Nicole Kidman

Nicole Mary Kidman (born June 20, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning Australian actress, producer and singer.

Biography

Early life and career

Nicole started taking ballet lessons when she was three, and this led to studies at St. Martin's Youth Theatre in Melbourne, the Australian Theatre for Young People in Sydney, and then to the Philip Street Theatre, where she majored in voice production and theatre history. She studied at North Sydney Girls High School, but dropped out when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, as Kidman concentrated on her family responsibilities until her mother's recovery.

Related Topics:
Ballet - Melbourne - North Sydney Girls High School

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Her first appearance on film came in 1983 when, as a 15 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 movies and TV series, notably including the soap opera A Country Practice, the mini-series Vietnam (1986), Emerald City (1988), and Bangkok Hilton (1989). In 1989 she appeared in the successful thriller Dead Calm as Rae, wife of navy officer John Ingram (Sam Neill), held captive on a pacific yacht trip by the psychotic Hughie Warriner (Billy Zane) which gained her considerable notice in the United States.

Related Topics:
1983 - Pat Wilson - Music video - Television series - Five Mile Creek - BMX Bandits - Bush Christmas - 1980s - Soap opera - A Country Practice - Vietnam - 1986 - Emerald City - 1988 - Bangkok Hilton - 1989 - Dead Calm - Sam Neill - Billy Zane - United States

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marriage to Cruise

Her American debut was in Days of Thunder (1990), a stock-car racing movie opposite Tom Cruise. Although Cruise was married to actress Mimi Rogers at the time, he and Kidman became ?an item?. Cruise divorced Rogers and the couple married on Christmas Eve of 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted two children, Isabella and Connor, and lived in Los Angeles, California, Australia, Colorado, and New York.

Related Topics:
Days of Thunder - Tom Cruise - Mimi Rogers - Christmas Eve - 1990 - Telluride, Colorado - Los Angeles, California - Australia - Colorado - New York

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After ten years, the marriage was dissolved in 2001: there was much media speculation about the reasons for this, but both celebrities maintained their privacy and were guarded in their public comments. One persistent rumour claims however that Kidman's desire to bring up their children Catholic, and her critical views on Scientology caused the problems in her marriage with Tom Cruise, who is known to be an outspoken follower of the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard.

Related Topics:
Catholic - Scientology - Tom Cruise - L. Ron Hubbard

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hollywood career

After Days of Thunder she starred with Cruise in Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992).

Related Topics:
Ron Howard - Far and Away - 1992

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1995 was to bring much success. She was featured in the all-star cast of Batman Forever and later that same year she starred in To Die For, which earned her high praise from critics. Although media speculation thought that she would earn an Academy Award nomination for her performance, it was not to be. She did however win a Golden Globe award, and five other best actress awards for her comic portrayal of the murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone Maretto.

Related Topics:
1995 - Batman Forever - To Die For - Academy Award - Golden Globe

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kidman and Cruise portrayed a married couple in Eyes Wide Shut in 1999, Stanley Kubrick's final film. It was the third time she had co-starred with Tom Cruise.

Related Topics:
Eyes Wide Shut - 1999 - Stanley Kubrick - Film

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kidman's most professionally successful year yet was 2001, with her Oscar-nominated performance in Moulin Rouge! and a well-received starring role in the horror film The Others. While in Australia filming Moulin Rouge!, Kidman injured her knee, so that Jodie Foster had to replace her in the Panic Room. The following year Kidman came back to win the same praise from critics for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role.

Related Topics:
2001 - Oscar - Moulin Rouge! - The Others - Jodie Foster - Panic Room - The Hours - Academy Award for Best Actress

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the same year she took a hand at production for the film In the Cut.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2004, Kidman appeared in the remake of The Stepford Wives alongside Glenn Close, Faith Hill and Bette Midler. In September of the same year, Kidman's film Birth, in which the 37-year-old actress' character falls in love with a 10-year-old boy (played by Cameron Bright) who attempts to convince her that he is a reincarnation of her dead husband, met with a mixed reception. Despite this, the film was nominated for the prestigious Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival.

Related Topics:
2004 - The Stepford Wives - Glenn Close - Faith Hill - Bette Midler - Birth - Cameron Bright - Reincarnation - Golden Lion Award - Venice Film Festival

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 2007 Kidman is author Philip Pullman's number-one choice to play Mrs. Coulter in the upcoming film version of the first volume of his His Dark Materials trilogy, , and in the subsquent two films.

Related Topics:
Philip Pullman - Mrs. Coulter - His Dark Materials

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~