Hollywood star Natalie Portman has praised Irish actress Ruth Negga, describing her as a "rare, powerful talent".
The Black Swan actress is tipped to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Jackie Kennedy in an upcoming biopic about the late former US first lady, and says she thinks former Love/Hate star Negga could take home the gong for her performance in Loving.
Negga stars alongside Joel Edgerton in Jeff Nichols' civil rights drama Loving, which is based on the true story of a Virginia couple who were jailed for their interracial marriage in the sixties.
Portman was full of praise for Negga's performance and the film's message, telling The Irish Sun: “Loving is such an important story to tell, given the unfortunate relevance in today’s society.
“It makes me hopeful and happy that this business is recognising the heightened significance of projects like this and how crucial they are for audiences.
“People are definitely talking about Ruth and the extraordinary emotion she conveys and that to me, indicates a rare, powerful talent.
“It’s not the final word but awards can be vital in broadening the audience for a movie, especially smaller independent projects so you hope it gets that recognition.
“And I’m sure the movie and Ruth’s performance will.”
Portman also spoke about spending time in Ireland when shooting the medieval comedy Your Highness with James Franco in 2009.
The star joked that it was a "wasted opportunity" for her as she was in training for her role in Black Swan, for which she earned a Best Actress Oscar.
"That was such a wasted opportunity and just bad, bad timing," she explained. "I was in Ireland, with the best pubs on the planet and all the crew were going out and partying and I was stuck with my steamed chicken, working out at the gym.
“They’d tell me how fun their weekend was and it killed me that I was missing out. It got to a point where I didn’t want to know, it was too painful.
“I promised myself that I would come back, with no work commitments, no scheduling and really enjoy myself.”
