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Nicole Kidman (b. June 20, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning Australian actress born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Janelle MacNeille and psychologist Dr. Antony Kidman. Dr. Kidman worked at the National Institute for Mental Health in Washington, DC during Nicole's early years but the family returned to Australia when Kidman was four years old. She has one younger sister, Antonia.

Kidman began studying ballet at age four which introduced her to theater. She began studying acting, attending the Australian Theatre for Young People and the St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne and the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney where she focused on voice production and theatre history. Kidman grew up in Longueville and attend the North Sydney Girls High School before dropping out to attend to her mother during her bout with breast cancer.

Career

Kidman landed her first professional acting role at 14 when she appeared in the TV movie Bush Christmas. She also appeared in a Pat Wilson music video and the television series Five Mile Creek. Several other appearances in Australian film and television series followed, most notably in the soap opera A Country Practice, Vietnam and Emerald City.

Her breakout role came in 1989 with the Phillip Noyce psychological thriller Dead Calm, in which she starred with Sam Neill and Billy Zane. She also appeared in the TV Movie Bangkok Hilton as a woman imprisoned in Thailand on false charges of drug smuggling. Her success in Australia gained her international attention and American movie star, Tom Cruise chose her to star opposite him in the film Days of Thunder. The film, about a race car driver who falls in love with a neurologist (Kidman) proved a hit as was the off screen relationship between Cruise and Kidman. The pair married in December of 1990.

Kidman appeared in Flirting and Billy Bathgate and followed up with Far and Away in which she starred with Cruise. The film did not make much of a splash with audiences and neither did follow-up projects My Life and Malice. Kidman took on the role of Dr. Chase Meridian in the 1995 film Batman Forever; while successful, the film did little to establish her credibility as an actress. It would be her role as the ruthless Suzanne Stone Maretto in the dark comedy To Die For that established her reputation and earned her a Golden Globe and a National Broadcast Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

She went on to leading roles in The Portrait of a Lady with John Malkovich, The Peacemaker with George Clooney and Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock. In 1999, she starred with husband Tom Cruise in Stanley Kubrick's last film Eyes Wide Shut. While she was praised for her nude appearance in the film as well as her performance, the film itself was no great success. A tumultuous time was to follow with a miscarriage and a highly publicized divorce from husband Cruise. The couple managed to keep the main details of their parting private and continued to protect the privacy of their two adopted children Isabella Jane and Conor Antony.

Kidman focused on her acting and appeared alongside Ewan McGregor in the stylish and unusual musical Moulin Rouge! as Satine surprising some fans with her vocal talents. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination and won her a second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. She followed up with the horror suspense The Others, and intended to star in Panic Room. Due to a knee injury, she was replaced by Jodie Foster in the role.

In 2002, she starred in The Hours as author Virginia Woolf. Her performance won her praise from critics and the Academy Award for Best Actress as well as a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. The next year, she produced In the Cut starring Meg Ryan and starred in the films Dogville, with Lauren Bacall, The Human Stain with Anthony Hopkins and Cold Mountain alongside Jude Law and Renée Zellweger. Her performance in Cold Mountain earned her another Golden Globe nomination while Zellweger walked away with the Oscar.

Kidman starred in the 2004 remake The Stepford Wives with Matthew Broderick and Bette Midler. She followed up with the controversial Birth starring with young Cameron Bright who played a 10-year-old boy claiming to be the reincarnation of her dead husband. The film proved divisive due in part to a scene in which the two appear together in the bathtub. The film was nominated for a Golden Lion Award and Kidman was nominated for yet another Golden Globe.

In 2005, Kidman starred in Bewitched with Will Ferrell. The film was panned by critics and was a box office failure. Capitalizing on her A-list status and her highly fashionable image, Kidman became the spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5 in a series of television and print ads. The ads earned Kidman $3.71 million and the record for the most money paid per minute to an actor. Her success landed her on the list of 2005's highest paid actresses.

Kidman met country singer Keith Urban at a Hollywood event in 2005. The two married in Sydney on June 25, 2006. The two hit a bump when Urban admitted to addiction problems but continued to support each other.

Kidman lent her voice to the 2006 film Happy Feet and, in 2007, appeared in the scifi thriller The Invasion, novel based fantasy, The Golden Compass and Margot at the Wedding. None of the films proved very successful.

In 2008, Kidman starred as Lady Sarah Ashley in the Australian historical film, Australia, alongside Hugh Jackman. Continuing in the vein of period dramas, she also appears in the postwar drama Need.

In 2009, Kidman appears alongside best friend Naomi Watts in the film Need. She was also rumored to be taking on the lead role in The Lady from Shanghai based on the Sherwood King novel but dropped the project. Kidman was also slated to appear in the WWII drama The Reader but quit the project as she is expecting her first child with husband Keith Urban.

External Links

• Star Pulse – Nicole Kidman
• Nicole Kidman at Internet Movie Database
• Upcoming TV Schedule by IMDB.com
• Pregnant Kidman drops out of 'The Reader'

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