Background

Nicole Mary Kidman is an Academy-award winning Australian actress. She was born on June 20, 1967, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

She is a daughter to Janelle Ann MacNeille (a nursing instructor) and Dr. Anthony David Kidman (a biochemist, clinical psychologist, and author).

She became the highest paid actress in the film industry in 2006. In that same year, Nicole Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honor. She is also well-known for her former marriage to Tom Cruise, as well as her later marriage to country singer Keith Urban.

Early Years

After spending her early years in Hawaii, Nicole Kidman and her family returned to Australia when she was four years old. At that time, her father took on a lectureship at the University of Technology, Sydney. They resided on Greenwich, a suburb on Sydney's North Shore. Raised Catholic, she attended Mary Mackillop and North Sydney Girls' High School.

Kidman's first appearance in film was in a Pat Wilson music video for "Bop Girl" in 1983, when she was 15 years old. By the end of the year she appeared in a supporting role in the television series "Five Mile Creek" and appearances in four films, including "BMX Bandits" and "Bush Christmas." During the 1980s, she appeared in several Australian movies and TV series, including soap opera "A Country Practice," the mini-series "Vietnam," "Emerald City," and "Bangkok Hilton."

Career Highlights

In 1989, Kidman got her big break when she starred in the thriller "Dead Calm" as a wife of a naval officer who was held captive on a Pacific Ocean yacht trip by a psychotic man. The film received generally positive reviews. In 1990, she appeared opposite Tom Cruise in "Days of Thunder," a stock car racing movie. She also starred with Cruise in "Far and Away" (1992). In 1995, Kidman was featured in the ensemble cast of "Batman Forever."

Her second film in 1995, "To Die For," was a satirical comedy that earned her praise from critics. Her performance as the cold-hearted, vindictive, manipulative, and overly ambitious newsreader earned her a Golden Globe Award (along with five other awards) for Best Actress. She starred again with Cruise, whom she was married at the time, in Stanley Kubrick's final film "Eyes Wide Shut" (1999).

In 2002, Kidman received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in the 2001 film "Moulin Rouge!" in which she played the courtesan Satine opposite Ewan McGregor. It was also in this performance where she received her second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. In that same year, she had a well-received starring role in the horror film "The Others."

The following year, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in "The Hours," in which prosthetics were applied on her face making her almost unrecognizable. She won the Academy Award for this role, along with another Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA (Britain's version of the Oscars), and numerous critics awards. She became the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award.

In 2003, Kidman starred in three films: "Dogville," an experimental film directed by Danish director Lars von Trier; "The Human Stain," a novel adaptation she co-starred with Anthony Hopkins; and "Cold Mountain," a period film dating to America's Civil War, which garnered her a Golden Globe Award nomination. It was in this same year when she received her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2004, Kidman appeared in the critically-panned remake of "The Stepford Wives." In that same year, she starred in "Birth," in which her character has an encounter with a 10-year-old boy who attempts to convince her that he is a reincarnation of her dead husband. This film has earned her another Golden Globe nomination.

Kidman's two movies in 2005 were "The Interpreter" in which she played a United Nations interpreter and movie version of the 1960s TV sitcom "Bewitched."

In conjunction with her success in the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No.5 perfume brand. Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann directed the three-minute TV ad. She was reportedly paid US$3.71 million for this project, making her the record holder for the most money paid per minute. During this time, she was also listed as the 45^th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 edition of Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 List.

Not known to many, Kidman is also a singer. Her collaboration with McGregor on the song "Come What May" for the soundtrack of film Moulin Rouge! debuted and peaked at 27 in the UK Singles Chart. She later collaborated with Robbie Williams on the song "Somethin' Stupid." It debuted and peaked at 8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at number 1 for three weeks in the UK.

In 2006, she provided her voice for the animated movie "Happy Feet," in which she also sang her character's "heartsong," which was a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince.

Private Life

Kidman was married to Tom Cruise on Christmas Eve 1990 in Colorado, USA. The couple adopted two children, Isabella Jane and Connor Anthony. The two separated just before their 10^th wedding anniversary. At the time she was 3 months pregnant and subsequently suffered a miscarriage.

Cruise filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences as the cause although the reasons for the dissolution have never been made public. She said in an interview that she was shocked about their divorce. However, she admitted that she was secretly engaged when her divorce from Cruise was legalized. She would not reveal who her fiance was.

The 2003 film "Cold Mountain" was plagued by rumor that an on-set affair between Kidman and co-star Jude Law was reponsible for the breakup of his marriage. Both vehemently denied the allegations, and Kidman eventually won an undisclosed sum from the British tabloids that printed the story.

Kidman met musician Lenny Kravitz in 2003 and dated him until 2004.

She then met Australian country singer Keith Urban at G'Day LA, an event honoring Australians in January 2005. The two were married on 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 and Nashville, Tennessee.

Kidman was also among Hollywood professionals who condemned organizations Hamas and Hezbollah through a full-page advertisement published in the Los Angeles Times in August 2006. She has also made numerous donations to US Democratic party candidates and endorsed John Kerry in the 2004 presidential elections.

Kidman publicly supports a variety of charities and causes. She has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Australia since 1994 and 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 honored as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations.


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