Ask American Profile

Natalie Portman, Bill Hemmer, Phil Mickelson

Natalie Portman was great in the two most recent Star Wars movies. What’s her background?
—Jody M., Tennessee

The 21-year-old actress, born in Jerusalem, Israel, and raised in Syosset, N.Y., was discovered at age 11 in a pizza parlor by a Revlon modeling agent. Her father is a doctor, specializing in infertility, and her mother is an artist and homemaker, who now acts as her agent. Portman didn’t find modeling very interesting and turned toward acting. She made her film debut in 1994 in The Professional and soon went on to roles in Heat with Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro and Beautiful Girls, where she garnered rave reviews for her performance as a wise-beyond-her-years young girl. Portman debuted on Broadway in the title role of The Diary of Anne Frank in the late 1990s. She had never seen the three previous Star Wars movies when she took the role as Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace. While her acting career has been incredibly successful, Portman attends Harvard as a psychology major and has said that she eventually wants to become a doctor, like her father.

Bill Hemmer of CNN News is a favorite of mine. Please tell me more about him.
—Cynthia M., Texas

You aren’t alone. The 37-year-old anchor and reporter was selected as one of People magazine’s America’s Top 50 Bachelors last year. Hemmer joined CNN in 1995 and has made a name for himself as a wanderer, going wherever the big stories take him. Close to home, he received an Emmy Award for his coverage of the 1996 Olympic Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta. He later worked the “hanging chads” story from Florida after the 2000 presidential election; traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., to cover Timothy McVeigh’s execution; and reported from Ground Zero in New York City and the front lines of Operation Enduring Freedom from Kandahar in 2001. Most recently, he was in the thick of it all as tensions heated up in Israel earlier this year. Hemmer started his television career as a sports anchor on WCPO-TV in Cincinnati and won three local Emmy awards in 1993 for Best Investigative Story, Best Entertainment Programming, and Best Host. Hemmer graduated from Miami University in Ohio with a bachelor’s degree in communication.

Why did Phil Mickelson drop out of the PGA Tour for a few months?
—Peg H., Wisconsin

When Phil Mickelson’s wife gave birth to their second child, Sophia Isabella, on Oct. 23, 2001, he decided to take a few months off from golf to spend with his family. “I’ve been playing golf for 29 or 30 years,” he said at the time. “So it’s not like I’m going to forget how.” After a few months of staying away from golf tournaments, Mickelson, 32, proved he hadn’t forgotten a thing. He took top honors at his first return outing, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Mickelson, who grew up in San Diego, started swinging a mini-club when he was just 1 1/2 years old, imitating his father’s practice swings in the family’s back yard. At 3, he tried to run away from home because his parents wouldn’t let him play at the local golf course with his father. When he was 4, he played his first full 18 holes, crying at the 18th because he realized that meant the game was over. That love of the game continued through his teen and adult years. He’s won numerous tournaments, but a “major” still eludes him. He and his wife, Amy, live in Scottsdale, Ariz., with their two daughters, Amanda and Sophia. Fans can find out more about him at his official website, www.phil-mickelson.com.

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