Portman got used to her bald bearing

Natalie Portman (above) says she fulfilled a long-standing ambition by shaving her head for the sci-fi thriller “V for Vendetta.”

“I was really excited to get to shave my head – it’s something I’d wanted to do for a while and now I had a good excuse,” Portman says. “It was nice to shed that level of vanity for a girl.”

However, the 24-year-old actress adds, “I wasn’t used to being looked at so much. Walking down the street, I can usually blend in, and people really stare at you when you’re a girl with a shaved head.”

The film, directed by James McTeigue, is set in a future Britain run by a fascist dictatorship. It screened outside the competition Monday at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Portman’s character is saved from an attack by a masked anarchist known only as V, played by Hugo Weaving, and becomes a comrade in his struggle against the regime.

Portman received an Oscar nomination for her role in 2004’s “Closer.”