After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Her performances in films such as To Die For (1995), Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Rabbit Hole (2010) received critical acclaim, and her performance in The Hours (2002) brought her an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award. Her other films include the box office hits Days of Thunder (1990), Batman Forever (1995), The Others (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), The Interpreter (2005) and Australia (2008).
Kidman has been a Goodwill Ambassador for UNIFEM since 2006. In 2003, Kidman received her star on the Walk of Fame. In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honour, and was also the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry.
She also is known for her 11-year marriage to Tom Cruise, with whom she adopted two children, and her current marriage to country musician Keith Urban, with whom she has a biological daughter, Sunday Rose.
As a result of being born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship in Australia and the United States.
Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney, Australia. 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 Kidman's birth in 1967, her father was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her parents now live on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist. Kidman is of Irish descent through her great-great-great-grandparents, James and Bridget Callachor, who settled in Sydney in 1842.
Kidman attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls' High School. In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Nicole to temporarily halt her education and help provide for the family by working as a massage therapist at age 17. She studied at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, and at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, with Naomi Watts. This was followed by attending the Australian Theatre for Young People.
Nicole Kidman pictures:
