An actress who was relegated to playing decorative parts for years and was known primarily for her real-life role as the wife of Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman spent the latter half of the 1990s finally earning the critical respect she deserved. Standing a willowy 5'11'' and sporting one of Hollywood's most distinctive heads of red hair, the Australian actress first came to the attention of a wide American audience with her role opposite Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990), but it was not until she starred as a homicidal weather girl in Gus Van Sant's 1995 To Die For that she began to be regarded as a performer of considerable range and talent. Although many assume that Kidman is a native of Australia, she was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 20, 1967. Her family, who lived on the island because of a research project Kidman's father, a biochemist, was involved with, subsequently moved to Washington, D.C. for the next three years. After her father's project reached completion, Kidman and her family -- which also included her mother, a nurse/educator, and a younger sister -- moved to her parents' native Australia. Raised in the upper-middle-class Sydney suburb of Longueville, she grew up with a love of the arts, particularly dance and theatre. Trained in ballet from the age of three, Kidman made her acting debut in a nativity play when she was six. By the age of ten, she was studying acting in drama school, and she went on to train at the St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne and at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre. An awkward, gawky teenager who was teased relentlessly because of her height, Kidman took refuge in the theatre, and she landed her first professional role at the age of 14, when she starred in Bush Christmas (1983), a TV movie about a group of kids who band together with an Aborigine to find their stolen horse. This was followed by a role in another adventure film, BMX Bandits (1983), and a number of TV movies. Kidman's first breakthrough came when she was asked to star in Vietnam, a miniseries directed by John Duigan; the actress won positive notices for her portrayal of an awkward 1960s schoolgirl who matures into an idealistic 24-year-old Vietnam war protester. She also won an American agent, something that opened quite a few doors of opportunity. In 1989, Kidman got another major break when she was tapped to star in Phillip Noyce's Dead Calm. A psychological thriller about a couple (Kidman and Sam Neill) who are terrorized by a young man they rescue from a sinking ship (Billy Zane), the film helped to establish the then-19-year-old Kidman as an actress of considerable mettle. That same year her reputation was further boosted by her starring performance in the made-for-TV Bangkok Hilton, which cast her as a young woman incarcerated in a Thai prison on false drug smuggling charges. By now a rising star in Australia, Kidman began earning recognition across the Pacific. In 1989, she was picked by Tom Cruise for a starring role in her first American feature, Tony Scott's Days of Thunder (1990). The film, a testosterone-saturated drama about a racecar driver (Cruise), cast Kidman as the neurologist who falls in love with him. A sizable hit, it had the added advantage of introducing Kidman to Cruise, whom she married in December of 1990. Following a role as Dustin Hoffman's moll in Billy Bathgate (1991), and a supporting turn as a snotty boarding school senior in Flirting (also 1991), John Duigan's wonderful and criminally little-seen coming-of-age drama, Kidman collaborated with Cruise on their second film together, Far and Away (1992). Despite their onscreen pairing and some gorgeous cinematography, the film got only a lukewarm reception, and Kidman's subsequent projects, My Life and Malice ( both 1993), were similarly disappointing. Batman Forever (1995), in which she played the hero's love interest, fared somewhat better, but it did little in the way of establishing Kidman as a serious actress.
Nicole Kidman won the Academy Award as best actress for her portrayal of writer Virginia Woolf in the film The Hours (2002). Kidman was born in Hawaii but grew up in Australia, where she began acting in her teens. She married screen heartthrob Tom Cruise after they met while filming the race-car soap opera Days of ThunderGus Van Sant's To Die For (1995, based on the Pamela Smart case) and Stanley Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), in which she starred with Cruise. After a decade of marriage, Cruise and Kidman divorced, but her career soared as she continued to star in both mainstream Hollywood films and smaller, independent features. In 2001 she turned in an Oscar-nominated performance in Moulin Rouge and appeared in two other highly-acclaimed movies, Birthday Girl and The Others. Her other films include Far and Away (1992, with Cruise); Dogville (2003); Cold Mountain (2003, with Renee Zellweger); The Interpreter (2005, starring Sean Penn); Bewitched (2005, co-starring Will Ferrell); FurDiane Arbus); and The Golden Compass (2007, based on the book by Philip Pullman.
Kidman and Cruise adopted two children while they were married: Isabella (in 1993) and Connor (in 1995). Kidman married country singer Keith Urban on 25 June 2006... She had a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on 7 July 2008. Kidman and Cruise adopted two children while they were married: Isabella (in 1993) and Connor (in 1995).
Nicole Kidman quote: 'Cinema is a director's medium, so you're saying, "What do you want?" Being an actor is about adapting - physically and emotionally. If that means you have to look great for it and they can make you look great, then thank you. And if you have to have everything washed away, then I'm willing to do that too.' |
