WHY IS SHE FAMOUS
Nicole Kidman is head and shoulders above her peers, and it’s not merely because of her towering 5’11” frame. This statuesque Aussie has established herself as one of the greatest actresses of her generation with commanding performances in Moulin Rouge!,Cold Mountain and The Hours. Kidman can be seen next in Rabbit Hole, a heart-wrenching drama about a couple grieving the loss of their only child.
Nicole Kidman Quote
To be an actor you have to have a certain amount of madness in you. That's why, when people meet you and you seem very together, they are quite surprised -- they don't see you behind closed doors.
82 SEX APPEAL
Anyone who has followed Nicole Kidman’s career closely knows that her films tend to have two things in common: Powerful performances and nudity. Lots and lots of nudity. From her steamy bedroom scenes in Dead Calm to her daring full frontal nude scenes in Billy Bathgate, this shameless Oscar winner has doffed her knickers in nearly every film she’s ever appeared in. Kidman has even flashed audiences on stage in The Blue Room, a risqué play that one British reviewer called “pure theatrical Viagra.” Not that we’re complaining. Her penchant for public nudity is just one of the reasons why this divine 42-year-old has become a permanent feature on AskMen’s annual Top 99 Women list. It’s also why we look forward to each of her new releases, knowing full well that our patience will be rewarded with a glimpse of her exquisite body. Nicole Kidman, we salute you!
90 SUCCESS
Nicole Kidman keeps on getting better with age. This supremely talented Aussie has won 18 major awards since her 30th birthday, including a Golden Globe for her role as a singing and dancing courtesan in Moulin Rouge! and an Oscar for her depiction of suicidal author Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Along the way, her personal fee has skyrocketed to $16 million per picture, making her one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. Kidman has also managed to pad her bank account since 2003 by appearing in advertisements for high-profile products like the Nintendo DS and Chanel No. 5, the top-selling fragrance in the world. Kidman should continue to enhance her profile and her personal fortune over the next few years as she tackles a full slate of promising new projects.
NICOLE KIDMAN BIOGRAPHY
It may surprise many moviegoers to discover that Australia’s favorite female actress wasn’t actually born in the Land Down Under. The daughter of a prominent biochemist, Nicole Mary Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and spent her early years in Washington, D.C., where her Australian-born father was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health. The Kidman clan eventually returned to Oz following Nicole’s fourth birthday and settled down in an affluent Sydney suburb.Nicole Kidman Makes Her Big Screen Debut
Nicole Kidman took to her new surroundings like a fish to water and soon became heavily involved with Sydney’s Philip Street Theater and the Australian Theatre for Young People, where her performances in front of the footlights earned rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. This lithe redhead later graduated to the big screen in 1983 with leading roles in the teen adventure filmBMX Bandits and the beloved holiday classic Bush Christmas, a pair of films that helped establish her as one of the country’s most promising young actresses.Kidman continued to showcase her range throughout the 1980s with recurring roles in popular TV programs like A Country Practiceand File Mile Creek. She also won her first Best Actress award from the Australian Film Institute in 1987 for her breakthrough performance in the gritty miniseries Vietnam.
Nicole Kidman Marries Tom Cruise
Nicole Kidman’s reputation began spreading beyond Australia in 1989 with the success of Dead Calm, an eerie thriller about a couple who unwittingly rescues a shipwrecked murderer. Tom Cruise was so impressed by her performance that he demanded she be cast as his love interest in Days of Thunder the following year. Cruise had his way and the couple began a red hot love affair on the set, culminating in a lavish wedding on December 24, 1990.The well-publicized romance transformed Kidman into an overnight sensation and she cashed in with leading roles in Billy Bathgate, starring Dustin Hoffman and Bruce Willis and Malice, starringAlec Baldwin and George C. Scott. She also played Cruise’s fiery Irish lover in Far and Away, an ambitious period piece that ultimately tanked at the box office.
Nicole Kidman Comes Into Her Own
Nicole Kidman truly began to win over American audiences in 1995 with her tour de force performance as a fame-crazed weathergirl inTo Die For. The deliciously dark film earned her a slew of honors including her first Golden Globe. She also showed off her softer, sexier side that summer by cozying up to Val Kilmer in Batman Forever, one of the year’s biggest blockbusters.Nicole Kidman Stars In Eyes Wide Shut
Kidman’s next few films were nothing if not eclectic as she donned a corset for The Portrait of a Lady, tracked down stolen nuclear weapons in The Peacemaker and swapped spells with Sandra Bullock in Practical Magic. She finally returned to more familiar terrain in 1999 when she reteamed with Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut, a steamy sexual thriller that was universally panned for its dense plot and labored pacing.Nicole Kidman And Tom Cruise Divorce
Audiences were spared from having to sit through another Kidman-Cruise collaboration in 2001 when the couple divorced due to irreconcilable differences. While a lesser actress may have allowed herself to fade into oblivion, Nicole Kidman began turning in some of the finest work of her career, beginning with her Oscar-nominated performance as a singing and dancing courtesan inMoulin Rouge!She later proved she was more than just a pretty face the following year when she donned a prosthetic nose and layers of makeup to play English author Virginia Woolf in The Hours. The transformation was so complete that many audience members didn’t even realize they had been watching Kidman until the final credits rolled on the screen. Members of the Academy were equally amazed by her performance and rewarded Kidman with her first Oscar for Best Actress later that winter.
