an Oscar, Natalie’s portrayal in “Black Swan” also snagged the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA awards for best actress.
Article continues after this advertisementTabloid, paparazzi fodder
Article continues after this advertisementOn the other hand, after her breathtakingly effervescent and most promising juvenile performances in “Parent Trap,” “Freaky Friday” and other early starrers, Lindsay has become tabloid and paparazzi fodder with her much-publicized personal career excesses.
Still she’s too good an actress to be dismissed as a hopeless and unredeemable person and artist. We trust that, before it’s too late, she can still come into her own as the fine actress she deserves to be —once her conflicted “stage parents” get out of her hair and stop living in her reflected glory.
What about Natalie Portman? After her triumph in “Black Swan,” we can expect her career to fly higher, and even more challenging roles to come her way.
Since, unlike Lindsay, she has both feet on the ground, we can expect her to take full advantage of the golden opportunity that her Oscar award has provided for her to move up to the top level of the silver screen’s top young-adult dramatic actress.
