Natalie Portman is one of my favorite actresses. Not only is she stunning (no one else comes as close to Audrey Hepburn’s gamine beauty), but she is whip-smart (Harvard-educated, multi-lingual), talented and has an intriguing, quirky resume.

The longtime vegetarian recently wrote a piece about veganism for the Huffington Post, and I encourage everyone read it.

Here’s an excerpt:
“I’ve also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else — a historically dangerous stance (I’m often reminded that ‘Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know’). But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong. Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.”