Actress Natalie Portman

It's hard to talk about cinema these days and not bring up Natalie Portman.

Yes, she is attractive, but don't call her America's sweetheart. She's a sharp young woman with sociopolitically leftist opinons, and she holds a psychology degree from Harvard.

Recently awarded the Best Actress Oscar for The Black Swan, Portman first gained attention from movie audiences in Beautiful Girls (hello! :-D), a movie about finding one's way when it's difficult to do. She has also starred in Anywhere but Here and V for Vendetta, but her most visible role was that of Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, a role that made her an object of desire for sci-fi geeks (much like Carrie Fisher had been) . . . though Portman probably was less than thrilled by that.

Fun facts: Portman was born in Israel, and she has studied four languages. Throw in the fact that two of her most famous roles involved wearing whiteface, and it's incredible how much she has in common with Gene Simmons! :-p