In 1994, Natalie Portman auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson's film, Léon (aka The Professional). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy; in the director's cut of the film on DVD, she is credited as Natalie Hershlag. Léon opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut at age 13. That same year Natalie Portman appeared in the short film Developing, which aired on television.
Paris Hilton earned a nomination for "Best Frightened Performance" at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards. She landed her first lead roles in 2006 with the straight-to-DVD releases National Lampoon's Pledge This! and Bottoms Up. She plays the Hottie in the box office bomb romantic comedy The Hottie and the Nottie, released in 2008. Paris Hilton also had a minor cameo appearance as herself in An American Carol.
