10 Most Cringeworthy Performances From Otherwise Great Actors

After breaking through with her scene-stealing role in 1994's Leon, Natalie Portman was one of the most sought-after young actresses of her generation. So when she was cast alongside another acclaimed 1990s up-and-comer, Ewan McGregor, for one of the central roles in George Lucas's much anticipated Star Wars prequel trilogy, expectations were naturally high.

Now, maybe the problem was Portman's youth and comparative inexperience on green screen-heavy blockbusters; or maybe it was that in the two decades since the original Star Wars, George Lucas had completely forgotten how to communicate with actors.

Either way, Portman's performance as Padmé Amidala in The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith runs the full spectrum from flat, to bland, to teeth-grindingly awkward. Not the kind of career lift the rising star might have been hoping for.

Still, the last two films in the trilogy saw Portman playing off against Hayden Christensen, so she will never be remembered as having given the single worst performance in the Star Wars series. And then, of course, there's the fact that she soon bounced back to become a hugely successful actress, and hasn't given a bad performance since.