Celebrity Wallpapers

A statuesque Australian redhead with creamy alabaster skin and blue eyes that cast a slightly mischievous air, Nicole Kidman had become established in her native land as a rising talent before she ventured to the USA where she met her future husband Tom Cruise during the filming of 1990’s “Days of Thunder”. Born in Hawaii to a biochemist and psychologist father and an activist nursing instructor mother, Kidman spent her first years living in the Washington, DC, area. By the time she was three, she and her parents had returned to Australia and settled in conservative, upper-middle-class suburb of Sydney. As a toddler, she was enrolled in ballet classes and at age four got a taste of theatrical life by stealing her school’s Christmas pageant, garnering laughs as a sheep who upstaged the Nativity scene.

By the age of 10, Kidman had been enrolled in drama school and four years later made her first real impression as a frizzy-haired teen in the Australian holiday perennial “Bush Christmas” (1983). By that time, she had become a regular on the TV series “Five Mile Creek”, appearing in the show’s final 12 episodes. Her profile rose even higher after an award-winning performance in the miniseries 1985 “Vietnam” which first teamed her with director John Duigan. She continued her rise in the comedy “Emerald City” (1988), delivering a nice turn as the girlfriend of a script supervisor (Chris Hayward) who catches the attention of a screenwriter (John Hargreaves).

That film was followed by a terrific portrayal of a young woman who is duped into becoming a drug smuggler, gets caught and is imprisoned in the gripping TV drama “Bangkok Hilton” (1989). That same year, Kidman broke through to international art-house audiences offering one of her finest performances as the traumatized young wife of a middle-aged doctor (Sam Neill) coping with the accidental death of their only child by embarking on a yachting trip that turns threatening when they rescue a stranger (Billy Zane) in the superb thriller “Dead Calm”.
The actress reteamed with director John Duigan for his excellent “Flirting” (1990) to essay a snooty schoolgirl. By the time the film reached US shores in 1991, though, Kidman had already become known as the actress who snared superstar Tom Cruise after co-starring with him in the race-car drama “Days of Thunder” (1990). Their whirlwind courtship and subsequent marriage proved fodder for the gossip columns and surprised many. In an effort to distance herself a bit from the label of “Mrs. Tom Cruise”, Kidman accepted the part of a society girl who gets mixed up with gangsters in the Robert Benton-directed period drama “Billy Bathgate” (1991), holding her own opposite Dustin Hoffman. Unfortunately, the film failed to appeal to audiences and was a box-office failure.

A reteaming with her husband in the Ron Howard-directed would-be epic “Far and Away” (1992) was also a commercial disappointment. Kidman had her moments as a headstrong Irish lass who determines to follow a penniless worker to America in the mid-19th Century, but the film’s muddled screenplay undercut her efforts. Although she went on to appear as a wife desperate to have a child in “Malice” and the supportive spouse of a dying man in “My Life” (both 1993), neither did much to raise her profile or challenge her as an actor. Making a clearly economic decision, Kidman was cast as the love interest to Val Kilmer’s Bruce Wayne/Batman in the overblown “Batman Forever” (1995).

Later that year, though, she finally had a chance to prove her mettle to US audiences with a brilliantly comic turn as an ambitious weather girl who’ll do anything to succeed in the satirical “To Die For”. Her excellent delineation of self-absorption in the face of ambition was one of the year’s finest performances, but surprisingly the expected Oscar nomination never materialized. One theory floated on why the Academy overlooked her is that no one who saw the film could tell where the character ended and the actress began. It also didn’t help that the tabloids and gossip pages tried to paint Kidman as relentless. Such a gender-biased discriminatory approach wasn’t lost on her. As she pointed out, “Tom [Cruise]’s determination is called intensity. My determination is called ambitious to the point of ruthlessness.”

Jane Campion had once offered her the role of Isabel Archer in a film version of Henry James’ novel “The Portrait of a Lady”, claiming that she couldn’t imagine any other actress in the part. Still, after Kidman’s string of less than spectacular movies, Campion made the actress audition for the 1996 film. Kidman tore into the role, finding the depth and nuance in the character of an idealistic American who marries into European aristocracy for wealth rather than love. Although some of the directorial flourishes tended to undercut the story, the acting shone through, but once again few gave Kidman the credit she deserved.

Perhaps in a further effort to improve her bankability, she co-starred with George Clooney in the action thriller “The Peacemaker” (1997) and teamed with Sandra Bullock in “Practical Magic” (1998). In an effort to completely overhaul her image and improve her standing in the entertainment business, Kidman returned to the stage, starring opposite Iain Glen in the David Hare play “The Blue Room”, first in London and then on Broadway. A loose adaptation of “La Ronde”, the play had only the two actors and earned acclaim, but it also generated a bit of controversy over brief nudity.

Before she undertook the stage role, Kidman had signed on with Cruise to play a couple facing difficulties in their marriage in Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999). Filmed over a 14-month period from November 1996 to January 1998, “Eyes Wide Shut” was an erotic-tinged fever dream. After the wife (Kidman) confesses to having a sexual fantasy about another man, the husband (Cruise) embarks on a journey that takes him from one charged situation to another, culminating in an orgy. Kubrick died just after completion of the film, but critics greeted it as they had most of his work — with mixed feelings. Neither Kidman nor Cruise were used to particularly good effect in the film, although she had moments where her skill and grace shone through.

Having earned the tag of “serious actress” after working with Kubrick and on stage, Kidman went to work on back-to-back projects that fully demonstrated her range. In Baz Luhrmann’s hyperkinetic “Moulin Rouge!” (2001), Kidman was cast as Satine, a singing and dancing courtesan who falls in love with a penniless writer she at first mistook for a wealthy patron. While her dancing was adequate (perhaps the numerous injuries she sustained from broken ribs to torn cartilage in her knee hindered her), she displayed a pleasant singing voice. Certainly, she and co-star Ewan McGregor had a terrific chemistry that helped compensate for the uneven screenplay. While “Moulin Rouge!” allowed the actress to cut loose, “The Others” (also 2001) required her to portray a high-strung mother living in isolation during WWII. Deftly underplaying the implicit hysteria while also injecting vulnerability in the character, Kidman painted a portrait of a controlling yet all too human woman. “Moulin Rouge!” allowed her to drop the icy reserve that had undercut her work in other roles while “The Others” exploited it, allowing her to craft an emotionally layered performance.

2001 was seemingly Kidman’s year to triumph (she was selected by Entertainment Weekly as Entertainer of the Year and she had placed two songs on recording charts around the world, “Come What May”, a duet with Ewan McGregor from the “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack, and “Somethin’ Stupid”, a remake of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit recorded with Robbie Williams), but just as she was ascending professional heights, her personal life appeared to be falling apart. Just after the couple’s tenth anniversary. Tom Cruise filed for divorce and a month later Kidman was reported to have suffered a miscarriage. The break with Cruise was shocking, although there were signs of trouble as early as January when the pair arrived separately for the telecast of the Golden Globe awards. Still, the split kept the tabloids and gossip press busy for much of the year, with speculation fueled by Cruise’ cryptic statement, “Nic knows exactly why we are getting the divorce.”

By year’s end, the marriage had been dissolved and the assets distributed. Professionally, Kidman continued on a roll. “Birthday Girl”, in which she was cast as a Russian mail-order bride was screened at film festivals in Venice, London and Toronto in 2001 to acclaim and opened theatrically in 2002, just prior to the announcement of the Academy Award nominations, which found her competing in the Best Actress category for “Moulin Rouge!” That same year, Kidman was seen (although was scarecely recognizeable under sparse make-up, mousy brown hair and a prosthetic nose) as British author Virginia Woolf in the film adaptation of the award-winning novel “The Hours” (2002), in which she turned in an understated, absorbing and completely convincing performance as the emotionally troubled writer. Her deft acting and chameleon-like transformation resulted in an Academy Award for Best Actress, as well as a Best Actress win at the Golden Globes (her second trophy in as many years).

She then reunited with “Billy Bathgate” helmer Robert Benton in “The Human Stain” (2003), as the once-abused uneducated janitor Faunia who embarks on a secret love affair with the scholarly Coleman (Anthony Hopkins), a man of mixed race passing as white. The film provided yet another showcase for the both the actress’ range and her willingness to bare her body in service of her character. But that role was overshadowed by another, more critically acclaimed 2003 project, director Anthony Minghella’s star-crossed Civil War romance “Cold Mountain” in which Kidman played Ada Monroe, a once-sheltered Southern belle who with the help of earthy Ruby (Renee Zellweger) must learn to fend for herself on her farm after her father dies and her beloved Inman (Jude Law) desperately deserts the Confederate army to make his way back to her. Her performance, in which she convincingly matures from helplessness to self-sufficience, put her again at the top of awards nominations lists, though she was surprisingly omitted from Oscar contention.

Kidman’s first release of 2004 was the Lars von Trier-helmed “Dogville,” which she had filmed prior to “The Human Stain” and “Cold Mountain.” The film, which was unrepentantly anti-American in plot and tone–despite von Trier having never visited the country due to a fear of flying–focused on the arrival of the mysterious fugitive from gangsters Grace (Kidman) in the small Rocky Mountain community of Dogville during the Depression, where she is giving a two-week sanctuary before eventually being viewed and victimized as the “property” of the citizenry. The film had a polarizing effect on critics and audiences, most of which were put of by von Trier’s extreme anti-American sentiments. Nevertheless, Kidman delivered yet another performance that pushed the boundaries of her dramatic abilities and on-screen sexuality.

After several heavy films in a row, Kidman lightened up with a role in director Frank Oz’s satrical 2004 remake of the cult classic horror film “The Stepford Wives,” with the Aussie actress as Joanna Ebhart, a corporate ladder climber who moves to Stepford, CT, with her husband (Matthew Broderick) and discovers the community’s all-too-perfect wives are the product of a sinister secret. Following rumors of behind-the-scenes dissent on the film, Kidman distanced herself from the project and, following lukewarm critical reception the film failed to catch on with audiences. Next Kidman continued her perchant for finding unorthodox, smaller-scale projects to test her acting range, this time with “Birth” (2004), a brooding, melancholy film in which she played a widowed woman about to remarry who, ten years after her husband’s death, encounters a young boy claiming to be the reincarnation of her first husband, pleading with her not to marry her fiance. The film focused more on the psychological aspects than the supernatural, and Kidman, who bobbed and darkened her tradmark tresses to more fully emphasize the subleties of her face, was praised for her complex, spellbinding performance.

In 2005 Kidman, more and more frequently blonde on screen and off, starred in the Sydney Pollack-directed thriller “The Interpreter” as an African-born U.N. translator who alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than she can understand, but the federal agent (Sean Penn) assigned to protect her suspects there may be something more sinister behind her story. A few months later Kidman headlined the big-screen remake of TV’s “Bewitched” opposite Will Ferrell, Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine–director and co-writer Nora Ephron creatively reconceived the magical ’60s TV sitcom, casting Kidman as Isabel Bigelow, a reluctant real-life witch who gets cast as the lead Samantha in a Hollywood remake of the beloved series, and by playing the comedy relatively straight she held her own against co-stars, veteran scene-stealers all.

• Also Credited As:
  Nicole Mary Kidman
• Born:
  on 06/20/1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Singer

Family

• Daughter: Isabella Jane Kidman Cruise. born on December 22, 1992 in Florida; adopted by Kidman and Cruise in January 1993
• Father: Antony Kidman. Australian; involved with labor movement and progressive causes
• Mother: Janelle Kidman. Australian; edits her husband’s books; involved with feminist causes; was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984
• Sister: Antonia Kidman Hawley. born c. 1971
• Son: Connor Anthony Cruise. African-American; born on January 17, 1995 in Florida; adopted with Cruise on February 5, 2001

Significant Others

• Companion: Eric Watson. businessman; owner of the “Warriors” rugby league club in New Zealand; rumored to have dated in late 2004
• Companion: Keith Urban. singer, country music star; met in January 2005, at a gala dinner in L.A. honoring noted Australians; rumors that they were dating began in July 2005; announced engagement May 2006
• Companion: Lenny Kravitz. musician, singer; began dating early 2003; split January 2004, when Kravitz was photographed with another woman
• Companion: Marcus Graham. Australian actor; had relationship in the late 1980s
• Companion: QTip. rapper; rumored to have briefly dated in January 2003; introduced by Leonardo DiCaprio
• Companion: Russell Crowe. actor; romantically linked in October 2002; was later reported that the source who claim to have witnessed Kidman and Crowe kissing, dancing, etc., admitted that he lied
• Companion: Steve Bing. producer; rumored to have briefly dated in 2004/05
• Companion: Tobey Maguire. actor; 8 years younger than Kidman; reportedly dated in 2002; no longer together
• Husband: Tom Cruise. actor, producer; born July 3, 1962; met while filming “Days of Thunder” (1990); married on December 24, 1990 in Telluride, Colorado; co-starred in “Far and Away” (1992) and “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999); announced separation in February 2001; divorce finalized on August 8, 2001
• Husband: Tom Cruise. born on July 3, 1962; married on December 24, 1990 in Telluride, Colorado; co-starred in “Days of Thunder” (1990), “Far and Away” (1992) and “Eyes Wide Shut” (1999); announced separation in February 2001; Cruise filed for divorce on February 7, 2001; divorce finalized on August 8, 2001
• Companion: Marcus Graham. Australian; had relationship in the late 1980s
• Companion: Q-tip. rumored to be dating as of January 2003; reportedly introduced by Leonardo DiCaprio
• Companion: Russell Crowe. rumored to be dating as of October 2002; was later reported that the source who claim to have witnessed Kidman and Crowe kissing, dancing, etc admitted that he lied; Crowe later became engaged to girlfriend Danielle Spencer in December 2002
• Companion: Tobey Maguire. 8 years younger than Kidman; reportedly dating since March 2002

Education

• North Sydney Girls’ High School, Sydney, Australia

Milestones

• 1970 Family returned to live in an affluent Sydney suburb (date approximate)
• 1970 Studied dance at age three (date approximate)
• 1971 Non-professional acting debut as a sheep in a Nativity play at age four (date approximate)
• 1977 Began acting at age 10 (date approximate)
• 1983 Appeared in Australian teen film, “BMX Bandits”
• 1983 Cast as Annie in the series “Five Mile Creek”; appeared in the last 12 episodes of the series
• 1983 Made Australian film debut in “Bush Christmas”
• 1985 Gave breakthrough TV performance in the Kennedy-Miller miniseries, “Vietnam”; reportedly underwent a six-and-a-half-hour improvisational audition to land the role; episodes directed by John Duigan and Chris Noonan
• 1986 Cast as a rock star who falls for a windsurfer in “Windrider”
• 1987 Reteamed with director Duigan on the Australian telefilm “Room to Move”
• 1989 Breakthrough screen role as Sam Neill’s young wife in the thriller “Dead Calm”, directed by Philip Noyce
• 1989 Offered terrific turn as a woman duped into carrying drugs who is caught and imprisoned in the TV drama “Bangkok Hilton”
• 1990 Teamed again with John Duigan on “Flirting”; best pal Naomi Watts also in cast
• 1990 US film debut, “Days of Thunder” opposite future husband Tom Cruise
• 1991 Gave a strong performance as a mobster’s mistress in the underappreciated “Billy Bathgate”, directed by Robert Benton
• 1992 Co-starred as an Irish lass who heads to Oklahoma with her lover (played by Cruise) in “Far and Away”, directed by Ron Howard
• 1993 Cast as a young wife who desperately wants a child in “Malice”
• 1993 Starred opposite Michael Keaton in the drama “My Life”
• 1995 Delivered a critically-acclaimed portrayal of a brutally ambitious weather girl in Gus Van Sant’s black comedy “To Die For”
• 1995 Portrayed the love interest of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the overblown “Batman Returns”
• 1996 Played Isabel Archer in Jane Campion’s sumptuous (but ineffectual) adaptation of Henry James’ “The Portrait of a Lady”; Campion had originally offered her the role then made her audition for the part
• 1997 Offered a fearsomely serious approach to her role as Dr. Julia Kelly, acting head of the White House Nuclear Smugling Group, in the action thriller “The Peacemaker”
• 1998 Co-starred with Sandra Bullock as sisters who happen to be witches in “Practical Magic”
• 1998 Made London stage acting debut in David Hare’s “The Blue Room”, loosely based on “La Ronde”; production included the now infamous brief nude scene; show transferred to NYC in November marking Kidman’s Broadway debut; play closed a week prematurely when she became ill
• 1999 Starred opposite Cruise as a husband and wife experiencing marital discord in the Stanley-Kubrick directed “Eyes Wide Shut”; filmed over a 14-month period from November 1996 to January 1998
• 2001 Had singing and dancing role as the courtesan Satine opposite Ewan McGregor in the Baz Luhrmann-directed “Moulin Rouge!”; reportedly beat out Courtney Love for the role; received first Best Actress Oscar nomination
• 2001 Played a Russian mail-order bride opposite Ben Chaplin in “Birthday Girl” (filmed in 1999); screened at film festivals in Venice, Toronto and London; shown at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival; released theatrically in USA in 2002
• 2001 Played a high-strung mother in the period thriller “The Others”, written and directed by Alejandro Amenabar
• 2001 Recorded “Somethin’ Stupid” with singer Robbie Williams; had Number One hit record in Great Britain
• 2002 Cast as Virginia Woolf in “The Hours”, the feature adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer-winning novel; received a SAG nominations for her leading role performance
• 2003 Announced as the new celebrity spokeswoman for Chanel No. 5, the top selling fragrance in the world
• 2003 Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Jan. 13, 2003)
• 2003 Starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in “The Human Stain”, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel written and directed by Robert Benton
• 2003 Starred with Jude Law in Anthony Minghella’s “Cold Mountain”; received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a dramatic role
• 2004 Co-starred with Matthew Broderick in the remake of ”The Stepford Wives,” Bryan Forbes’ 1975 cult classic about upper-crust women being replaced by robots with sunny dispositions
• 2004 Starred as Grace a woman on the run from the mob, hiding out in a small town in “Dogville” directed by Lars von Trier
• 2004 Starred in “Birth” with Cameron Bright and Lauren Bacall, as a woman who becomes convinced that a ten year old boy is the reincarnation of her dead husband; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Lead Actress (Drama)
• 2005 Cast as Samantha in the big-screen adaptation of “Bewitched”
• 2005 Starred opposite Sean Penn in Sydney Pollack’s “The Interpreter”
• Born in Hawaii
• On doctors’ advice, withdrew from leading role in “Panic Room” (filmed 2001), directed by David Fincher, because of a recurring knee injury; replaced by Jodie Foster
• Signed on to produce and star in “Headhunters,” playing one of four gold-digging New Jersey bachelorettes who seek rich husbands in Monte Carlo (lensed 2006)
• Spent first three years of life living in Washington, DC where her father did research on breast cancer
• Starred on the Australian stage in “Steel Magnolias” and “Spring Awakening”
• Will star in “Fur,” a biopic of photographer Diane Arbus
• Will star in Hong Kong master Wong Kar-Wai’s “A Lady From Shanghai,” as a 1950s woman in love with a spy (lensed 2005)