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The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Nicole Mary Kidman (born
June 20, 1967) is an Academy Award winning Australian actress, producer,
and singer. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Dr Antony David Kidman
and Janelle Ann (nee MacNeille). At the time, her father was a cancer
research specialist in Washington, D.C. The family returned to Australia
when Nicole was four years old, when Tony Kidman took on a lectureship
at the University of Technology, Sydney.
* * * *
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.
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 Dead Calm which gained her notice in the 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.
After ten years, the
marrriage 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.
Hollywood
career
After “Days of Thunder” she
starred with Cruise in Ron Howard's Far and Away (1992). Later she was
in Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Stanley Kubrick's final film, when she
co-starred with her husband as a married couple for the second time.
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, earning 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.
Kidman's most
professionally successful year was 2001, with her Oscar-nominated
performance in Moulin Rouge! and well-received star turn in a horror
film, The Others. While in Australia filming Moulin Rouge!, Kidman
injured her knee, so Jodie Foster had to replace her in 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. 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.
Awards
Film awards
Kidman won the 2003 Academy
Award for Best Actress for her performance as Virginia Woolf in The
Hours: for the same film she won a BAFTA award. Kidman was nominated in
2002 for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the
Academy Award winning musical, Moulin Rouge!.
She has also been nominated
seven times for a Golden Globe, the first time being in 1992 for Best
Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. Kidman won her first of three
Golden Globes in 1996 for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Motion
Picture for the film To Die For, her second win was in 2002 again for
Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Motion Picture for Moulin Rouge!, her
third win was in 2003 in the Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture for
the film The Hours. She was nominated four consecutive times in the Best
Actress in a Drama Motion Picture Golden Globe, in the years 2002-2005,
for the following films in chronological order: The Others, The Hours,
Cold Mountain, and most recently Birth.
Kidman has won one British
Academy Award (BAFTA), it was for her performance in The Hours. She was
nominated for the BAFTA two other times, in 2002 and 1996. In 2003,
Kidman was given the American Cinematheque Award. She won two MTV Film
Awards in 2002 for Moulin Rouge!. She has been nominated for three
Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2003, Kidman received her Star on the
Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.
In addition to those
accolades, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the folowing
critics' groups or award giving organizations: Australian Film
Institute, Berlin International Film Festival, Blockbuster Entertainment
Awards, Boston Society of Film Critics, Broadcast Film Critics
Association, Empire Awards, Golden Satellite Awards, Hollywood Film
Festival, Kansas City Film Critics Circle, Las Vegas Film Critics
Society, London Critics Circle, Prestige Academy of Motion Pictures &
Television, Russian Guild of Film Critics, Seattle International Film
Festival, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association.
Other awards
Kidman publicly supports a
variety of charities and causes. She has been a high profile Goodwill
Ambassador for UNICEF Australia since 1994. She has worked to help raise
money for and draw attention to the plight of and the most disadvantaged
children in Australia and around the world. In (2004) she was honoured
as a "Citizen of the World" by the United Nations. Kidman was selected
as the New South Wales Australian of the Year 2005. In 2005 she visited
the tsunami-hit regions of SE Asia.
Singing
Not known as a singer prior
to Moulin Rouge!, Kidman had several well received vocal performances in
the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on the song "Come What
May", from the film's soundtrack debuted and peaked at #27 on the UK
Singles Chart. Later, she collaborated with Robbie Williams on the song
"Somethin' Stupid", a cover of the old swing song on Williams' swing
covers album "Swing When You're Winning" (debuting and peaking at #8 in
the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at #1 for three weeks in the
UK, also becoming the UK Christmas #1 Single for 2001). She was
reportedly offered a recording contract from a very high-profile record
company following the success of "Moulin," but turned it down, believing
that a full-time singing career was not her destined path.
* * * *
Other notes
-
As Kidman
was born in Hawaii, she is an American citizen by birth. She has
dual nationality and carries both Australian and U.S. passports.
-
Kidman's
sister Antonia is an entertainment reporter for an Australian
television program, and also has her own very successful parenting
program title 'The Little Things' set to be syndicated around the
world.
-
Kidman is
also a well renowned fashion paradigm and a frequent "Best Dressed"
staple.
-
In August
2004, the Australian magazine BRW listed Kidman as the richest
Australian woman under the age of 40, with an estimated worth of 155
million A$ (Australian dollars), or $107 million in United States
dollars.
-
In
January 2005, Kidman won interim restraining orders against two
Sydney-based paparazzi photographers.
* * * *
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Kidman
Date Article Copied:
July 11, 2005
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