Nude Filmography:
>> Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
>> The Portrait of a Lady (1996)
>> Malice (1993)
>> Billy Bathgate (1991)
>> Dead Calm (1989)
>> Bangkok Hilton (mini) (1989)
>> Windrider (1986)
>> Birthday Girl (1985)
Mini Biography:
Elegant redhead Nicole Kidman, known as one of Hollywood's top Australian
imports, was actually born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Anthony (a biochemist
and clinical psychologist) and Janelle (a nursing instructor) Kidman.
The family moved almost immediately to Washington, D.C., where Nicole's
father pursued his research on breast cancer, then, three years later,
made the pilgrimage to her parents' native Sydney.
Young Nicole's first love was ballet, but she eventually took up
mime and drama as well (her first stage role was a bleating sheep
in an elementary school Christmas pageant). In her adolescent years,
acting edged out the other arts and became a kind of refuge--as her
classmates sought out fun in the sun, the fair-skinned Kidman retreated
to dark rehearsal halls to practice her craft. She worked regularly
at the Philip Street Theater, where she once received a personal letter
of praise and encouragement from audience member Jane Campion (then
a film student). Kidman eventually dropped out of high school to pursue
acting full-time.
She broke into movies at age 16, landing a role in the Australian
holiday favorite Bush Christmas (1983). That appearance touched off
a flurry of film and TV offers, including a lead in BMX Bandits (1983)
and a turn as a schoolgirl-turned-protester in the miniseries "Vietnam"
(1986) (mini) (for which she won her first Australian Film Institute
Award). With the help of an American agent, she eventually made her
US debut opposite Sam Neill in the at-sea thriller Dead Calm (1989).
Kidman's next casting coup scored her more than exposure. While starring
as Tom Cruise's doctor/love interest in the racetrack romance Days
of Thunder (1990), she won over the Hollywood hunk hook, line, and
sinker. After a whirlwind courtship (and decent box office returns),
the couple wed on December 24, 1990. Determined not to let her new
marital status overshadow her fledgling career, the actress pressed
on.
She appeared as a catty high school senior in the Australian film
Flirting (1991), then as Dustin Hoffman's moll in the gangster flick
Billy Bathgate (1991). She reunited with Cruise for Far and Away (1992),
the story of young Irish lovers who flee to America in the late 1800s,
and starred opposite Michael Keaton in the tear-tugger My Life (1993).
Despite her steady employment, critics and moviegoers still hadn't
quite warmed to Kidman as a leading lady. She tried to spice up her
image by seducing Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995), but 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 an impressive range and deadly comic
timing. She took home a Golden Globe and several critics' awards for
the performance. In 1996, Kidman stepped into a corset to work with
her countrywoman and onetime admirer, Jane Campion, on the adaptation
of Henry James's Portrait of a Lady, The (1996).
A few months later, she tore across the screen as a nuclear weapons
expert in Peacemaker, The (1997), adding "action star" to her professional
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 an increase in
public speculation about their sex life (rumors had long been circulating
that their marriage was a cover-up for Cruise's homosexuality); tired
of denying tabloid attacks, they successfully sued _The Star_ for
a story alleging that they needed a sex therapist to coach them through
love scenes. Family life has always been a priority for Kidman. Born
to social activists (mom was a feminist, dad a labor advocate), Nicole
and her little sister, Antonia, discussed current events around the
dinner table and participated in their parents' campaigns by passing
out pamphlets on street corners. When her mother was diagnosed with
breast cancer, 17-year-old Nicole stopped working and took a massage
course so that she could provide physical therapy (her mom eventually
beat the cancer). She and Cruise adopted two 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
due to career conflicts.
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