At last week’s Gotham Independent Film Awards, which were held at the majestic restaurant Cipriani Wall Street in New York, a career tribute award was presented to the 28-year-old actress Natalie Portman. While there’s no denying that Portman is a little younger than your average career tribute honoree, there’s also no denying that she has, over the course of just 15 years, assembled a filmography with a degree of depth and breadth that few can boast after a lifetime in the business. (See the bottom of this post for a detailed career retrospective.)

After receiving a loving introduction from Jim Sheridan, the director her latest film, “Brothers” (Lions Gate, 12/4, trailer), Portman briefly but graciously accepted her statuette in front of an audience of her peers and two very proud parents. Then, she was whisked backstage to pose for a few photos, after which she was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with yours truly. (Having grown up in the same small suburb/at about the same time as the former Natalie Hershlag made it all the more special to be among the first to congratulate her.)

As you see for yourself in the video at the top of this post, we discussed (a) her thoughts on receiving a career tribute at such a young age; (b) playing the role of a mother in “Brothers”; (c) working with the noted actors’ director Sheridan on the film; (d) her interactions with spouses of troops serving overseas in preparation for the film; and (e) the film’s most suspenseful scene, in which a balloon being squeaked by a child at a dinner table assumes the effect of a ticking time bomb.

I must admit that I had all but written off “Brothers” after its release date was pushed back from 2008 to 2009 to accomodate re-shoots, which is never a good sign for a film. But, after finally seeing it at its New York City premiere on November 22, I was forced to reconsider. Though it is decidedly not “the finest movie made in the last 12 to 20 years,” as talk show host David Letterman would have you believe, it is powerful, moving, and timely, and it features strong and emotionally-provocative performances from Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and above all Portman. Playing an intelligent and mature adult, she seems more comfortable and confident on the screen than at any time in recent memory, demonstrating equal deftness at scenes light and heavy, simple and showy.

Sheridan, meanwhile, has a proven track record of leading his actors to awards glory: though he has directed only seven films over the past 20 years, his actors have collectively earned eight Oscar nods (two won) and six Globes nods (0 wins). For “My Left Foot” (1989), Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor at the Oscars and was nominated at the Globes and Brenda Fricker won best supporting actress at the Oscars and was nominated at the Globes. For “The Field” (1990), Richard Harris was nominated for best actor at the Oscars and the Globes. For “In the Name of the Father” (1993), Day-Lewis was nominated for best actor at the Oscars and Globes, Pete Postlethwaite was nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars, and Emma Thompson was nominated for best supporting actress at the Oscars and Globes. For “The Boxer” (1997), Day-Lewis was nominated for best actor at the Globes. And, for “In America” (2005), Samantha Morton was nominated for best actress at the Oscars and Djimon Hounsou was nominated for best supporting actor at the Oscars.

Portman has as good a shot as anyone from “Brothers” at extending Sheridan’s streak — if voters who like her performance remember to support her in the best supporting actress category (in which her studio has been pushing her, citing the fact that she is the thread that binds together the Maguire and Gyllenhaal storylines) rather than the best lead actress category (in which she probably belongs). Will they? Time will tell!

* * *

Natalie Portman

After making a stunning big screen debut at the age of 13 in Luc Besson‘s “Leon” (2004, also known as “The Professional”), she went on to appear in Michael Mann‘s “Heat” (1995), Woody Allen‘s “Everyone Says I Love You” (1996), Ted Demme‘s “Beautiful Girls” (1996), Tim Burton‘s “Mars Attacks!” (1996), Wayne Wang‘s “Anywhere But Here” (1999), Matt Williams‘s “Where the Heart Is” (2000), Anthony Minghella‘s “Cold Mountain” (2003), Zach Braff‘s “Garden State” (2004, which a generation adopted as its version of “The Graduate”), Mike Nichols‘s “Closer” (2004, for which she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination), James McTeigue‘s “V for Vendetta” (2005, sans hair), Milos Forman‘s “Goya’s Ghosts” (2006), Wong Kar Wai‘s “My Blueberry Nights” (2007, which opened the Cannes Film Festival), Wes Anderson‘s “The Darjeeling Limited” and its accompanying short “Hotel Chevalier” (both 2007), and Justin Chadwick‘s “The Other Bolelyn Girl” (2008), not to mention George Lucas‘s “Star Wars” films “The Phanton Menace” (1999), “Attack of the Clones” (2002), and “Revenge of the Sith” (2005).

Along the way she also managed to graduate from Harvard — with honors — where she served as a research assistant for the legal legend Alan Dershowitz, who called her “an academic superstar” who “got as high a grade in my class as you can get” and believes “she could become a great lawyer, a great scholar, [and] a major creative intellectual,” to say nothing of an Oscar-winning actress.

Video: Scott Feinberg and Natalie Portman backstage at the 2009 Gotham Awards. Credit: Rob Perri (video), Dr. Harvey Kliman (post-production).