Unlike the rest of her peers - Tara Reid, Lindsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson - Natalie doesn't do bad boyfriends, fights, or ill-advised underwear-free displays.

In fact, since she became famous as Queen Amidala, mother to Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in Star Wars, there has been a regal air to this Hollywood princess.

In a career that has spanned 14 years - she's still only 25 - Natalie has always shied away from nudity and sex scenes, most notably in Closer where she played a stripper, filmed a scene naked but then changed her mind and banned the director from using it.

Natalie also initially turned down her role in Anywhere But Here alongside Susan Sarandon because of a nude scene. But Susan was so keen to work with Natalie that she demanded a script rewrite to drop the scene and Natalie eventually signed up.

Now she will finally appear nude in the upcoming Goya's Ghosts, although it won't be pretty. Her character is accused of being a heretic and has her clothes ripped off in a torture scene.

Natalie denies that she was baring all to shed her child-like persona from the Star Wars series, but she did think the scene was necessary to this film.

Natalie, who appeared in the three Star Wars' prequels, has previously admitted she is uncomfortable being a sex symbol because of her role in Leon, a controversial Lolita-style film where she played a precocious companion to an adult hitman.

Since then she has made a point of shunning explicitly-sexual films. She turned down Adrian Lyne's 1997 remake of Lolita because of its underage sex theme and when she appeared nude with Clive Owen in Closer she begged director Mike Nichols to edit it and just ended up dancing in a thong.

"I wanted to be able to form my own sexual identity," she said. "If other people have you in their mind as some sort of sex object you you have two choices: either live up to it and become super-sexual or rebel and be super-asexual."

So while others have been seduced by the easy money of big films and attention-grabbing strips, Natalie has come through with the world at her feet, all her options open and films she is proud of.

Yet she's not stuffy or as straitlaced as this might suggest - she has even hinted she wouldn't balk at the prospect of a lesbian relationship.

"I've never dated a woman or anything like it, but I think it's much more about the person who you fall in love with," is her thoughtful response.

BEAUTIFUL and brainy though she is, Natalie Portman has been struggling to fulfil her parents earnest wish that she settle down with the right Jewish man.

Past boyfriends include Witness child star Lukas Haas, hitmixer Moby and sexy Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, with whom she has an on-off relationship.

"A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner," she said.

Natalie was born in Israel, but her family moved to America when she was just three. Her father is still very much in touch with his Jewish roots, and apparently tries to encourage non-Jewish boyfriends like Gael to convert.

Natalie has been acting since she was discovered in a pizza place when she was 11 and cast in her first film, Leon. Her career quickly blossomed but, remarkably, she claims she has been able to live a balanced and full life.

"I had a different childhood, a really interesting one where I got to travel and meet people and learned about different things. I got to live in France when I was 12 for Leon, and learned how to ice skate for Beautiful Girls.

"I was lucky enough to have a stable household where my parents were protective and focused on my school and keeping me away from all the nonsense."

While Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton spend their late teens partying, shopping and posing for the papers, Natalie spent those years earning a psychology degree at Harvard, one of the USA's top universities.

"You can't take your eyes off her," said Scrubs star Zach Braff, who cast Natalie as his love interest in romantic drama Garden State while she was finishing her studies.

In a world of Paris Hiltons, this shy and serious young star stands out, opting to drive an environmentally-friendly Toyota Prius instead of a supercharged sportscar. She also works for the Third World to get business loans for impoverished women.

"The world banks are not open to the very poor," she said. "They don't want these people in their lobbies, but more than two-thirds of the world's population makes under Û3 a day.

"What we do is provide small loans for women in developing nations. You see the mother get a loan and then open a business. Suddenly, the daughter can go to the university."

For V For Vendetta, she dispensed with vanity by shaving her head on camera to portray her character's transformation from innocent girl to fascism fighter.

This is cache, read story here