HOLLYWOOD: Natalie Portman has revealed she smoked cannabis joints when she reached her 20s because she wanted to experiment.

The actress tried the herbal drug in her 20s because she missed out on the usual experimental teenage experiences because she was making movies from the age of 11.

She confessed: "OK, so I didn't really go to high school parties and, yeah, I didn't touch pot until I was in my 20s. I didn't get flat-out drunk until I went to college. But I think that's a good thing in many ways."

But Natalie, 28, has no regrets about starting work at such a young age, saying: "I was definitely working at a young age, but there's a whole growth in that."

Natalie – who made her film debut in the critically acclaimed 1994 assassin movie ‘Leon’ - admits her acting career gave her privileges that her high school peers never experienced.

The screen beauty – who stars in new war movie 'Brothers', alongside Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal – told Marie Claire magazine said: "I've always been the lucky one with the Cinderella-ness of getting to borrow something awesome.

"Like a little Armani strapless thing I wore to the ‘Star Wars’ premiere and my high school prom."