Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role 2011
Natalie Portman Black Swan 2011
SEX WORKER ROLE
Alice Ayres / Jane Jones in Closer 2004
Oscar Nominated For Playing A Stripper/Lap Dancer
Natalie Portman in Closer 2004
In this film adaptation of the play “Closer,” Natalie plays Alice Ayres. She is an American stripper who has just arrived in London looking for work. Alice does private lap dances, plus a bit more, for cash. Later she gets entangled with the male characters in this film, played by Jude Law and Clive Owen.
The New York Times would write about Natalie’s performance:
“.. the tough-yet-vulnerable stripper is worse than a cliché, and Portman bravely tackles the acrobatic challenge of simultaneously inviting and deflecting the audience’s prurient, fascinated gaze. Her soft, wobbly features emphasize Alice’s childishness, making her performance both the most sympathetic in “Closer” and the most troubling. She awakens a queasy protective impulse, a fantasy of rescue that is all the more powerful for being confused.”
Watch clip of the film “Closer”
To read more about other Oscar-winning actresses playing characters working in the sex trade industry, please continue perusing Oscar Hookers