Weekly Kibbitz
New Series to Spotlight Natalie
Portman’s Role in Bringing Women’s
Soccer Team to LA
Natalie Portman at the “Queen & Slim” premiere at the TCL Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood, California, on Nov. 14, 2019
Portman brought the idea to Kara Nortman, a venture capital executive, who
looped in entertainment veteran Julie Uhrman. From there, the plan to bring
a women’s soccer team to L.A. continued to gain steam — and high-profi le
investors. “Our dream is to make women’s soccer as valued as male soccer is throughout
the world,” Portman said.

The three-part HBO series will tell the behind-the-scenes story of how the
team got its start.

“Pulling back the curtain on the origin story through the 2022 inaugural
season of the female-founded and led team, the series reveals the passion and
grit needed to build a franchise from scratch and blaze a bold trail in the world
of professional sports,” reads a press release from WarnerMedia, HBO’s parent
company. In the trailer for the series, Portman calls her experience with Angel City “one
of the most extraordinary adventures of my life.”
—Jacob Gurvis | JTA
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APRIL 6, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Emma McIntyre/Getty Images via JTA
An upcoming HBO documentary series will highlight the role Academy Award-
winning Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman played in bringing the Angel
City Football Club to Los Angeles.

“Angel City,” which is set to debut on HBO and stream on HBO Max in May, will
tell the story of the team’s fi rst season in the National Women’s Soccer League.

Portman is an executive producer.

Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, is a founder and lead investor in the
almost all-female ownership group behind Angel City, which was announced in
July 2020 and played its fi rst season in 2022.

The ownership group includes a number of A-list athletes, entrepreneurs and
fellow Hollywood stars such as Serena Williams, Jessica Chastain and many
others. Portman, who was also a founding member of Time’s Up, the nonprofi t
that helped advance the Me Too movement by supporting victims of sexual
harassment, had the idea a few years ago. Though she did not grow up a sports
fan, Portman told The Guardian that she saw the venture as a vehicle to raise
awareness for the eff ort for equal pay in sports.

“Watching my son idolize players like Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan the
same way he did Lionel Messi or Karim Benzema, I realized that amplifying
female athletes could rapidly shift culture,” Portman said.