From Star Wars to Black Swan, Natalie Portman has done films that showcase her exceptional talent, and versatility as an actress. The Anywhere But Here actress constantly takes challenging roles and her constant effort to play the character in an authentic manner has made her one of the best actresses of this generation. Moreover, massive success at an early age and an iconic role in her resume with an Academy Award for Best Actress attracted her only fame and praise from critics and audiences.
The Star Wars actress is extremely humble and dedicated to making a positive impact on the world. Hence, she makes an active effort to social and environmental problems when she is not working in front of a camera. Recently, the Garden State actress discussed her noble reasons for owning a women’s sports team.
Natalie Portman’s Noble Reason For Owning a Sports Team
Natalie Portman has always been at the forefront of addressing women’s issues. The actress uses her influential position to fearlessly talk about the unchanging struggles of women, that is, pay disparity and lack of representation faced by women in different fields of life. Time and again, she has made impactful opportunities for women.
In order to promote women’s sports, the Hotel Chevalier actress is a co-founder of Angel City Football Club, a brand new National Women’s Soccer League team in L.A. Recently, Natalie Portman gave an exclusive interview, where she states that she is immensely proud of owning a women’s soccer team, and how she is proud to show her kids and the world.
“Well, that’s the joy of soccer or as many people call it football, that it’s something that really brings people together and is joyful. And so, you can be supporting something like women’s equity, but also having a great time doing it.”
The actress stated that she never dreamed of owning a professional sports team, but that changed when she noticed that her children viewed female soccer players with the same “admiration and fandom” as male soccer players.
“I was like this is culture change. This is it. If our boys look up to women like that, that’s how everything changes. That’s what got me really excited. And it was really the female players being such icons and heroes… I think their leadership, on and off the field in the (2019) World Cup really was the inspiration for me and seeing Of course, my child react in that way.”
Natalie Portman assembled an Angel City ownership group, which consists of some of the world’s best athletes and Hollywood stars. The actress added that in a strange turn of events, she has become a soccer fan.
“I could like barely walk across the street without tripping, so this is definitely an unusual, unexpected turn of events in my life – my love for (soccer).”
The actress stated that one of the members of the ownership group is Kara Nortman, a technology venture capitalist, whom she met during the Time’s Up movement against sexual harassment in Hollywood. Nortman also happens to be the first person to come to Portman’s aid.
“It was the fact that it was Natalie Portman, you know, queen of Star Wars, first female Thor, and I thought, well, if Natalie thinks it’s possible, maybe it’s possible,” Nortman said.
Unlike other sports teams that aim on keeping ticket sales in their pockets, part of Angel City’s mandate is to put 1% of the ticket sales in the pockets of the players. And in return, players would promote sales on their social media platforms. The sports team has sold 16,000 season tickets, and 10% of sponsorship money would go to the aid of local community partnerships.
Natalie Portman Solely Aims To Impress Her Children
In a separate interview, the actress stated she is at that phase in her life where “I feel like it’s the phase of my career where I’m really trying to just impress my kids.” And it was them who inspired her to do Thor: Love and Thunder.
She added that her children were ecstatic to see their mother go to work, but this time was different as they wanted to see her in her superhero avatar.
“Enthralled by this process, getting to visit the set and see me dressed up in a cape. It made it really cool. You know, it’s very rare that my kids are like, ‘Please go to work!’ Usually, it’s quite the opposite.”
Even though Portman is only trying to impress her children, many people that she meets on the street immensely appreciate her hard work and efforts, she put in to provide ample opportunities to women, and how she is inspiring a massive change.
Source: ESPN
