It is not a very easy task to play a ballet dancer and actress Natalie Portman has realized it very well after playing a ballerina in her upcoming movie 'Black Swan'. She considers shooting for this movie was the toughest in her career till today.

Portman had to look and perform like a professional ballet dancer so she had to undergo the painful training periods for getting into the skin of the character. The 29-year-old actress had to live a monastic life and survived on carrots and almonds for weeks. She had to undergo the tough physical hardships to get into the mindset of her character.

According to Portman, the physical hardships made her understand the emotional side of her character Nina. She could not drink, did not go out with friends and did have much to keep the body in shape and form of a ballet dancer. The strict diet was the toughest part of the training period and when she finished the movie, she gorged into pasta during breakfast, lunch and dinner to celebrate.

Director Darren Aronofsky also agrees that Natalie suffered the most for not eating much. But, while under training, the actress maintained a strict practice and she did it with full dedication. She got herself enrolled for training almost a year before the movie started shooting and worked five hours a day including three hours of ballet class.

This is the kind of dedication an actor needs to give perfection to a character like this. Hope her hard work pays well at the Box Office.

--Sampurn Wire