Natalie has partnered with FINCA International, a microfinancing charity, to promote its women’s entrepreneurship community, “Lend A Hand.” FINCA says for as little as $50, a donor can help a woman in need start up her own business in a developing country. However, this microfinancing strategy is a little different than most. Once the person in need pays back the loan, it is forwarded to another person who has applied for funds instead of repaying the original lender. Natalie says that the strategy creates a perpetual succession of loans that “touches life after life until the cycle of poverty is broken.”

Today we are wishing a very Happy Birthday to our star Natalie! Our favorite actress is turning 30 today! Natalie has had a great year – just remember a fantastic awards season, the Academy Awards, release of 5 new movies, and of course, her engagement and pregnancy. It’ll be hard to beat the past year but we are sure that once the baby is born, Natalie will enter a new stage of her life, and it will be just as amazing of a year! We’re wishing Natalie and her family lots of happiness and health, and we cannot wait to see what this new year will bring for Natalie!

Happy 30th Birthday Natalie!

Melissa from We Are Movie Geeks was lucky enough to talk to Natalie via satellite about her newest film ‘Thor’. You can watch this interview below!

‘Black Swan’ is out on Blu-ray and DVD since Monday the 16th of May, and below you can watch a clip that is a part of the special features on the Blu-ray. Darren, Mila and Natalie talk about the movie and their characters.

Natalie is featured in Madame Figaro magazine – Cannes Issue (May 2011). The photo they used is from Peter Lindbergh portfolio. Big thanks to Mia for the heads up and for the scan!

Natalie talked to The New Zealand Herald about her passions, how family and friends ground her and how she isn’t much of a shopper. Read this very interesting interview below!

Which causes are closest to your heart?
Girls’ education. Seeing how many girls in the world do not have that opportunity, I feel so lucky that I was able to go to school. It affects the rest of their lives, the age at which they have children, their susceptibility to disease, their job, earning power and their status in society. Education really is a powerful way to change the lives of girls and women in the world.

What were your feelings about becoming the “Miss Dior Cherie” ambassador?
It was a real honour to be asked by Dior, which has such an amazing history and is such an elegant brand. It has been wonderful to see how supportive Dior has been of both my artistic endeavours and the non-profit organisations I work with such as FINCA [an organisation promoting village banking to break poverty cycles] and this girls’ education project Dior and I are working on.

Has travel changed your views?
Yes. It is so abstract to imagine someone else’s life going on at the same time, so different from yours. There are literally billions of parallel lives. So, to actually travel the world, meet all kinds of people, talk with them and hear what their day is like, what makes them happy or sad, what their problems, joys and successes are, makes it less abstract and more real: it takes you out of your own petty circumstances.

Read More…