Los Angeles, Jul 17 (IANS): Oscar-winning star Natalie Portman says she likes to stay away from characters that reflect her own life because she can then explore more on screen.

The 43-year-old actress told US TV show 'Extra': "I don't really like to compare my own self to a character because I actually make a big effort to choose characters who have very different experiences to me."

She likes to reserve the real-life experience for her life offscreen.

“If it's something that I live in my own life, I prefer to reserve that for real life and try things that I wouldn't do in my own life and I think that was quite different and it was interesting to explore that well of frustration that explodes and goes over the top because she's been holding in for so long," Natalie said, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

The actress’ latest work is 'Lady in the Lake', where she plays an ambitious housewife-turned-journalist Maddie Schwartz. The series traces her character as she tries to solve the mystery behind the murder of a black bartender and a young Jewish girl.

Portman recently shared that if her life had not gone in the entertainment direction, she would have liked to have followed in the footsteps of famed primatologist and anthropologist Dame Jane Goodall

She had told 'Entertainment Tonight': "I think I'd be like Jane Goodall, living with animals in the wild!"