Natalie Portman

2015年哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上，娜塔莉·波特曼受邀為畢業(yè)生演講。這位集美麗與智慧于一身的美國女演員2003年畢業(yè)于哈佛大學(xué)。與其他大部分選擇表演等相關(guān)專業(yè)的演員不同，娜塔莉攻讀了心理學(xué)專業(yè)，并修習(xí)了神經(jīng)生物學(xué)和希伯來語等課程。對(duì)于一個(gè)職業(yè)演員來說，哈佛大學(xué)畢業(yè)生的頭銜似乎有些多余，更別提還有學(xué)習(xí)此類課程的經(jīng)歷了。她為何選擇與表演不太相關(guān)的課程？為何又在大學(xué)畢業(yè)后重返演藝界？又為何能不被功名所累，只做自己喜歡的事？在下面的演講中，娜塔莉用親身經(jīng)歷告訴我們：找到自己做事的理由，才能擁有更充實(shí)而成功的人生。（注：本文有刪節(jié)，聽完整版音頻請(qǐng)掃描右上方二維碼。）

Hello， Class of 2015. I am so honored to be here today. I have to admit that today， even twelve years after graduation， I'm still insecure about my own worthiness. I have to remind myself： today you're here for a reason.

Today I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999. I felt like there had been some mistake； that I wasn't smart enough to be in this company， and that every time I opened my mouth， I would have to prove I wasn't just a dumb actress. But I am here to tell you today： Harvard is giving you all diplomas tomorrow. You are here for a reason.

Sometimes your insecurities and your inexperience may lead you， too， to embrace other people's expectations， standards or values. But you can harness that inexperience to carve out1） your own path， one that is free of the burden of knowing how things are supposed to be， a path that is defined by its own particular set of reasons.

I went to a public high school on Long Island. The girls I went to school with had Prada bags and flat-ironed hair. And they spoke with an accent. I， who had moved there at age nine from Connecticut， mimicked to fit in. Since the Internet was just starting when I was in high school， people didn't really pay that much attention to the fact that I was an actress. I was known mainly at school for having a backpack bigger than I was and always having white-out2） on my hands. I was voted for my senior-year book the nerdiest one.

When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars： Episode 1， I knew I would be starting over3） in terms of how people viewed me. I feared people would have assumed I'd gotten in just for being famous， and that they would think that I was not worthy of the intellectual rigor4） here. And it would not have been far from the truth. When I came here， I had never written a ten-page paper before. I'm not even sure I'd written a five-page paper. I was alarmed and intimidated5） by the calm eyes of fellow students， who thought that compared to high school the workload here was easy. I was completely overwhelmed and thought that reading a thousand pages a week was unimaginable， that writing a fifty-page thesis is just something I could never do. I had no idea how to declare my intentions. I couldn't even articulate them to myself.

I've been acting since I was eleven. But I thought acting was too frivolous6） and certainly not meaningful. I came from a family of academics and was very concerned about being taken seriously.

In contrast to my inability to declare myself， on my first day of orientation7）， freshman year， five separate students introduced themselves to me by saying， "I'm going to be president. Remember I told you that." Their names were Bernie Sanders， Marco Rubio， Ted Cruz， Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton8）. In all seriousness， I believed every one of them： their bearing9） and self-confidence alone seemed proof of their prophecy， where I couldn't shake my self-doubt. I got in only because I was famous. This was how others saw me， and it was how I saw myself. Driven by these insecurities， I decided that I was going to find something to do in Harvard that was serious and meaningful； that would change the world and make it a better place.

At the age of eighteen， I'd already been acting for seven years and assumed I'd find a more serious and profound path in college. So freshman fall I decided to take neurobiology and advanced modern Hebrew literature because I was serious and intellectual. Needless to say， I should have failed both. I got Bs， for your information. But as I was fighting my way through Hebrew and the different mechanisms of neuro-response， I saw friends around me writing papers on sailing and pop culture magazines， and professors teaching classes on fairy tales and The Matrix. I realized that there was a reason that I was an actor—I love what I do. And I saw from my peers and my mentors that that was not only an acceptable reason， it was the best reason.

When I got to my graduation， sitting where you sit today， after four years of trying to get excited about something else， I admitted to myself that I couldn't wait to go back and make more films. I wanted to tell stories， to imagine the lives of others and help others do the same. I'd found or perhaps reclaimed my reason.

In my professional life， it also took me time to find my own reasons for doing my work. The first film I was in came out in 1994. I was thirteen years old upon the film's release， and I can still quote what the New York Times said about me verbatim10）， "Miss Portman poses better than she acts." The film had a universally tepid11） critic response and went on to bomb12） commercially. That film was called The Professional， or Leon in Europe. And today， twenty years and thirty-five films later， it is still the film people approach me about the most， to tell me how much they loved it， how much it moved them， how it's their favorite movie. I feel lucky that my first experience of releasing a film was initially such a disaster by all standards and measures. I learned early that my meaning had to be from the experience of making the film and the possibility of connecting with individuals， rather than the foremost trophies in my industry： financial and critical success. And also those initial reactions could be false predictors of your works' ultimate legacy. I started choosing only jobs that I'm passionate about， and from which I knew I could glean13） meaningful experiences. I was able to own my meaning and not have it be determined by box office receipts or prestige.

By the time I got to making Black Swan， the experience was entirely my own. I felt immune to the worst things anyone could say or write about me and to whether the audience felt like going to see my movie or not. It was instructive for me to see the ballet dancers. For ballet dancers， once your technique gets to a certain level， the only thing that separates you from others is your quirks14） or even flaws. One ballerina was famous for how she turned slightly off balance. You can never be the best technically. Someone will always have a higher jump or a more beautiful line. The only thing you can be the best at is developing your own self. My character Nina in Black Swan is only artistically successful when she finds perfection and pleasure for herself， not when she was trying to be perfect in the eyes of others. So when Black Swan was successful financially and I began receiving accolades15）， I felt honored and grateful to have connected with people， for the true core of my meaning I had already established. And I needed it to be independent of people's reactions to me. People told me that Black Swan was an artistic risk. A scary challenge to try to portray a professional ballet dancer. But it didn't feel like courage or daring that drew me to it. I was so oblivious16） to my own limits that I did things I was woefully17） unprepared to do. And so the very inexperience that in college had made me feel insecure， and made me want to play by others' rules， now is making me actually take risks. I didn't even realize there were risks. When Darren Aronofsky， the film director， asked me if I could do ballet， I told him that I was basically a ballerina. When it quickly became clear in preparing for the film that I was maybe fifteen years away from being a ballerina， it made me work a million times harder. And of course the magic of cinema and body doubles18） helped the final effect. But the point is， if I had known my own limitations， I never would have taken the risk. And the risk led to one of my greatest artistic， personal experiences.

I know a famous violinist who told me that he can't compose because he knows too many pieces， so when he starts thinking of the note an existing piece immediately comes to mind. Just starting out one of your biggest strengths is not knowing how things are supposed to be. You can compose freely because your mind isn't cluttered with too many pieces. And you don't take for granted the way things are. The only way you know how to do things is your own way. You here will all go on to achieve great things. There is no doubt about that. Each time you set out to do something new， your inexperience can either lead you down a path where you will conform19） to someone else's values， or you can forge20） your own path， even though you don't realize that's what you're doing. If your reasons are your own， your path， even if it is a strange and clumsy21） path， will be wholly yours， and you will control the rewards of what you do by making your internal life， fulfilling.

Thank you.

2015屆畢業(yè)生，你們好！今天來到這里，我感到非常榮幸。我必須要承認(rèn)，即便是在畢業(yè)12年后的今天，我仍然不確信自己配不配在這里講話。我不得不提醒自己，我今天來這兒是有理由的。

今天我的感覺和我1999年作為大一新生來到哈佛園時(shí)很像。那時(shí)我覺得是不是有什么地方搞錯(cuò)了；我覺得我不夠聰明，不夠格來這里上學(xué)，而且我每次張嘴說話，都不得不去證明我不只是個(gè)愚蠢的演員。但我今天在這里是要告訴你們：哈佛大學(xué)明天將給你們所有人頒發(fā)文憑。你們來這兒是有理由的。

有時(shí)，你也可能會(huì)因?yàn)椴蛔孕呕蛉狈?jīng)驗(yàn)而欣然接受他人的期望、標(biāo)準(zhǔn)或價(jià)值觀。但你也可以利用你的缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)去開創(chuàng)一條屬于自己的路，一條不必費(fèi)心去了解事情本該如何的路，一條由其自身特定的一套理由而決定的路。

我是在長島的一家公立中學(xué)上的高中。和我一起上學(xué)的女生都挎著普拉達(dá)包，拉直了頭發(fā)，說話帶著口音。而我九歲才從康涅狄格州搬到長島，要靠模仿她們來融入。因?yàn)槲疑细咧袝r(shí)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)才剛剛興起，所以人們那時(shí)并不會(huì)太關(guān)注我是演員這個(gè)事實(shí)。大家知道我主要是因?yàn)槲以趯W(xué)校背著一個(gè)比我還要大的書包，而且手上總是沾著涂改液。在高中最后一年的年鑒上，我被選為最書呆子氣的學(xué)生。

就在《星球大戰(zhàn)：第一部》上映后，我來哈佛大學(xué)讀書，我知道我又得重新應(yīng)對(duì)別人如何看我這種事情了。我害怕別人都以為我能上哈佛只不過是因?yàn)槲液苡忻ε聞e人會(huì)認(rèn)為我不適合這兒的嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)治學(xué)。但別人這么想也不算太離譜。來這兒之前，我從未寫過十頁的論文。我甚至都不確定我有沒有寫過五頁的論文。我被同學(xué)們淡定的眼神嚇壞了，他們認(rèn)為和高中相比，這兒的課業(yè)負(fù)擔(dān)就是小菜一碟。我完全招架不住，覺得一周讀1000頁書不可想象，而寫一篇50頁的論文簡直就是我永遠(yuǎn)無法做到的事情。我不知道該怎么表明我的意圖，我甚至跟自己都說不清。

我從11歲就開始在演戲了。但我當(dāng)時(shí)認(rèn)為演戲太過輕浮，當(dāng)然也意義不大。我出身于一個(gè)學(xué)者家庭，非常看重別人是否把我當(dāng)回事。

在我參加大一迎新會(huì)的第一天，我還沒有能力介紹好自己，與此相反，有五位不同的同學(xué)是這樣向我進(jìn)行自我介紹的：“我以后會(huì)成為總統(tǒng)。記住我跟你說過這句話。”這幾個(gè)同學(xué)的名字是伯尼·桑德斯、馬爾科·魯比奧、特德·克魯茲、巴拉克·奧巴馬和希拉里·克林頓。說實(shí)在的，我相信他們每一個(gè)人說的話——單是他們的舉止和自信似乎就能證明他們的預(yù)言，而我在這一方面卻還擺脫不了自我懷疑。我能進(jìn)入哈佛只是因?yàn)槲液苡忻瑒e人是這么看我的，我也是這么看我的。在這種不自信的驅(qū)使下，我決定要在哈佛找點(diǎn)嚴(yán)肅且有意義的事做，找點(diǎn)將能改變世界并使之變得更美好的事做。

18歲那年，我已經(jīng)演了七年戲了，我以為自己會(huì)在大學(xué)找到一條更嚴(yán)肅、更有深度的路。所以大一那年秋天，我決定修習(xí)神經(jīng)生物學(xué)和當(dāng)代高級(jí)希伯來文學(xué)課程，因?yàn)槲沂莻€(gè)嚴(yán)肅認(rèn)真的人，智商也不低。不用說，我本該兩門課都不及格的。告訴你們，我兩門都拿到了B。但當(dāng)我苦學(xué)希伯來語和神經(jīng)應(yīng)答的不同機(jī)制時(shí)，我看到周圍的朋友們在航海和流行文化雜志上發(fā)表文章，看到教授們開班講授童話和《黑客帝國》。我意識(shí)到，我當(dāng)演員是有理由的——我喜愛我做的事情。我從我的同輩和導(dǎo)師們身上看到，這不僅是一個(gè)可以接受的理由，還是最好的理由。

經(jīng)過四年的時(shí)間竭力讓自己對(duì)別的事情感興趣之后，我迎來了畢業(yè)，就坐在你們今天坐的地方，那時(shí)我才向自己承認(rèn)，我迫不及待地想要回去拍電影，拍更多的電影。我想去講故事，去想象別人的生活，并幫助別人做同樣的事情。我已經(jīng)找到或者說是重新找回了我的理由。

在我的職業(yè)生涯中，我也是花了很長時(shí)間才找到我做事情的理由。我參演的第一部電影是1994年上映的。電影上映時(shí)我13歲，如今我還能一字不差地說出當(dāng)時(shí)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》對(duì)我的評(píng)價(jià)：“波特曼小姐擺的造型好過她的表演?！彪娪霸谠u(píng)論界反應(yīng)平平，商業(yè)上則是慘敗。那部電影叫做《這個(gè)殺手不太冷》，在歐洲叫《殺手里昂》。今天，20年過去了，我演過35部電影，可人們來找我絕大部分仍然是因?yàn)檫@部電影，他們跟我說他們當(dāng)年有多愛這部電影，這部電影多讓他們感動(dòng)，這是他們最喜歡的電影。我覺得很幸運(yùn)，無論用什么標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來衡量，我有關(guān)電影上映的首次體驗(yàn)在最初是那么糟糕。這讓我早早就懂得，我的意義必須來自拍電影的經(jīng)歷以及與他人建立聯(lián)系的機(jī)會(huì)，而不是我在電影領(lǐng)域獲得的最重要的成就——商業(yè)上和評(píng)論上的成功。而且，那些最開始的反饋完全可能錯(cuò)誤預(yù)測你的工作最終會(huì)產(chǎn)生什么影響。于是，我開始只選擇那些我喜歡的工作，從這些工作中我知道自己能慢慢收獲有意義的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。我變得能擁有我自己的意義，而不是將其交由票房收入或名聲來決定。

到我拍《黑天鵝》時(shí)，那經(jīng)歷就全都是我自己的了。我已經(jīng)不再在乎別人可能會(huì)把我說得或?qū)懙枚酄€，也不管觀眾是否想來看我的電影。對(duì)我來說，看芭蕾舞演員讓我得到了啟發(fā)。對(duì)芭蕾舞演員而言，你的技巧一旦達(dá)到一定的高度，你和別人的唯一區(qū)別就只在于你的怪異或者甚至是瑕疵——有一個(gè)芭蕾舞演員就因旋轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)稍稍有點(diǎn)不平衡而聞名。嚴(yán)格說來，你永遠(yuǎn)都不可能是最好的?？倳?huì)有人跳得更高，或有更優(yōu)美的身段。你唯一能做到最好的，就是開發(fā)你自己。我在《黑天鵝》中飾演了尼娜，她只有在發(fā)現(xiàn)自己完美且快樂，而不是盡力讓別人認(rèn)為她完美的時(shí)候，才獲得了藝術(shù)上的成功。所以當(dāng)《黑天鵝》取得商業(yè)上的成功，我開始得到贊譽(yù)時(shí)，我為與他人建立了聯(lián)系而感到榮幸和感激，為我已經(jīng)確立的屬于自己的真正核心意義而感到榮幸和感激。而且我需要這種意義不依賴于人們對(duì)我的反應(yīng)。人們跟我說《黑天鵝》是藝術(shù)上的冒險(xiǎn)：試圖出演一個(gè)職業(yè)芭蕾舞演員，這是一個(gè)可怕的挑戰(zhàn)。但吸引我這么去做的并非是勇氣或膽量。我完全沒注意到自己的局限性，才會(huì)去做我毫無準(zhǔn)備去做的事。所以，我在大學(xué)時(shí)的缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)曾讓我感到不自信，讓我想按照他人的規(guī)則做事，而現(xiàn)在恰恰是這種缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)讓我真正敢去冒險(xiǎn)。我甚至沒有意識(shí)到演芭蕾舞演員存在風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。當(dāng)該片導(dǎo)演達(dá)倫·阿羅諾夫斯基問我是否能跳芭蕾舞時(shí)，我告訴他我差不多算是一個(gè)芭蕾舞演員。準(zhǔn)備拍攝時(shí)我很快就意識(shí)到，我距離芭蕾舞演員可能還有15年的距離，這逼著我去付出成百上千萬倍的努力。當(dāng)然，電影藝術(shù)和替身使電影最后的效果很好。但關(guān)鍵是，如果我知道自己的局限，我就不會(huì)冒這個(gè)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。而這次冒險(xiǎn)使我有了最難忘的個(gè)人藝術(shù)經(jīng)歷之一。

我認(rèn)識(shí)一位著名的小提琴家。他曾跟我說他無法作曲，因?yàn)樗赖那犹嗔?，所以?dāng)他開始想音符時(shí)，現(xiàn)有的某首曲子會(huì)立即出現(xiàn)在他的腦海里。而你們最大的優(yōu)勢之一就是不知道事情應(yīng)該怎么做，就從這個(gè)優(yōu)勢開始著手吧。你們可以自由譜曲，因?yàn)槟銈兊哪X子里沒有塞滿曲子。你們不會(huì)想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為事情就該是那樣。你們知道的做事情的唯一方法就是你們自己的方法。你們在座的各位都將成就偉大事業(yè)，這是毫無疑問的。每次你們要開始做新的事情時(shí)，缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)會(huì)促使你們要么走別人的路，遵從別人的價(jià)值觀，要么開創(chuàng)自己的路，即便你們沒有意識(shí)到那正是你們正在做的。如果你擁有自己的理由，那么即使你的這條路奇怪而笨拙，它也將完全屬于你，而你也將能夠通過讓自己的內(nèi)心得到滿足，來控制所做事情的回報(bào)。

謝謝。