Elegant redhead Nicole Kidman, referred to as one in all Hollywood's prime Australian imports, was really born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Australian folks Anthony (a biochemist and clinical psychologist) and Janelle (a nursing instructor) Kidman. The family moved before long to Washington, DC, where Nicole's father pursued his analysis on breast cancer, and then, 3 years later, created the pilgrimage to her parents' native Sydney. Young Nicole's old flame was ballet, however she eventually took up mime and drama furthermore (her 1st stage role was a bleating sheep in an elementary college Christmas pageant). In her adolescent years, acting edged out the opposite arts and have become a sort of refuge -- as her classmates sought out fun within the sun, the fair-skinned Kidman retreated to dark rehearsal halls to follow her craft. She worked often at the Philip Street Theater, where she once received a private letter of praise and encouragement from audience member Jane Campion (then a movie student). Kidman eventually dropped out of highschool to pursue acting full-time. She broke into movies at age sixteen, landing a task within the Australian vacation favorite Bush Christmas (1983). That look touched off a flurry of film and television offers, together with a lead in BMX Bandits (1983) and a flip as a schoolgirl-turned-protester within the miniseries "Vietnam" (1987) (for that she won her 1st Australian Film Institute Award). With the assistance of an yankee agent, she eventually created her US debut opposite Sam Neill within the at-sea thriller Dead Calm (1989).
Kidman's next casting coup scored her quite exposure. whereas starring as Tom Cruise's doctor/love interest within the racetrack romance Days of Thunder (1990), she won over the Hollywood hunk hook, line, and sinker. once a whirlwind courtship (and good box workplace returns), the couple wed on December twenty four, 1990. Determined to not let her new marital standing overshadow her fledgling career, the actress pressed on. She appeared as a catty highschool senior within the Australian film Flirting (1991), then as Dustin Hoffman's moll within the gangster flick Billy Bathgate (1991). She reunited with Cruise for much and Away (1992), the story of young Irish lovers who flee to America within the late 1800s, and starred opposite Michael Keaton within the tear-tugger My Life (1993). Despite her steady employment, critics and moviegoers still hadn't quite warmed to Kidman as a number one woman. She tried to boost her image by seducing Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), however achieved her real breakthrough with Gus Van Sant's To Die For (1995). As a fame-crazed housewife determined to eliminate any obstacle in her path, Kidman proved that she had a powerful vary and deadly comic timing. She took home a Golden Globe and several other critics' awards for the performance. In 1996, Kidman stepped into a corset to figure together with her countrywoman and onetime admirer, Jane Campion, on the difference of Henry James's The Portrait of a woman (1996). a couple of months later, she tore across the screen as a nuclear weapons skilled within the Peacemaker (1997), adding "action star" to her skilled repertoire.
She and Cruise then disappeared into a notoriously long, secretive shoot for Stanley Kubrick's sexual thriller Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The couple's on-screen shenanigans prompted a rise in public speculation concerning their sex life (rumors had long been circulating that their wedding was a cover-up for Cruise's homosexuality); uninterested in denying tabloid attacks, they successfully sued The Star for a story alleging that they required a sex therapist to teach them through love scenes. Family life has perpetually been a priority for Kidman. Born to social activists (mom was a feminist; dad, a labor advocate), Nicole and her very little sister, Antonia Kidman, mentioned current events round the dinner table and took part in their parents' campaigns by passing out pamphlets on street corners. When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, 17-year-old Nicole stopped operating and took a massage course in order that she may give physical therapy (her mom eventually beat the cancer). She and Cruise adopted 2 children: Isabella Jane (born in 1993) and Connor Antony (born 1995). Despite their rock-solid image, the couple announced in early 2001 that they were separating owing to career conflicts. Her wedding to Cruise ended mid-summer of 2001.