Natalie Portman arrives at my apartment early Saturday morning, takes off her coat, and sinks into an armchair. In her long-sleeved white pullover, tailored navy trousers, chunky-heeled loafers, and what appears to be no makeup, Natalie looks her age--15--but seems older in a self-possessed way.

We start talking about what she feels is an in-between stage of her life. Like just about every teenager I've ever met, she dislikes the word "teen." "You go through these phases--one second you're a child, the next you're a woman. I'm still very kid-like. I like playing."

When I comment on the fact that she is not wearing any makeup, Natalie explains she actually is. "I usually wear cover-up and Chapstick--those are my basics."

The truth is, even though Natalie has always felt confident about her appearance, she doesn't place much importance on physical beauty, in herself or other people. "I think self confidence is such a part of beauty," she says. "My whole family is beautiful because they're confident and intelligent. All of my really close friends are so beautiful," she continues. "Many of them are really, really beautiful externally and internally. It's not like one of my criteria, like I put out an ad--'Pretty people please apply,"' she explains. "But everyone seems to think my friends are beautiful. When you look at them you can tell they're good people from the way they act and the way they feel about themselves and other people. If you don't think you're a beautiful person, then other people won't either."

But she has always had to deal with the attention her looks bring her. When she was nine, Natalie was hanging out in a pizza parlor in her Long Island neighborhood when a Revlon executive approached her and asked her if she would like to be a model. Natalie turned down that offer, but decided to pursue acting. When she was 11, she was cast in her first film--The Professional, in which she played a young girl who witnesses her family's murder. Last year she starred in designer Isaac Mizrahi's "Inside every woman there's a star" ad campaign for his ISAAC line (the photographs fueled constant comparisons with Audrey Hepburn). She then received widespread acclaim for her portrayal of "Marty" in the film Beautiful Girls.

Many girls would love to look like Natalie, so I ask her to let others know if there are appearance issues she deals with. She tells me her hair has caused problems ever since she was seven and got a haircut and would up with these "big banana curls." For photos, Natalie's hair is usually straightened using a blow -dryer. "It takes me hours to blow-dry my hair," she says. "My hair's not just curly--it's crazy curly. It's as if it hasn't decided what to do. It's a mess. For school, I just pull it back into a ponytail.

"People always tell me I'm cute," Natalie continues. "When a guy tells me I'm cute, it's not something desirable. Cute is more like what you want your pet to be."

Also, certain aspects of being in "the business," as Natalie refers to her movie career, can't help but make her slightly self-conscious of her looks. "When I went to see Mars Attacks, my face became 10 feet tall and a pimple that was so small seemed huge, like a mosaic," she says. "Or, if I'm having a bad hair day, it's not something personal. It's something that's going to be in a magazine."

Since Natalie was 11, she's worked with hair and makeup artists. "Probably the best beauty tip I ever learned was to put Vaseline on my eyelashes. It makes them darker. And at the movies, if you don't know if it's going to be sad, it's great if you don't want mascara running down your face." When she goes out, Natalie generally just wears lip gloss and blush. If she goes to a premiere for a film she is in, she goes to a makeup artist, because of all the paparazzi photos.

Natalie has been styled in vastly different ways from film to film. "I think the way a character looks is so important for a film, because it really tells you so much about who the character is. In The Professional, I had a very sleek, French haircut, which was appropriate for the mood of the film. Then, in Beautiful Girls, I was dressed like a normal kid, an average suburban girl."

In her own suburban girl life, Natalie's style is simple. "At school I'm really a comfortable dresser," she says. "I just need to be in clothes I can get through class in." So it's a lot of jeans, cords, sweaters, and tees. However, she does have a couple of little fashion quirks. After wrapping up The Professional, Natalie could be seen around her hometown wearing the same heavy brown boots she'd worn for the character of Mathilda in the film. "I often wear my shoes from the movies, because they are the only things that don't get recognized."

Natalie also loves to carry around all these quirky little bags. "I think purses are so grown-up, adult, so I have five or six little bags," she explains. "I have my Sea World bag I used at camp, my Sesame Street backpack for dance, and my penguin bag someone brought me from Japan. It's a funny way to show your personality without being uncomfortable," she adds. "I tend to go for plain clothes and little, crazy bags."

While her beauty routine and clothing style may both be fairly simple, Natalie knows her looks are somewhat exotic. That's because of her background. Part of her extended family is from Israel, where Natalie lived until the age of three. "I look a lot like my family and I have Mediterranean features," she says. "Right now I'm tan, so I feel so Israeli. I like having something special about me. I'm not that average blond-haired, blue-eyed American girl." She continues, "My grandmother's really, really beautiful. She's a really strong woman, she's been through a lot, and she's maintained a real great spirit with her. I love looking at pictures of her when she first came to Israel in the 1930s and the 40s. She was so glamorous, with her hair and her suits."

Another figure Natalie admires is Anne Frank--when she was 13, she decided she was going to play her, and started looking for potential projects. This fall, Natalie is portraying Anne in a Broadway play. "I think because Anne didn't realize anyone was going to read her diary, it's the most honest thing," Natalie says. "Her story represents many things wrong about the world and her life represents everything that's right about life." Like the Franks, many of Natalie's family members did not survive the Holocaust. Natalie turns gravely serious when she talks about this aspect of her heritage. "There is a spirit that Israelis have," Natalie explains. "We've been through so much--not me personally--but there are people who have sacrificed so much so I can be alive today. The spirit that goes along with being Israeli is kind of a weight placed on you that you must enjoy, and you appreciate life because of it. My people in general, have fought so hard that it gives me a sense of responsibility," Natalie continues. "Jews have learned to excel despite hardship. We have learned that life should not be wasted, and the importance of education."

Which is what Natalie plans to keep doing through her acting. "My family's really pleased," she says. "But I think they're still working on making me a doctor."