Noteworthy People – This is Australia

Nicole Mary Kidman AC (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian actress, singer, and producer. She has received an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five Golden Globe Awards. She was ranked among the world’s highest-paid actresses in 2006, 2018 and 2019. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world [GR1] in 2004 and again in 2018. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her fifth on its list of the greatest actors of the 21st century up to that point.

Kidman began her acting career in Australia with the 1983 films Bush Christmas and BMX Bandits. Her breakthrough came in 1989 with the thriller film Dead Calm and the miniseries Bangkok Hilton. In 1990, she made her Hollywood debut in the racing film Days of Thunder, opposite Tom Cruise. She went on to achieve wider recognition with lead roles in Far and Away (1992), Batman Forever (1995), To Die For (1995) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Kidman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying the writer Virginia Woolf in the drama The Hours (2002). Her other Oscar-nominated roles were as a courtesan in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) and emotionally troubled mothers in the dramas Rabbit Hole (2010) and Lion[GR2] (2016).

Kidman’s other film credits include The Others (2001), Cold Mountain (2003), Dogville (2003), Birth (2004), Australia (2008), The Paperboy (2012), Paddington (2014), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), Destroyer (2018), Aquaman (2018) and Bombshell (2019).

Kidman’s television roles include Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), Big Little Lies (2017–2019), Top of the Lake: China Girl (2017), and The Undoing (2020). For Big Little Lies, she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress and Outstanding Limited Series (as executive producer).

Kidman has been a Goodwill ambassador for UNICEF [GR3] since 1994 and for UNIFEM since 2006. In 2006, she was appointed Companion of the Order of Australia. Since she was born to Australian parents in Hawaii, Kidman holds dual citizenship of Australia and the United States. In 2010, she founded the production company Blossom Films. She was married to actor Tom Cruise [GR4] from 1990 to 2001, and has been married to country music singer Keith Urban since 2006.

Early life.

Kidman was born on 20 June 1967,in Honolulu, Hawaii, while her Australian parents were temporarily in the United States on student visas. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edited her husband’s books and was a member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby; her father, Antony Kidman [GR5] , was a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author. Kidman’s ancestry includes Irish and Scottish heritage.

Being born in Hawaii, she was given the Hawaiian name “Hōkūlani”, meaning “heavenly star”. The inspiration came from a baby elephant born around the same time at the Honolulu Zoo.

At the time of Kidman’s birth, her father was a graduate student at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. He became a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. Opposed to the war in Vietnam, Kidman’s parents participated in anti-war protests while living in Washington, D.C. The family returned to Australia when Kidman was four and her mother now lives on Sydney’s North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, a journalist and TV presenter.

Kidman grew up in Sydney and attended Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Girls’ High School. She was enrolled in ballet at three and showed her natural talent for acting in her primary and high school years.^[24] She says that she was first inspired to become an actress upon seeing Margaret Hamilton‘s performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. Kidman has revealed that she was timid as a child, saying, “I am very shy – really shy – I even had a stutter as a kid, which I slowly got over, but I still regress into that shyness. So I don’t like walking into a crowded restaurant by myself; I don’t like going to a party by myself.”

She initially studied at the Phillip Street Theatre in Sydney, alongside Naomi Watts who had attended the same high school. She also attended the Australian Theatre for Young People. Here she took up drama, mime and performing in her teens, finding acting to be a refuge. Owing to her fair skin and naturally red hair, the Australian sun forced the young Kidman to rehearse in halls of the theatre. A regular at the Phillip Street Theatre, she received praise and encouragement to pursue acting full-time.

Career

Beginnings (1983–1994)

In 1983, aged 16, Kidman made her film debut in a remake of the Australian holiday season favourite Bush Christmas. By the end of 1983, she had a supporting role in the television series Five Mile Creek. In 1984, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, which caused Kidman to halt her acting work temporarily while she studied massage so she could help her mother with physical therapy. She began gaining popularity in the mid-1980s after appearing in several film roles, including BMX Bandits (1983), Watch the Shadows Dance (1987 aka Nightmaster), and the romantic comedy Windrider (1986), which earned Kidman attention due to her racy scenes. Also during the decade, she appeared in several Australian productions, including the soap opera A Country Practice and the 1987 miniseries Vietnam. She also made guest appearances on Australian television programs and TV movies.

In 1988, Kidman appeared in Emerald City, based on the play of the same name. The Australian film earned her an Australian Film Institute award for Best Supporting Actress. Kidman next starred with Sam Neill in Dead Calm (1989) as Rae Ingram, playing the wife of a naval officer. The thriller brought Kidman to international recognition; Variety commented: “Throughout the film, Kidman is excellent. She gives the character of Rae real tenacity and energy.” Meanwhile, critic Roger Ebert noted the excellent chemistry between the leads, stating, “Kidman and Zane do generate real, palpable hatred in their scenes together.” She followed that up with the Australian miniseries Bangkok Hilton. She next moved on to star alongside her then-boyfriend and future husband, Tom Cruise, in the 1990 auto racing film Days of Thunder, as a young doctor who falls in love with a NASCAR driver. It is Kidman’s American debut and was among the highest-grossing films of the year.

In 1991, she co-starred with Thandie Newton and former classmate Naomi Watts in the Australian independent film Flirting. They portrayed high school girls in this coming of age story, which won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film. That same year, her work in the film Billy Bathgate earned Kidman her first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. The New York Times, in its film review, called her “a beauty with, it seems, a sense of humor”. The following year, she and Cruise re-teamed for Ron Howard‘s Irish epic Far and Away (1992), which was a modest critical and commercial success. In 1993, she starred in the thriller Malice opposite Alec Baldwin and the drama My Life opposite Michael Keaton [GR6] .

Worldwide recognition (1995–2003)

In 1995, Kidman played Dr. Chase Meridian, the damsel in distress, in the superhero film Batman Forever, opposite Val Kilmer as the film’s title character. The same year, she starred in Gus Van Sant‘s critically acclaimed dark comedy To Die For, in which she played the murderous newscaster Suzanne Stone. Of Kidman’s Golden Globe Award-winning performance, Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said “[she] brings to the role layers of meaning, intention and impulse. Telling her story in close-up – as she does throughout the film – Kidman lets you see the calculation, the wheels turning, the transparent efforts to charm that succeed in charming all the same.” Kidman next appeared, alongside Barbara Hershey and John Malkovich, in The Portrait of a Lady (1996), based on the novel of the same name, and starred in The Peacemaker (1997) as White House nuclear expert Dr. Julia Kelly, opposite George Clooney. The latter film grossed US$110 million worldwide. Kidman starred in comedy Practical Magic (1998) with Sandra Bullock as two witch sisters who face a curse which threatens to prevent them ever finding lasting love. While the film opened atop the chart on its North American opening weekend, it flopped at the box office. She returned to her work on stage the same year in the David Hare play The Blue Room[GR7] , which opened in London.

In 1999, Kidman reunited with then husband, Tom Cruise, to portray a Manhattan couple on a sexual odyssey, in Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of director Stanley Kubrick. It was subject to censorship controversies due to the explicit nature of its sex scenes. After a brief hiatus and a highly publicized divorce from Cruise, Kidman returned to the screen to play a mail-order bride in the British-American drama Birthday Girl. In 2001, Kidman played the cabaret actress and courtesan Satine in Baz Luhrmann‘s musical Moulin Rouge!, opposite Ewan McGregor. Her performance and her singing received positive reviews; Paul Clinton of CNN.com called it her best work since To Die For, and wrote “[she] is smoldering and stunning as Satine. She moves with total confidence throughout the film […] Kidman seems to specialize in ‘ice queen’ characters, but with Satine, she allows herself to thaw, just a bit.” Subsequently, Kidman received her second Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, as well as many other acting awards and nominations. She also received her first Academy Award nomination, for Best Actress.

Kidman at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival premiere of Moulin Rouge!

Kidman also starred in Alejandro Amenábar‘s horror film The Others (2001), as Grace Stewart, a mother living in the Channel Islands during World War II who suspects her house is haunted. Grossing over US$210 million worldwide, the film also earned several Goya Award nominations, including a Best Actress nomination for Kidman. She received her second BAFTA Award and fifth Golden Globe Award nominations. Roger Ebert commented that “Alejandro Amenábar has the patience to create a languorous, dreamy atmosphere, and Nicole Kidman succeeds in convincing us that she is a normal person in a disturbing situation, and not just a standard-issue horror movie hysteric.” Kidman was named the World’s Most Beautiful Person by People magazine in 2002.

In 2002, Kidman won critical praise for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf in Stephen Daldry‘s The Hours, which stars Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore. Kidman famously wore prosthetics that were applied to her nose making her almost unrecognizable playing the author during her time in 1920s England, and her bouts with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway. The film earned positive notices and several nominations, including for an Academy Award for Best Picture. The New York Times wrote that, “Ms. Kidman, in a performance of astounding bravery, evokes the savage inner war waged by a brilliant mind against a system of faulty wiring that transmits a searing, crazy static into her brain”. Kidman won numerous critics’ awards, including her first BAFTA Award, third Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actress. As the first Australian actress to win an Academy Award, Kidman made a teary acceptance speech about the importance of art, even during times of war, saying, “Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld.”

Following her Oscar win, Kidman appeared in three very different films in 2003. The first, a leading role in Dogville, by Danish director Lars von Trier, was an experimental film set on a bare soundstage. Though the film divided critics in the United States, Kidman still earned praise for her performance. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine stated: “Kidman gives the most emotionally bruising performance of her career in Dogville, a movie that never met a cliche it didn’t stomp on.” The second was an adaptation of Philip Roth‘s novel The Human Stain, opposite Anthony Hopkins. [GR8] Her third film was Anthony Minghella‘s war drama Cold Mountain. Kidman appeared opposite Jude Law and Renée Zellweger, playing Southerner Ada Monroe, who is in love with Law’s character and separated by the Civil War. TIME magazine wrote, “Kidman takes strength from Ada’s plight and grows steadily, literally luminous. Her sculptural pallor gives way to warm radiance in the firelight”. The film garnered several award nominations and wins for its actors; Kidman received her sixth Golden Globe Award nomination at the 61st Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress.

Continued success (2004–2009)

Kidman in 2004

In 2004 she starred in the film Birth, which sparked controversy over a scene in which Kidman shares a bath with her co-star Cameron Bright, then aged ten. At a press conference at the Venice Film Festival, she addressed the controversy saying, “It wasn’t that I wanted to make a film where I kiss a 10-year-old boy. I wanted to make a film where you understand love”. Kidman received her seventh Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. That same year, she appeared as a successful producer in the black comedy-science-fiction film The Stepford Wives, a remake of the 1975 film of the same name, directed by Frank Oz. In 2005, Kidman appeared opposite Sean Penn in the Sydney Pollack thriller The Interpreter, playing UN translator Silvia Broome, and with Will Ferrell in the romantic comedy Bewitched, based on the 1960s TV sitcom of the same name. While neither film fared well in the United States, both were international successes. Kidman and Ferrell earned the Razzie Award [GR9] for Worst Screen Couple.

In conjunction with her success within the film industry, Kidman became the face of the Chanel No. 5 perfume brand. She starred in a campaign of television and print ads with Rodrigo Santoro, directed by Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann, to promote the fragrance during the holiday seasons of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008. The three-minute commercial produced for Chanel No. 5 made Kidman the record holder for the most money paid per minute to an actor after she reportedly earned US$12 million for the three-minute advert. During this time, Kidman was also featured as the 45th Most Powerful Celebrity on the 2005 Forbes Celebrity 100 List. She made a reported US$14.5 million in 2004–2005. On People magazine’s list of 2005’s highest-paid actresses, Kidman was second behind Julia Roberts, with US$16–17 million per-film price tag. Nintendo in 2007 announced that Kidman would be the new face of Nintendo’s advertising campaign for the Nintendo DS game More Brain Training in its European market.

In 2006, Kidman portrayed photographer Diane Arbus in the biographical film Fur, opposite Robert Downey Jr., and lent her voice to the animated film Happy Feet, which grossed over US$384 million worldwide. In 2007, she starred in the science-fiction film The Invasion directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, a remake of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and starred opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jack Black in Noah Baumbach‘s comedy-drama Margot at the Wedding, which earned her a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy. She also starred in the fantasy-adventure, The Golden Compass (2007), playing the villainous Marisa Coulter.

In 2008, she reunited with Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann in the Australian period film Australia, set in the remote Northern Territory during the Japanese attack on Darwin during World War II. Kidman starred opposite Hugh Jackman as an Englishwoman feeling overwhelmed by the continent. The acting was praised and the movie was a box office success worldwide. Kidman appeared in the 2009 Rob Marshall musical Nine, portraying the Federico Fellini-like character’s muse, Claudia Jenssen, with fellow Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz and Sophia Loren. Kidman, whose screen time was brief in comparison to the other actresses, performed the musical number “Unusual Way”, alongside Day-Lewis. The film received several Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nominations, and earned Kidman a fourth Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as part of the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.[GR10]

Biographical and independent films (2010–2015)

In 2010, Kidman starred with Aaron Eckhart in the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole, for which she vacated her role in the Woody Allen picture You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. Her portrayal as a grieving mother in the film earned her critical acclaim, and received nominations for the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. She lent her voice to a promotional video that Australia used to support its bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. In 2011, she starred alongside Nicolas Cage in director Joel Schumacher‘s action-thriller Trespass, with the stars playing a married couple taken hostage, and appeared with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in Dennis Dugan‘s romantic comedy Just Go with It,[GR11] as a trophy wife.

Kidman at the 2012 Tropfest

In 2012, Kidman and Clive Owen starred in the HBO film Hemingway & Gellhorn, and about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn. In Lee Daniels‘ adaptation of the Pete Dexter novel, The Paperboy (2012), she portrayed death row groupie Charlotte Bless, and performed sex scenes that she claims not to have remembered until seeing the finished film. The film competed in the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and Kidman’s performance drew nominations for the SAG and the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, gave Kidman her second Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and her tenth nomination overall. In 2012, Kidman’s audiobook recording of Virginia Woolf‘s To the Lighthouse was released at Audible.com. Kidman starred as an unstable mother in Park Chan-wook‘s Stoker (2013), to a positive response and a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In April 2013 she was selected as a member of the main competition jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2014, Kidman starred in the biographical film Grace of Monaco in the title role that chronicles the 1962 crisis, in which Charles de Gaulle blockaded the tiny principality, angered by Monaco’s status as a tax haven for wealthy French subjects and Kelly’s contemplating a Hollywood return to star in Alfred Hitchcock‘s Marnie. Opening out of competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the film received largely negative reviews. Kidman also starred in two films with Colin Firth that year, the first being the British-Australian historical drama The Railway Man, in which Kidman played an officer’s wife. Katherine Monk of the Montreal Gazette said of Kidman’s performance, “It’s a truly masterful piece of acting that transcends Teplitzky’s store-bought framing, but it’s Kidman who delivers the biggest surprise: For the first time since her eyebrows turned into solid marble arches, the Australian Oscar winner is truly terrific”. Her second film with Firth was the British thriller film Before I Go To Sleep, portraying a car crash survivor with brain damage. She also appeared in the family film Paddington (2014) as a villain.

In 2015, Kidman starred in the drama Strangerland, which opened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and the Jason Bateman-directed The Family Fang, produced by Kidman’s production company, Blossom Films, which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. In her other 2015 film release, the biographical drama Queen of the Desert, she portrayed writer, traveler, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist Gertrude Bell. Kidman played a district attorney, opposite Julia Roberts and Chiwetel Ejiofor, in the little-seen film Secret in Their Eyes (also 2015), a remake of the 2009 Argentine film of the same name, both based on the novel La pregunta de sus ojos by author Eduardo Sacheri. After more than 15 years, Kidman returned to the West End in the UK premiere of Photograph 51 at the Noël Coward Theatre. She starred as British scientist Rosalind Franklin, working for the discovery of the structure of DNA, in the production from 5 September to 21 November 2015, directed by Michael Grandage [GR12] . Her return to the West End was hailed a success, especially after having won an acting award for her portrayal in the play.

Resurgence and television career (2016–present)

In 2016’s Lion, Kidman portrayed Sue, the adoptive mother of Saroo Brierley, an Indian boy who was separated from his birth family, a role she felt connected to as she herself is the mother of adopted children. She garnered rave reviews for her performance, as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, her fourth nomination overall, and her eleventh Golden Globe Award nomination, among others. Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times thought that “Kidman gives a powerful and moving performance as Saroo’s adoptive mother, who loves her son with every molecule of her being, but comes to understand his quest. It’s as good as anything she’s done in the last decade.” Budgeted at US$12 million, Lion earned over US$140 million globally. She also gave a voice-over performance for the English version of the animated film The Guardian Brothers.

Kidman at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival

In 2017, Kidman returned to television for Big Little Lies, a drama series based on Liane Moriarty‘s novel, which premiered on HBO. She also served as executive producer alongside her co-star, Reese Witherspoon, and the show’s director, Jean-Marc Vallée. She played Celeste Wright, a former lawyer and housewife, who is concealing her abusive relationship with her husband, played by Alexander Skarsgård. Matthew Jacobs of The Huffington Post considered that she “delivered a career-defining performance”, while Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post wrote that “Kidman belongs in the pantheon of great actresses”. She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie [GR13] for her performance, as well as winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series as a producer. She also won a Critics’ Choice Television Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award.

Kidman next played Martha Farnsworth, the headmistress of an all-girls school during the American Civil War, in Sofia Coppola [GR14] ‘s drama The Beguiled, a remake of a 1971 film of the same name, which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d’Or. Both films were adaptations of a novel by Thomas P. Cullinan, The film was an arthouse success, and Katie Walsh of Tribune News Service found Kidman “particularly, unsurprisingly excellent in her performance as the steely Miss Martha. She is controlled and in control, unflappable. Her genteel manners and femininity co-exist easily with her toughness.” Kidman had two other films premiere at the festival, the science-fiction romantic comedy How to Talk to Girls at Parties, reuniting her with director John Cameron Mitchell, and the psychological thriller The Killing of a Sacred Deer, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, which also competed for the Palme d’Or. Also in 2017, Kidman played supporting roles in the BBC Two television series Top of the Lake: China Girl and in the comedy-drama The Upside, a remake of the 2011 French comedy The Intouchables, starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart.

Kidman starred in two 2018 dramas —Destroyer and Boy Erased. In the former, she played a detective troubled by a case for two decades. Peter Debruge of Variety and Brooke Marine of W both found her “unrecognizable” in the role and Debruge added that “she disappears into an entirely new skin, rearranging her insides to fit the character’s tough hide”, whereas Marine highlighted Kidman’s method acting. The latter film is based on Garrard Conley’s Boy Erased: A Memoir, and features Russell Crowe [GR15] and Kidman as socially conservative parents who send their son (played by Lucas Hedges) to a gay conversion program. Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair credited all three performers for “elevating the fairly standard-issue material to poignant highs”. Also that year, Kidman played Queen Atlanna, the mother of the title character, in the DC Extended Universe superhero film Aquaman. Nicole was interviewed for BAFTA A Life in Pictures in November 2018, where she reflected on her extensive career in film.

Forbes ranked her as the fourth highest-paid actress in the world in 2019, with an annual income of $34 million. She took on the supporting part of a rich socialite in John Crowley‘s drama The Goldfinch, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Donna Tartt, starring Ansel Elgort. Although it was poorly received, Owen Gleiberman commended Kidman for playing her part with “elegant affection”. She next starred alongside Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie in the drama Bombshell,[GR16] about sexual harassment at Fox News, in which she portrayed Gretchen Carlson. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times opined that despite lesser screen time than her two co-protagonists, Kidman successfully made Carlson “ever-so-slightly ridiculous, adding a sharp sliver of comedy that underscores how self-serving and futile her rebellious gestures at the network are”. For her performance in Bombshell, Kidman received another Screen Actor Guild nomination.

Kidman currently portrays Grace Fraser, a successful therapist in New York, in the HBO psychological thriller miniseries The Undoing, based on the novel You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. Kidman serves as executive producer alongside the show’s director, Susanne Bier, and David E. Kelley. Kelley previously adapted and produced Big Little Lies for television and also adapted The Undoing for television.

Kidman’s only film release of 2020 is the musical comedy film The Prom based on the Broadway musical of the same name. Kidman will star in the film alongside Meryl Streep, James Corden and Andrew Rannells. The Prom was released on Netflix on 11 December 2020.

Upcoming projects

Kidman will star in and serve as executive producer on three television series. She will first star in the Hulu miniseries Nine Perfect Strangers based on the novel of the same name by Liane Moriarty which is currently in production in Australia. Furthermore, Kidman will star in the Amazon Prime Video thriller miniseries Pretty Things based on the upcoming novel of the same name by Janelle Brown as well as the Amazon Prime Video family drama series Things I Know To Be True based on the Australian play of the same name. Unlike Nine Perfect Strangers and Pretty Things, Things I Know To Be True is envisioned as an ongoing series with multiple seasons rather than a miniseries.

Kidman will also serve as an executive producer for the television series The Expatriates [GR17] for Amazon Prime Video.

Media image

Several media publications consider Kidman to be among the finest actresses of her generation. She is noted for taking on risky roles in films helmed by auteurs. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.

Kidman has also been described as a fashion icon. The chartreuse Dior gown she wore to the 1997 Academy Awards is regarded as one of the greatest dresses in Oscar history and The Daily Telegraph credit it with changing red carpet fashion forever. She was the recipient of the 2003 Fashion Icon Award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. “Nicole Kidman’s style, both on and off the screen, has had an undeniable impact on fashion,” said Peter Arnold, executive director of CFDA.

Personal life

Relationships and children

Kidman has been married twice: first to actor Tom Cruise, and later to country singer Keith Urban. Kidman met Cruise in November 1989, while filming Days of Thunder; [GR18] they were married on Christmas Eve in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted a daughter, Isabella Jane Cruise (born 1992), and a son, Connor Antony Cruise (born 1995). On 5 February 2001, the couple’s spokesperson announced their separation. Cruise filed for divorce two days later, and the marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences. In a 2007 interview with Marie Claire, Kidman noted the incorrect reporting of the ectopic pregnancy early in her marriage. “It was wrongly reported as miscarriage, by everyone who picked up the story.” “So it’s huge news, and it didn’t happen.”

Kidman with husband Keith Urban in 2011

In the June 2006 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, she said she still loved Cruise: “He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me and I loved him. I still love him.” In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce. In 2015, former Church of Scientology executive Mark Rathbun claimed in a documentary film that he was instructed to “facilitate [Cruise’s] break-up with Nicole Kidman”. Cruise’s auditor further claimed Kidman had been wiretapped on Cruise’s suggestion.

Prior to marrying Cruise, Kidman had been involved in relationships with Australian actor Marcus Graham and Windrider (1986) co-star Tom Burlinson. She was also said to be involved with Adrien Brody. The film Cold Mountain brought rumours that an affair between Kidman and co-star Jude Law was responsible for the break-up of his marriage. Both denied the allegations, and Kidman won an undisclosed sum from the British tabloids that published the story. She met musician Lenny Kravitz in 2003, and dated him into 2004. Kidman was also romantically linked to rapper Q-Tip. Robbie Williams claims he had a short romance with Kidman on her yacht in summer 2004.

In a 2007 Vanity Fair interview, Kidman revealed that she had been secretly engaged to someone prior to her present relationship with New Zealand-Australian country singer Keith Urban, whom she met at G’Day LA, an event honouring Australians, in January 2005. Kidman married Urban on 25 June 2006, at Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick’s Estate, Manly in Sydney. In an interview in 2015, Kidman said, “We didn’t really know each other – we got to know each other during our marriage.” They maintain homes in Sydney, Sutton Forest (New South Wales, Australia); Los Angeles; Nashville (Tennessee, U.S.); and a condominium in Manhattan purchased for US$10 million. The couple’s first daughter, Sunday Rose, was born in 2008, in Nashville. In 2010, Kidman and Urban had their second daughter, Faith Margaret, via gestational surrogacy at Nashville’s Centennial Women’s Hospital. In an interview by Tina Brown at the 2015 Women in the World [GR19] conference, she stated that her attention turned to her career after her divorce from Cruise: “Out of my divorce came work that was applauded so that was an interesting thing for me”, leading to her Academy Award in 2003.

Religious and political views

Kidman was brought up in an Irish Catholic family and remains practicing. She attended Mary Mackillop Chapel in North Sydney. Following criticism of The Golden Compass by Catholic leaders as anti-Catholic, Kidman told Entertainment Weekly that the Catholic Church is part of her “essence”, and that her religious beliefs would prevent her from taking a role in a film she perceived as anti-Catholic. During her divorce from Tom Cruise, she stated that she did not want their children raised as Scientologists. She has been reluctant to discuss Scientology since her divorce.

A supporter of women’s rights, Kidman testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs to support the International Violence Against Women Act in 2009. In January 2017, she stated her support for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia. Kidman has also donated to U.S. Democratic party candidates.

Wealth, philanthropy, and honours

In 2002, Kidman first appeared on the Australian rich list published annually in the Business Review Weekly with an estimated net worth of A$122 million. In the 2011 published list, Kidman’s wealth was estimated at A$304 million, down from A$329 million in 2010. Kidman has raised money for, and drawn attention to, disadvantaged children around the world. In 1994, she was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, and in 2004, she was honoured as a “Citizen of the World” by the United Nations. Kidman joined the Little Tee Campaign for breast cancer care to design T-shirts or vests to raise money to fight the disease; motivated by her mother’s own battle with breast cancer in 1984.

Kidman (right), Nancy Pelosi (left) and Esta Soler (center) breaking ground on the International Center to End Violence in San Francisco

In the 2006 Australia Day Honours, Kidman was appointed Companion of Order of Australia (AC) for “service to the performing arts as an acclaimed motion picture performer, to health care through contributions to improve medical treatment for women and children and advocacy for cancer research, to youth as a principal supporter of young performing artists, and to humanitarian causes in Australia and internationally”. However, due to film commitments and her wedding to Urban, it wasn’t until 13 April 2007 that she was presented with the honour. It was presented by the Governor-General of Australia, Major General Michael Jeffery, in a ceremony at Government House, Canberra.

Kidman was appointed goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in 2006. She visited Kosovo in 2006 to learn about women’s experiences of conflict and UNIFEM’s support efforts. She is also the international spokesperson for UNIFEM’s Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative. Kidman and the UNIFEM executive director presented over five million signatures collected during the first phase of this to the UN Secretary-General on 25 November 2008. In 2016, Kidman donated $50,000 to UN Women.

In the beginning of 2009, Kidman appeared in a series of postage stamps featuring Australian actors. She, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett each appear twice in the series: once as themselves and once as their Academy Award-nominated character; Kidman’s second stamp showed her as Satine from Moulin Rouge!. On 8 January 2010, alongside Nancy Pelosi, Joan Chen and Joe Torre, Kidman attended the ceremony to help the Family Violence Prevention Fund break ground on a new international centre located in the Presidio of San Francisco. In 2015, Kidman became the brand ambassador for Etihad Airways.

Kidman supports the Nashville Predators, being seen and photographed almost nightly throughout the season. Additionally, she supports the Sydney Swans [GR20] in the Australian Football League and once served as a club ambassador.

Her hobby is collecting ancient Judean coins. She frequently visits specialized auctions in order to acquire rare ancient coins from Ancient Judea.

Filmography

Discography

Kidman’s discography consists of one spoken word album, one extended play, three singles, three music videos, ten other appearances, a number of unreleased tracks and two tribute songs recorded by various artists. Kidman, primarily known in the field of acting, entered the music industry in the 2000s after recording a number of tracks for the soundtrack album to Baz Luhrmann‘s 2001 motion picture Moulin Rouge!, which she starred in. Her duet with Ewan McGregor entitled “Come What May” was released as her debut and the second single of the OST through Interscope on 24 September 2001. The composition became the eighth-highest selling single by an Australian artist for that year, being certified Gold by Australian Recording Industry Association [GR21] , while reaching on the UK Singles Chart at number twenty-seven. In addition, the song received a nomination at the 59th Golden Globe Awards as the Best Original Song, and has been listed as the eighty-fifth within AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs by American Film Institute.

“Somethin’ Stupid“, a cover version of Frank and Nancy Sinatra followed soon. The track, recorded as a duet with English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, was issued on 14 December 2001 by Chrysalis Records as the lead single of his fourth studio album, Swing When You’re Winning. Kidman’s second single topped the official music charts in Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, and England, as well as scored top ten placings all over Europe, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland. Apart from being certified either Gold or Silver in a number of countries, it was classified as the eleventh best-selling single of 2002 in Italy, thirtieth in the UK, the fifty-ninth in Australia, and the ninety-third in France, respectively. The song peaked at No. 8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart and at No. 1, for three weeks, in the UK.

On 5 April 2002, Kidman released, through Interscope, her third single, a cover of Randy Crawford‘s “One Day I’ll Fly Away“. The song, a Tony Philips remix, was promoted as the pilot single of a follow-up to the original soundtrack of the same name, Moulin Rouge! Vol. 2. In 2006, she contributed with her vocal for the OST Happy Feet on a rendition of the Prince song “Kiss“. In 2009, she was featured on the soundtrack of Rob Marshall‘s 2009 movie musical Nine, singing the song “Unusual Way”.

Her name was later been credited on a track called “What’s the Procedure”, issued on 14 March 2013, on the compilation album [GR22] I Know Why They Call It Pop: Volume 2 by Rok Lok Records. Among others, Kidman also narrated an audiobook in 2012.

In 2017, she and Nicolle Gaylon sang backing vocals on her husband, country music singer Keith Urban‘s song “Female“.

Awards

Kidman at the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011

In 2003, Kidman received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In addition to her 2003 Academy Award for Best Actress, Kidman has received Best Actress awards from the following critics’ groups or award-granting organizations: the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globe Awards), Australian Film Institute, Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Empire Awards [GR23] , Hollywood Film Festival, London Film Critics’ Circle, Russian Guild of Film Critics, Satellite Awards, and Southeastern Film Critics Association.

Kidman also received recognition from the National Association of Theatre Owners at the ShoWest Convention in 1992 as the Female Star of Tomorrow, and in 2002 for a Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film. In 2003, she was given the American Cinematheque Award

[GR1]Time 100 (often stylized as TIME 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine Time. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly publicized annual event. Appearing on the list is often seen as an honor, and Time makes it clear that entrants are recognized for changing the world, regardless of the consequences of their actions. The final list of influential individuals is exclusively chosen by Time editors, with nominations coming from the Time 100 alumni and the magazine’s international writing staff. Only the winner of the Reader’s Poll, conducted days before the official list is revealed, is chosen by the general public. The corresponding commemorative gala is held annually in Manhattan, New York.

In 2019, Time began publishing the Time 100 Next list, which “spotlights 100 rising stars who are shaping the future of business, entertainment, sports, politics, science, health and more.

[GR2]Lion is a 2016 Australian biographical drama film directed by Garth Davis (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Luke Davies based on the 2013 non-fiction book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley. The film stars Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Rooney Mara, David Wenham and Nicole Kidman, as well as Abhishek Bharate, Divian Ladwa, Priyanka Bose, Deepti Naval, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Nawazuddin Siddiqui. It tells the true story of how Brierley, 25 years after being separated from his family in India, sets out to find them. It is a joint production between Australia and the United Kingdom.

The film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 October 2016, was given a limited release in the United States on 25 November 2016, by The Weinstein Company before opening generally on 6 January 2017. It was released in Australia on 19 January 2017 and in the United Kingdom on 20 January 2017.

Lion was well-received by critics, with praise for the acting (particularly from Patel and Kidman), emotion, cinematography and screenplay; it received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Patel), Best Supporting Actress (Kidman), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won two BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Patel) and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film was also commercially successful making $140 million worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Australian films of all time.

[GR3]UNICEF, also known as the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, is a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The agency is among the most widespread and recognizable social welfare organizations in the world, with a presence in 192 countries and territories. UNICEF’s activities include providing immunizations and disease prevention, administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV, enhancing childhood and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing emergency relief in response to disasters

[GR4]Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and producer. He has received various accolades for his work, including three Golden Globe Awards and three nominations for Academy Awards. He is one of the highest-paid actors in the world. His films have grossed over $4 billion in North America and over $10.1 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing box office stars of all time.

Cruise began acting in the early 1980s and made his breakthrough with leading roles in the comedy film Risky Business (1983) and action drama film Top Gun (1986). Critical acclaim came with his roles in the drama films The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988), and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). For his portrayal of Ron Kovic in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As a leading Hollywood star in the 1990s, he starred in several commercially successful films, including the drama A Few Good Men (1992), the thriller The Firm (1993), the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), and the romance Jerry Maguire (1996). For his role in the latter, he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and received his second Academy Award nomination.

Cruise’s performance as a motivational speaker in the drama film Magnolia (1999) earned him another Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. As an action star, he has played Ethan Hunt in all six of the Mission: Impossible films from 1996 to 2018. He also starred in science fiction and action films, including Vanilla Sky (2001), Minority Report (2002), The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), War of the Worlds (2005), Knight and Day (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), Oblivion (2013), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and The Mummy (2017).

[GR5]Kidman was born in Randwick and grew up in North Sydney, the oldest of four children to Arthur David Kidman and Margaret Emily Mary Callachor. He was of Scottish descent.

Kidman attended St Aloysius’ College and then completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney and a Master of Science at the University of New South Wales. He accepted an American Cancer Society Scholarship and undertook a PhD in biochemistry at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

[GR6]Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He first rose to fame for his roles on the CBS sitcoms All’s Fair and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour and his comedic film roles in Night Shift (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988). He earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of the title character in Tim Burton‘s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).

Since then, he has appeared in a variety of films ranging from dramas and romantic comedies to thriller and action films, such as Clean and Sober (1988), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), My Life (1993), The Paper (1994), Multiplicity (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), The Other Guys (2010), Spotlight (2015), The Founder (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He has also provided voices for characters in animated films such as Porco Rosso (1992), Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).

In 2014, Keaton garnered critical acclaim for his performance in the black comedy film Birdman, winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He previously received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance in Live from Baghdad (2002) and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for The Company (2007). Keaton was awarded a Career Achievement Award from the Hollywood Film Festival.

On January 18, 2016, he was named Officer of Order of Arts and Letters in France. He is also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.

[GR7]Schnitzler completed the play in 1900, but did not intend it to be performed, even calling the series of scenes ‘unprintable’, he intended them to be read by friends. The play was too sexually explicit to be performed at the time. Subsequently, it was read and then performed in private. Its first public performance in 1921, under the now accepted title Reigen, was closed down by the Vienna police—Schnitzler was prosecuted for obscenity.

Reigen was meant as a dramatic expose of the decadence of the Austrian society. Schnitzler, being a doctor approached the decadence of society from a medical point of view, studying the journey of Syphilis through all classes of society. The title Reigen would be best translated as ’round-dance’ or ’roundelay’. This refers to the daisy chain of sexual encounters, which also determines the format of the play. It is divided into ten scenes and each scene holds two characters (always male and female) and their sexual encounter. The following scene contains one character of the previous scene and a new one. A has sex with B, B has sex with C and so on; until in the tenth scene the circle closes with J having sex with A.

[GR8]Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins CBE (born 31 December 1937) is a Welsh actor, composer, director and film producer. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTAs, two Emmys and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the arts. Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003, and in 2008 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

After graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 1957, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and was then spotted by Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre in 1965. Productions at the National included King Lear, his favourite Shakespeare play. His last stage play was a West End production of M. Butterfly in 1989.

In 1968, Hopkins achieved recognition in film, playing Richard the Lionheart in The Lion in Winter. In the mid-1970s, Richard Attenborough, who would direct five Hopkins films, called him “the greatest actor of his generation.” In 1991, he portrayed Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprised the role in its sequel Hannibal and the prequel Red Dragon. Other notable films include: The Elephant Man (1980), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987), Howards End (1992), Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Shadowlands (1993), Legends of the Fall (1994), Meet Joe Black (1998), The Mask of Zorro (1998), as well as Thor (2011) and its 2013 and 2017 sequels. Hopkins has since been nominated for four other Academy Awards for the films The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997) and The Two Popes (2019). In 2020, Hopkins starred in The Father alongside Olivia Colman.

[GR9]The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known in short terms as Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honouring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, the Razzie Awards’ satirical annual ceremony has preceded its polar opposite, the coveted Academy Awards, for four decades. The term raspberry is used in its irreverent sense, as in “blowing a raspberry“. The statuette itself is a golf ball-sized raspberry atop a mangled Super 8mm film reel spray-painted gold, with an estimated street value of $4.97. The Golden Raspberry Foundation have claimed that the award “encourages well-known filmmakers and top notch performers to own their bad.”

The first Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony was held on March 31, 1981, in John J. B. Wilson’s living-room alcove in Hollywood, to honor the worst films of the 1980 film season. To this day, Sylvester Stallone is the most awarded actor ever with 10 awards won while Madonna is the most awarded actress with 9 awards.

[GR10]The Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Motion Picture is an award given by the Screen Actors Guild to honor the finest acting achievements in film.

[GR11]Just Go with It is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Allan Loeb and Timothy Dowling and starring Adam Sandler (who also co-produced the film), Jennifer Aniston, Nicole Kidman, Nick Swardson and Brooklyn Decker. It is based on the 1969 film Cactus Flower, along with the 2005 Bollywood movie, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, which are themselves an adaptation of the 1965 Broadway stage play written by Abe Burrows, which in turn was based upon the French play Fleur de cactus.

Production of the film began on March 2, 2010. The film was released on February 11, 2011, by Columbia Pictures in North America. The film grossed over $214 million, making it a box office success. However, it received negative reviews from critics and won two Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor and Worst Director.

[GR12]Michael Grandage CBE (born 2 May 1962) is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres.

[GR13]The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role on a television limited series or television movie for the primetime network season.

The award was first presented at the 7th Primetime Emmy Awards on March 7, 1955, to Judith Anderson, for her performance as Lady Macbeth on the Hallmark Hall of Fame episode “Macbeth“. It has undergone several name changes, with the category split into two categories at the 25th Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy; and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series. By the 31st Primetime Emmy Awards, the categories were merged into one, and it has since undergone several name changes, leading to its current title.

Since its inception, the award has been given to 54 actresses. Regina King is the current recipient of the award, for her portrayal of Angela Abar / Sister Night on Watchmen. Helen Mirren has won the most awards in this category, with four, and has received the most nominations for the award, on ten occasions.

[GR14]Sofia Carmina Coppola (/ˈkɒpələ/, Italian: [ˈkɔppola]; born May 14, 1971) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actress. The daughter of filmmakers Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola, she made her film debut as an infant in her father’s acclaimed crime drama film, The Godfather (1972). Coppola later appeared in a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) and portrayed Mary Corleone, the daughter of Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990). Her performance in the latter film was severely criticized, and she turned her attention to filmmaking.

Coppola made her feature-length directorial debut with the coming-of-age drama The Virgin Suicides (1999). It was the first of her collaborations with actress Kirsten Dunst. In 2004, Coppola received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the comedy-drama Lost in Translation and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director. In 2006, Coppola directed the historical drama Marie Antoinette, starring Dunst as the title character. In 2010, with the drama Somewhere, Coppola became the first American woman (and fourth American filmmaker) to win the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. In 2013, she directed the satirical crime film The Bling Ring, based on the crime ring of the same name which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

At the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, Coppola became the second woman in the festival’s history to win the Best Director award; she won the award for her work on the drama film The Beguiled

[GR15]Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor, film producer, director and musician. Although a New Zealand citizen, he has lived most of his life in Australia. He came to international attention for his role as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the epic historical film Gladiator (2000), directed by Ridley Scott, for which Crowe won an Academy Award, a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, an Empire Award, and a London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actor, along with ten other nominations in the same category. Crowe’s other award-winning performances include portrayals of tobacco firm whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand in the drama film The Insider (1999) and John F. Nash in the biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001).

Crowe’s other films include the drama Romper Stomper (1992), the mystery-detective thriller L.A. Confidential (1997), the epic war film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), the boxing drama Cinderella Man (2005), the Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007) which was a remake to the film of the same name, the crime drama American Gangster (2007), the thriller-drama State of Play (2009), he later collaborated with Ridley Scott for the third time with Robin Hood (2010).

Crowe later starred in the musical drama Les Misérables (2012), he starred as Jor-El in the superhero epic Man of Steel (2013), the biblical fantasy drama Noah (2014), and the action comedy The Nice Guys (2016).

In 2014, Crowe made his directorial debut with the drama The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. Crowe’s work has earned him several accolades during his career, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Golden Globe Awards, one BAFTA and one Academy Award out of three consecutive nominations (1999, 2000, and 2001). Crowe has also been the co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.

[GR16]Bombshell is a 2019 American drama film directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. The film stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, and is based upon the accounts of the women at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Malcolm McDowell, and Allison Janney appear in supporting roles.

The project was first announced in May 2017 following Ailes’s death, with Roach confirmed as director the following year. Much of the cast joined that summer and filming began in October 2018 in Los Angeles. It entered into a limited release in the United States on December 13, 2019, before a wide release on December 20, by Lionsgate.

Bombshell‘s box office results were seen as disappointing but the film received mostly favourable reviews, with critics praising its acting (mostly for Theron and Robbie) as well as the makeup and hair but some criticized the screenplay and inaccuracies. At the 92nd Academy Awards, it earned three nominations: Best Actress (Theron), Best Supporting Actress (Robbie), and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, winning the latter. The film also received two nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards (for Theron and Robbie), four at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards (Theron, Robbie, and Kidman, as well as Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture) and three at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards (Theron, Robbie, and Best Makeup and Hair). The theme song, “One Little Soldier”, performed by Regina Spektor, won the 2020 “Best Song Written or Recorded for a Film” from the Guild of Music Supervisors Awards.

[GR17]On February 7, 2017, it was reported that Blossom Films had optioned the screen rights to Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel The Expatriates with the intention of developing it into a television series. Alice Bell was attached to write the adaptation. Executive producers were expected to consist of Nicole Kidman, Per Saari, and Theresa Park with Lee set to serve as a consulting producer. Alongside Blossom Films, production companies involved with the production were slated to include POW! Productions. On July 28, 2018, it was announced that Amazon had given the production a series order. On January 11, 2019, it was announced that Melanie Marnich had joined Bell as co-showrunner and executive producer for the series. In December 2019, it was announced Lulu Wang would serve as an executive producer on the series, as well as serve as a writer and direct multiple episodes

[GR18]Days of Thunder is a 1990 American sports action drama film released by Paramount Pictures, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Tony Scott. The cast includes Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, Cary Elwes, Caroline Williams, and Michael Rooker. The film also features appearances by real life NASCAR racers, such as Rusty Wallace, Neil Bonnett, and Harry Gant. Commentator Dr. Jerry Punch, of ESPN, has a cameo appearance, as does co-producer Don Simpson.

This is the first of three films to star both Cruise and Kidman (the other two being Far and Away and Eyes Wide Shut). The film received mixed reviews, with criticism aimed at its unrealistic special effects, characters, screenplay, acting, dialogue and similarities to Top Gun, but was widely praised for its action sequences, Hans Zimmer’s musical score, fast pace, and the performances of Cruise and Kidman.

[GR19]Women in the World is an annual summit launched in 2010 by Tina Brown, the British-born former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Talk, Newsweek and The Daily Beast and author of The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. First held at New York’s Hudson Theater, the summit now takes place at Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theater, convening women leaders, activists and political change-makers from around the world to share their stories, and offer solutions to building a better life for women and girls. Former ABC news producer Kyle Gibson is senior executive producer and managing editor of the event.

The inaugural summit took place from March 12–14, 2010 and included appearances by Queen Rania of Jordan, Meryl Streep, Valerie Jarrett, Christine Lagarde, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine K. Albright, Nora Ephron, and Katie Couric. At the second summit, held from March 10–12, 2011, participants included President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Dr. Hawa Abdi, Condoleezza Rice, Sheryl Sandberg, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diane Von Furstenberg, Melinda Gates, Ashley Judd and more.

[GR20]The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). Established in Melbourne as the South Melbourne Football Club in 1874, the Swans relocated to Sydney in 1982, thus making it the first club in the competition to be based outside Victoria.

Initially playing in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), the Swans joined seven other clubs in founding the breakaway Victorian Football League (now known as the AFL) in 1896. It won premierships in 1909, 1918 and 1933 before experiencing a 72-year premiership drought—the longest in the competition’s history. The club broke the drought in 2005 and won another premiership in 2012.

The club has proven to be one of the most consistent teams in the AFL era, failing to make the finals in only five seasons since 1995, playing the most number of finals matches and winning the second-most matches overall (only behind Geelong) since 2000 and boasting a finals winning record of over 50% in the same time period. According to Roy Morgan Research, they have also been the most supported club among all AFL supporters in every year since 2004.

The Swans’ headquarters and training facilities are located at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the club’s playing home ground since 1982.

[GR21]The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers (AARM) which was formed in 1956. It oversees the collection, administration and distribution of music licenses and royalties.

The association has more than 100 members, including small labels typically run by one to five people, medium size organisations and very large companies with international affiliates. ARIA is administered by a Board of Directors comprising senior executives from record companies, both large and small. As of October 2010, the directors were Denis Handlin (chair, CEO of Sony Music), George Ash (Universal Music), Mark Poston (EMI), Sebastian Chase (MGM Distribution), David Vodica (Rubber Records/Music) and Tony Harlow (WAR)

[GR22]A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If from several performers, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology

[GR23]The Empire Awards was an annual British awards ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the local and global film industry. Winners were awarded the Empire Award statuette. The awards, first presented in 1996, were presented by the British film magazine Empire with the winners voted by the readers of the magazine.

The 23rd Empire Awards is the final ceremony, honouring films in 2017, was held on 18 March 2018 in London, England. The awards were sponsored by Jameson Irish Whiskey from the 14th Empire Awards and were thenceforth officially called the Jameson Empire Awards. The official sponsor of the Awards changed to Rakuten TV for the 23rd Empire Awards. Since 2018, the Empire Awards have discontinued for unknown reasons.

Nicole Kidman AC
Kidman at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Nicole Mary Kidman 20 June 1967 (age 53) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Citizenship	Australia United States
Alma mater	Australian Theatre for Young People
Occupation	Actress producer singer
Years active	1981–present
Works	Full list
Net worth	$183 million (2015)
Spouse(s)	Tom Cruise (m. 1990; div. 2001) Keith Urban (m. 2006)
Children	4
Parent(s)	Antony Kidman (father)
Relatives	Antonia Kidman (sister)
Awards	Full list