Natalie Portman reveals she made surprising discovery about family members

Natalie Portman has recently opened up about her family discovery while working on her new thriller, Lady in the Lake.

In a new interview with PEOPLE at the premiere of the Apple TV+ limited series on July 10, the Atonement star said, “I don’t like to compare myself to my characters. I always try to explore something different from what I am in my real life.”

“But something that was really different for this was that my grandmother was in her 40s during the 1960s, and she was originally from Baltimore — where this is set — in the Jewish community,” remarked the 43-year-old.

Natalie told the outlet, “I really got to explore what her life might have been like, what challenges she might have faced, what feelings she might have been frustrated by. And so that was really amazing to imagine.”

While talking about finding her family members, the Black Swan actress mentioned, “I was actually doing a family tree for my mom’s birthday at the same time, and it was so wild to discover the immigration papers of my great-grandparents coming from Eastern Europe to Baltimore, to find census records that were where they lived in Baltimore and then be walking those streets.”

“There’s a Jewish deli there that’s been open for like 100 years — walking in and thinking my great-grandmother walked in here,” continued the Closer actress.

Natalie added, “I never really had that connection to place because my family was in a different city every generation, often different country every generation, so it was really wild to feel that for the first time.”

Meanwhile, the first two episodes of Lady in the Lake will premiere on AppleTV+ on July 19.