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Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC (born June 20, 1967), is an Academy Award-winning actress and a humanitarian. In 2006, she was the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry.

After making various appearances in film and television, Kidman received her breakthrough role in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Her performances in several films, such as To Die For (1995), Moulin Rouge! (2001), and The Hours (2002), have won her much critical acclaim. In 2003, Kidman received her Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. Kidman is also a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and a singer. She is also well-known for her former marriage to the actor Tom Cruise and her current marriage to the noted country musician Keith Urban. Because she was born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States.

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honour.

Early life and family

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her Father is a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. At the time of Nicole Kidman's birth, her father was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. The family returned to Australia permanently when Kidman was four years old and Kidman's parents now reside on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, who is a journalist.

Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School in her primary school years, and then she attended the North Sydney Girls' High School. She then studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, along with her friend Naomi Watts. This was followed by studies at the Australian Theatre for Young People.

Career

Early career in Australia (1983–1989)

Kidman's first appearance in film came in 1983 when, as a fifteen year-old, she appeared in the Pat Wilson music video for the song "Bop Girl". By the end of the year she had secured a supporting role in the television series Five Mile Creek and four film roles, including BMX Bandits and Bush Christmas. During the 1980s, she appeared in several Australian productions, including the soap opera A Country Practice, the mini-series Vietnam (1986), Emerald City (1988), and Bangkok Hilton (1989).

Breakthrough (1989–1995)

In 1989, Kidman starred in Dead Calm as Rae Ingram, the wife of naval officer John Ingram (Sam Neill), held captive on a Pacific Ocean yacht trip by the psychotic Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane). The thriller film garnered strong reviews; the staff of Variety.com commented: "Throughout the film, Kidman is excellent. She gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy. Meanwhile, critic Roger Ebert noted the excellent chemistry between the leads, stating, "...Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together. In 1990, she appeared opposite Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder, a stock car racing movie. After this, Kidman starred with Cruise in Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992). In 1995, Kidman featured in the ensemble cast of Batman Forever. On November 20, 1993 she hosted Saturday Night Live.

Critical success (1995–present)

Her second film in 1995, To Die For was a satirical comedy that earned her praise from critics. She won a Golden Globe Award, and five other best actress awards for her portrayal of the murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto. In 1998, she appeared in the film Practical Magic along side Sandra Bullock. In 1999 Kidman and Cruise portrayed a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick's final film.

Also in 1998, Kidman starred in the stage play The Blue Room, which opened in London. The play included Kidman's character briefly exposing her flesh to the audience.

In 2002 Kidman received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 2001 musical film Moulin Rouge!, in which she played the courtesan Satine opposite Ewan McGregor. Consequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The same year she also had a well-received starring role in the horror film The Others. While in Australia filming Moulin Rouge!, Kidman injured her ribs; as a result, Jodie Foster replaced her as leading actress in the film Panic Room. In that film, Kidman's voice appears on the phone as the mistress of the husband of the lead character.

The following year, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours, in which the prosthetics applied to her made her almost unrecognisable. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role, along with a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and numerous critics awards. Kidman became the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award. During her Academy Award acceptance speech, Kidman made a teary statement about the importance of art, even during times of war: "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld.

In the same year, Kidman starred in three very different films. The first film, Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. In the second film, she co-starred with Anthony Hopkins in the film adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Human Stain. The third film, Cold Mountain, a love story of two Southerners separated by the Civil War, garnered her a Golden Globe Award nomination.

In 2004, Kidman appeared in the critically panned remake of The Stepford Wives alongside Glenn Close, Faith Hill and Bette Midler. In September of the same year, Birth, in which the 37-year-old actress' character has an encounter with a 10-year-old boy (played by Cameron Bright) who attempts to convince her that he is a reincarnation of her dead husband, was met with a mixed reception primarily due to a scene where the boy strips and joins Kidman in the bathtub. Despite this, the film was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, and Kidman was nominated for another Golden Globe Award. Kidman's two movies in 2005 were The Interpreter and Bewitched. The Interpreter, directed by Sydney Pollack, received mixed reviews, while Bewitched, co-starring Will Ferrell and based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name, was generally panned by critics. Neither film fared well domestically, their box office sales falling well short of the production costs, but both films fared well internationally.

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann to promote the fragrance during the holiday season in 2004, 2005, and 2006. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 perfume made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$3.71 million. During this time, Kidman was also listed as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004-2005. On People magazine's list of 2005's highest paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts with a US$16 million to US$17 million per-film price tag. She has since passed Roberts as the highest paid actress.

Recently, Kidman appeared in the Diane Arbus bio-pic Fur, she also lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet, which quickly garnered critical and commercial success, the film grossed over US$384 million dollars worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science fiction movie The Invasion, directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, and played opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach's comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding. She also starred in the film adaptation of the first part of the planned His Dark Materials trilogy of films, playing the villainous Marisa Coulter. However, The Golden Compass''s failure to meet expectations at the North American box office has reduced the likelihood of a sequel.

She is also set to star in director Wong Kar-wai's next film, The Lady from Shanghai and Baz Luhrmann's Australian period film titled Australia, which is set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman will play opposite Hugh Jackman as an English woman feeling overwhelmed by the continent.

On June 25, 2007, Nintendo announced that Kidman is to be the new face of Nintendo's advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.

Kidman was featured in a series of advertisements for Sky in Italy, speaking Italian during the spots.

Kidman was originally set to star in The Reader (film) a post-war Germany drama, but due to her pregnancy she had to back out of the film. Shortly after the news of Kidman's departure, it was announced that Kate Winslet would take over the role.

Singing

Not known as a singer prior to Moulin Rouge!, Kidman had several well-received vocal performances in the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on the song "Come What May" from the film's soundtrack debuted and peaked at 27 in the UK Singles Chart. Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on the song "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of the old swing song on Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It debuted and peaked at 8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at number 1 for three weeks in the UK. It was the UK Christmas number 1 Single for 2001.

In 2006, she provided her voice for the animated movie Happy Feet, along with vocals for the character Norma Jean's 'heartsong', which was a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince. Kidman is set to sing in Rob Marshall's next movie, musical Nine, along with co-stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard.

Personal life

Relationships

Kidman met Tom Cruise on the set of their 1990 movie, Days of Thunder. Cruise was married to actress Mimi Rogers at the time, and later divorced her. Kidman and Cruise were married on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted two children, a daughter Isabella Jane and a son Connor Anthony. They separated just after their 10th wedding anniversary. At the time she was 3 months pregnant and subsequently had a miscarriage. Tom Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001. The marriage was dissolved in 2001, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences as the cause of the divorce. The reasons for the dissolution have never been made public. Also, in an interview for Marie Claire magazine, Kidman mentions that she had an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage. In an interview in the June 2006 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, Kidman reported that she still loved Tom Cruise. Kidman told the magazine: "He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me. And I loved him. I still love him." In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce.

The 2003 film Cold Mountain was plagued by rumours that an on-set affair between Kidman and co-star Jude Law was responsible for the break-up of his marriage. Both vehemently denied the allegations, and Kidman eventually won an undisclosed sum from the British tabloids that published the story. She donated the money to a Romanian orphanage in the town where the movie was filmed. Robbie Williams confirmed that they had a short 'romance' on her yacht in summer 2004. Shortly after her Oscar win, there were unconfirmed rumours of a relationship between her and fellow Oscar winner Adrien Brody. She met musician Lenny Kravitz in 2003 and dated him into 2004.

Kidman met country singer Keith Urban at G'Day LA, an event honouring Australians in January 2005. Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday June 25, 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney. They maintain homes in Sydney, Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. In March 2008, they purchased mansions in both Los Angeles and Nashville within the span of a few days.

After constant speculation by the press, on January 8, 2008, it was confirmed that Kidman was 3 months pregnant. The couple welcomed their first child, daughter Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, on July 7, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee. It was then revealed the next day by Nicole's father that their daughter's unusual first name was after Sunday Reed, and that her middle name was after Urban's late grandmother Rose.

Religion

Kidman was raised a Roman Catholic and currently is a practicing Catholic. She attended Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney. However, during her marriage to Tom Cruise, she was reported to be a "half-hearted" follower of Scientology.

Politics

Kidman's name was included in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (August 17, 2006) that condemned organisations Hamas and Hezbollah, and supported Israel's efforts in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Kidman has made numerous donations to U.S. Democratic party candidates and endorsed John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

Charitable work

Kidman publicly supports a variety of charities and causes. She has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Australia since 1994. She has worked to help raise money for and draw attention to the plight of the most disadvantaged children in Australia and around the world. In 2004, she was honoured as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations.

On January 26, 2006 (Australia Day), Kidman received Australia's highest civilian honour when she was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, for "service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally. However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it wasn't until April 13, 2007 that she was presented with the honour. She was also nominated goodwill ambassador for UNIFEM.

Kidman joined the 'Little Tee Campaign' for Breast Cancer Care to design T-shirts or vests to raise money for breast cancer. Kidman's mother, Janelle, is a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 1984.

Press and other

In January 2005, Kidman won interim restraining orders against two Sydney-based paparazzi. In 2004 Kidman became the face of Chanel No. 5. Recently it was reported that from 2009 she will cease to represent the iconic fragrance. Kidman is left-handed.

Filmography

Year	Movie	Role	Notes and awards
1983	BMX Bandits	Judy
	Bush Christmas	Helen
	Five Mile Creek	Annie	TV series
	Skin Deep	Sheena Henderson	TV movie
	Chase Through the Night	Petra	TV movie
1984	Matthew and Son	Bridget Elliot	TV movie
1984	Wills & Burke	Julia Matthews
1985	Archer's Adventure	Catherine	TV movie
1985	Winners	Carol Trig	TV series - episode 1
1986	Windrider	Jade
1987	Watch the Shadows Dance	Amy Gabriel
	The Bit Part	Mary McAllister
	Room to Move	Carol Trig	TV miniseries
	An Australian in Rome	Jill	TV movie
	Vietnam	Megan Goddard	TV miniseries
1988	Emerald City	Helen	The Australian Film Institute nomination - Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1989	Dead Calm	Rae Ingram
1989	Bangkok Hilton	Katrina Stanton	TV miniseries
1990	Days of Thunder	Dr. Claire Lewicki
1991	Flirting	Nicola
1991	Billy Bathgate	Drew Preston	Nominated - Golden Globe Awards For Best Supporting Actress
1992	Far and Away	Shannon Christie
1993	Malice	Tracy Kennsinger
1993	My Life	Gail Jones
1995	To Die For	Suzanne Stone Maretto	Nominated - BAFTA Awards For Best Actress Won - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
1995	Batman Forever	Dr. Chase Meridian
1996	The Portrait of a Lady	Isabel Archer
1997	The Peacemaker	Dr. Julia Kelly
1998	Practical Magic	Gillian Owens
1999	Eyes Wide Shut	Alice Harford	Nude scene
2001	Moulin Rouge!	Satine	Nominated - Academy Awards For Best Actress Won - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
	The Others	Grace Stewart	Nominated - BAFTA Awards For Best Actress Nominated - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
	Birthday Girl	Sophia/Nadia
2002	The Hours	Virginia Woolf	Won - Academy Awards For Best Actress Won - BAFTA Awards For Best Actress Won - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
2003	Dogville	Grace Margaret Mulligan
	The Human Stain	Faunia Farley
	Cold Mountain	Ada Monroe	Nominated - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
2004	The Stepford Wives	Joanna Eberhart
2004	Birth	Anna	Nominated - Golden Globe Awards For Best Actress
2005	The Interpreter	Silvia Broome
2005	Bewitched	Isabel Bigelow/Samantha
2006	Fur	Diane Arbus
2006	Happy Feet	Norma Jean	voice
2007	The Invasion	Carol Bennell
	Margot at the Wedding	Margot
	The Golden Compass	Marisa Coulter
2008	Australia	Lady Sarah Ashley	Post-production
2009	Nine	Claudia	Begins filming September 2008
2009	Need	TBA	Pre-production

Discography

"Come What May" single (Duet with Ewan McGregor – October 2001) AUS #10, UK #27
"Somethin' Stupid" single (Duet with Robbie Williams – December 2001) AUS #8, UK #1
"Kiss" / "Heartbreak Hotel" – Nicole Kidman / Hugh Jackman - November 2006 (Happy Feet Soundtrack)

Awards

Government honours

In 2006,, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), Australia's highest civilian honour, in recognition of her contribution to the arts and her charity work. The award was presented by Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra on April 13, 2007.

Academy Awards

2003 - Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Hours

Berlin International Film Festival

2003 - Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actress for The Hours

Boston Society of Film Critics

1995 - Best Actress for To Die For

British Academy of Film and Television Arts:

2003 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for The Hours

Broadcast Film Critics Association

1996 - Best Actress for To Die For

Golden Globe Awards:

1996 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for To Die For
2002 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for Moulin Rouge!
2003 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama for The Hours

Kansas City Film Critics Circle