Bayan yin fim din Inda Zuciya take, Portman ta koma dakunan kwanan dalibai na Jami'ar Harvard don neman digiri na farko a fannin ilimin halayyar dan adam. Ta ce a cikin wata hira ta 1999 cewa, ban da Star Wars prequels, ba za ta yi aiki ba har tsawon shekaru hudu masu zuwa don mayar da hankali kan karatu. A lokacin hutun bazara daga Yuni zuwa Satumba 2000, Portman ya yi fim din Star Wars: Episode II <unk> Attack of the Clones a Sydney, tare da ƙarin samarwa a London. A watan Yulin 2001, Portman ya buɗe a New York City's Public Theater samar da Chekhov's The Seagull, wanda Mike Nichols ya jagoranta; ta taka rawar Nina tare da Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, da Philip Seymour Hoffman. Wasan kwaikwayo ya buɗe a gidan wasan kwaikwayo na Delacorte a Central Park. A wannan shekarar, ta kasance ɗaya daga cikin shahararrun mutane da suka yi wasan kwaikwayo a cikin wasan kwaikwayo na 2001 Zoolander: Me ya sa Portman bai yanke shawarar yin wasa a cikin fim din Cold Mountain ba?
don mayar da hankali kan karatu