Actress Natalie Portman opens up about childhood, life, death and shving up in the upcoming Holiday issue of the New York Times Style magazine.

On growing up:“I was once told that the age you are is the age you were when you became who you are. Does that mean I am perpetually 11? I’m not sure I want to have that strict an image. In the movie business, there is such a temptation to stick with a particular persona. There is a kind of artistic branding.”

On shaving her head:“Being bald was great, but the regrowth was the problem. My hair is very curly, and I’d have to have someone iron it if I wanted it to be straight. There was a lot of head-burning. And I started craving hair. I wanted to feel like a girl again.”

On death scenes:“I’ve died many times. I died in Closer, but they changed the ending and, miraculously, I lived. I also died in Star Wars and in Cold Mountain. Death scenes are not more difficult than other scenes. It’s much harder to laugh than cry. I find it so hard to fake laughing. I have no laugh except my own, and that laugh is very particular, very modern. It’s hard to make any other laugh sound real. It’s like sneezing: you really only have one sneeze.”

Natalie also sat down with the newspaper for a video interview to talk about her childhood, her favorite sounds and her happiest times. Watch it here.

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